Staff Motion Designer

Define how Pinterest moves

Pinterest is looking for a Staff Motion Designer to help create something that reaches far beyond individual animations: the motion language used across the Pinterest product ecosystem.

Sitting within the Design Innovation team, this is a senior, hands-on position combining motion craft, interaction design, systems thinking and technology. You'll work across product teams to establish how movement communicates state, hierarchy, feedback and personality throughout Pinterest.

The work ranges from refining the smallest interaction to defining reusable motion patterns that can influence experiences used by millions of people.

What you'll shape

You'll establish and evolve the principles behind motion at Pinterest, turning high-quality creative exploration into systems that other designers and engineers can actually use.

Your work will include:

• Defining motion principles, patterns, transitions, timing, tokens and implementation guidance.
• Creating motion direction for major product initiatives and emerging AI experiences.
• Using animation to communicate changes in state, progress, hierarchy, cause and effect, and system feedback.
• Building reusable motion patterns rather than solving the same interaction independently across different teams.
• Creating prototypes and motion studies to explore ideas before committing to implementation.
• Working directly with engineers on technically challenging animations.
• Balancing visual ambition with performance, accessibility and platform conventions.
• Developing tools, templates and workflows that make sophisticated motion easier for other teams to design and implement.
• Reviewing shipped experiences and helping maintain a consistent quality bar across Pinterest.
• Mentoring designers in motion craft, prototyping and systems thinking.

Motion as a product system

A major part of this role is taking motion beyond isolated animations.

Pinterest wants to establish reusable foundations that can scale across its products. That could mean developing motion tokens, pattern libraries, documentation, tooling and governance that allow teams to create consistent experiences without reinventing the underlying behavior every time.

You'll work horizontally across Product Design, Engineering, Research, Product Management and Content Design, connecting individual features to a broader experience strategy.

At Staff level, influence is an important part of the job. You'll need to explain why a particular motion decision matters, navigate technical trade-offs and build alignment without necessarily having direct authority over the teams involved.

AI is part of the creative toolkit

Pinterest is also exploring how AI can change both its products and the way those products are designed.

You'll experiment with AI-enabled motion and visual creation tools, using them where they can accelerate ideation, prototyping or production while maintaining responsibility for the quality of the final experience.

Experience designing motion for AI, conversational or multimodal interfaces is particularly valuable.

Pinterest also expects candidates to be able to explain how they use AI during the hiring process — not simply what tools they use, but the thinking and judgment behind their approach.

What they're looking for

You'll need 8+ years of experience across motion design, product design, interaction design or a closely related discipline, supported by a portfolio showing exceptional motion work that has made it into real digital products.

This is a Staff-level position, so Pinterest is looking for more than strong execution.

You should have experience influencing multiple teams, establishing broader design direction and improving product quality at a systems level.

Deep knowledge of timing, easing, choreography, transitions, spring behavior and interaction feedback is expected, together with the judgment to understand when animation improves an experience — and when it doesn't.

Experience creating or substantially evolving a scalable motion system is particularly important.

Design + technology

Pinterest is interested in designers who are comfortable getting closer to implementation.

You don't necessarily need to approach the role as a traditional software engineer, but you should be willing to use prototyping tools, code, AI and technical workflows when they're the best way to communicate or test an interaction.

You'll work closely with engineers through implementation and should understand performance constraints, platform behavior, accessibility and the realities of shipping sophisticated motion at scale.

Experience creating tools for designers or engineers, contributing to large design systems or working with animation libraries would be an additional advantage.

Compensation and working model

The US base salary range is $158,765–$326,870, with equity also available. Final compensation depends on factors including experience, expertise and location.

Pinterest's flexible working model means this role requires in-person collaboration only 1–2 times every six months, depending on team needs.

Candidates should note that the position is for US-based applicants, and relocation assistance is not provided.

Pinterest is an equal-opportunity employer and considers qualified applicants based on merit without discrimination based on legally protected characteristics.