Creative Engineer at Critical Mass

San Jose, California, United States

Critical Mass Logo
Not SpecifiedCompensation
Mid-level (3 to 4 years)Experience Level
Full TimeJob Type
UnknownVisa
Digital Marketing, Advertising, DesignIndustries

Requirements

  • Strong proficiency in Figma and After Effects
  • Interest or experience in motion design, animation, or creative automation
  • Excellent organisation, documentation, and communication skills
  • High attention to detail and consistency across assets and templates
  • 2+ years of design experience
  • Experience in DCO, programmatic, or ad tech environments
  • Familiarity with creative render pipelines or light coding (e.g. HTML, GSAP, JSON)
  • Understanding of data-driven creative systems
  • Curiosity around AI tools and their role in creative production
  • Strong background in visual or motion design
  • Curiosity about automation, creative systems, and AI
  • Enjoy structured problem solving and logical thinking alongside hands-on creative work
  • Proactive and confident in sharing ideas for improving tools or workflows
  • Pride in producing clear, precise documentation and beautifully structured templates
  • Enjoy working collaboratively with designers, developers, and product teams

Responsibilities

  • Translate brand guidelines and static designs into dynamic, on-brand template systems
  • Use custom Figma and After Effects plugins to build, animate, and refine automated creative templates
  • Create mock-ups and visual examples to present creative systems and dynamic concepts to clients
  • Collaborate with the product team to test, feedback, and improve internal tools and automation workflows
  • Explore and contribute to the development of new AI-based creative solutions
  • Create and maintain detailed Template Guides for each project, documenting specifications, logic, and creative parameters
  • Prepare, crop, and optimise assets for use within templates
  • Partner with strategists and developers to ensure creative templates align with campaign logic and data-driven objectives
  • Maintain exceptional organisation, quality, and attention to detail across all builds

Skills

Key technologies and capabilities for this role

FigmaAfter Effectsmotion designanimationcreative automationFigma pluginsAfter Effects pluginsasset optimizationtemplate systemsvisual design

Questions & Answers

Common questions about this position

What compensation or benefits are offered for this role?

Critical Mass offers competitive compensation and benefits packages, including maternity and parental leave extra days, vacation, compassionate leave, sick days, flex days, access to free online services for families, diversity and inclusion initiatives, internal learning programs, and enterprise-wide employee discounts.

Is this Creative Engineer role remote or office-based?

This information is not specified in the job description.

What skills are required for the Creative Engineer position?

Required skills include strong proficiency in Figma and After Effects, 2+ years of design experience, experience in DCO, programmatic, or ad tech environments, excellent organization, documentation, and communication skills, high attention to detail, and familiarity with creative render pipelines or light coding like HTML, GSAP, JSON.

What is the company culture like at Critical Mass?

The culture emphasizes collaboration with designers, developers, and product teams, a Diversity and Inclusion Board with 12 affinity groups, internal learning and development programs, and values proactive idea-sharing, structured problem-solving, and creativity meeting technology.

What makes a strong candidate for this Creative Engineer role?

Strong candidates have a background in visual or motion design, curiosity about automation, AI, and creative systems, enjoy structured problem-solving with creative work, take pride in precise documentation, and thrive in collaborative environments.

Critical Mass

Digital experience design and marketing agency

About Critical Mass

Critical Mass is a digital experience design agency that creates engaging digital solutions for clients in various industries, including automotive, finance, healthcare, and retail. The agency focuses on delivering tailored digital strategies, user experience (UX) design, and technology solutions. Their services encompass website design and development, digital marketing campaigns, social media management, and data analytics. Critical Mass differentiates itself from competitors through its collaborative approach, working closely with clients to co-create solutions that resonate with their target audience. The company aims to simplify complex digital challenges and provide user-friendly solutions while nurturing talent through programs like the Critical Mass Artist In Residence (CM AIR) and Trailhead.

Calgary, CanadaHeadquarters
1996Year Founded
$238KTotal Funding
M_AND_ACompany Stage
Data & Analytics, Consulting, Consumer SoftwareIndustries
1,001-5,000Employees

Benefits

Professional Development Spending Account that can be used for conferences, courses, subscriptions, books
Competitive pay and benefits
Match charitable donations up to $100USD
Flexible, reasonable work-from-home arrangements whenever possible

Risks

Emerging digital agencies in Canada threaten Critical Mass's market share.
Rebranding with BlackSquare may misalign with Diageo's brand vision, affecting collaborations.
Public health disinformation focus may attract scrutiny, impacting reputation in studied regions.

Differentiation

Critical Mass excels in advanced UX design and data analytics.
The company specializes in voice interface design and AI-driven customer interactions.
Critical Mass offers integrated marketing communications and omnichannel strategies.

Upsides

Increased demand for personalized digital experiences boosts Critical Mass's core services.
The rise of e-commerce aligns with Critical Mass's expertise in digital identity solutions.
Growing digital ad expenditure in Canada expands the market for Critical Mass's services.

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