Job description
ABOUT KHAN ACADEMY
Khan Academy is a nonprofit with the mission to deliver a free, world-class education to anyone, anywhere. Our proven learning platform offers free, high-quality supplemental learning content and practice that cover Pre-K - 12th grade and early college core academic subjects, focusing on math and science. We have over 181 million registered learners globally and are committed to improving learning outcomes for students worldwide, focusing on learners in historically under-resourced communities.
OUR COMMUNITY
Our students, teachers, and parents come from all walks of life, and so do we. Our team includes people from academia, traditional/non-traditional education, big tech companies, and tiny startups. We hire great people from diverse backgrounds and experiences because it makes our company stronger. We value diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging as necessary to achieve our mission and impact the communities we serve. We know that transforming education starts in-house with learning about ourselves and our colleagues. We strive to be world-class in investing in our people and commit to developing you as a professional.
ABOUT KHAN ACADEMY KIDS
Khan Academy Kids is a free and fun learning program for children ages two to eight. Kodi Bear and a cast of animated characters lead children on a personalized education journey filled with fun, standards-aligned activities in early literacy, math, executive functioning and social emotional skills. Built by a small but mighty team, Khan Academy Kids is used by millions of children in homes and classrooms around the world.
THE ROLE
The Khan Academy Kids team is seeking a Senior 2D Animator with strong animation skills and a deep understanding of how to engage young children through motion, character performance, and playful design. In this role, you’ll bring charming characters, interactive interfaces, and joyful learning moments to life using the latest animation tools, pipelines, and technologies. This is a contract role of 40 hours/week for 12 months at $60/hr, depending on experience. Depending on business need, there is potential for this role to convert to a full-time position down the line.
Responsibilities:
- Bring to life charming characters, dynamic interface components, and captivating visual elements using Rive software. Experience with Rive is not required, but adaptability to learn new tools is essential.
- Collaborate cross-functionally with 2D artists, product managers, engineers, and other animators to deliver playful, engaging animations.
- Drive creative brainstorming and narrative strategies that connect meaningfully with young learners.
- Harmonize animations with audio elements including music, sound effects, and narration.
- Maintain consistency with the Khan Academy Kids visual style and brand guidelines.
- Review work of others on the team and provide thoughtful feedback.
WHAT YOU BRING
- 5+ years of experience in 2D animation for mobile apps, games, or media.
- Familiarity in developing animations for early childhood audiences (ages 2-8)
- Proficiency in modern animation tools. Experience in Rive or state machines is preferred.
- Ability to balance creative vision with technical and production constraints in a collaborative, fast-paced environment.
- Comfort working with engineers to ensure animations are efficiently integrated into interactive products.
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills for technical and non-technical collaborators.
- Passion for early childhood education and children’s media and an attentiveness to what kids and families find fun and efficacious.
- Motivated by the Khan Academy mission “to provide a free world-class education for anyone, anywhere.”
NOTE: Submitting a portfolio or demo reel with your application is required. Please be sure to include passwords, if applicable. We’re looking for a portfolio/demo reel that highlights your animation work, including character, UI and interactive animations.
MORE ABOUT US
- Sal’s TED talk from 2011
- Sal’s TED talk from 2015
- Sal’s TED talk from 2023
- Our team: http://www.khanacademy.org/about/the-team
OUR COMPANY VALUES
Live & breathe learners
We deeply understand and empathize with our users. We leverage user insights, research, and experience to build content, products, services, and experiences that our users trust and love. Our success is defined by the success of our learners and educators.
Take a stand
As a company, we have conviction in our aspirational point of view of how education will evolve. The work we do is in service to moving towards that point of view. However, we also listen, learn and flex in the face of new data, and commit to evolving this point of view as the industry and our users evolve.
Embrace diverse perspectives
We are a diverse community. We seek out and embrace a diversity of voices, perspectives and life experiences leading to stronger, more inclusive teams and better outcomes. As individuals, we are committed to bringing up tough topics and leaning into different points of view with curiosity. We actively listen, learn and collaborate to gain a shared understanding. When a decision is made, we commit to moving forward as a united team.
Work responsibly and sustainably
We understand that achieving our audacious mission is a marathon, so we set realistic timelines and we focus on delivery that also links to the bigger picture. As a non-profit, we are supported by the generosity of donors as well as strategic partners, and understand our responsibility to our finite resources. We spend every dollar as though it were our own. We are responsible for the impact we have on the world and to each other. We ensure our team and company stay healthy and financially sustainable.
Bring out the joy
We are committed to making learning a joyful process. This informs what we build for our users and the culture we co-create with our teammates, partners and donors.
Cultivate learning mindset
We believe in the power of growth for learners and for ourselves. We constantly learn and teach to improve our offerings, ourselves, and our organization. We learn from our mistakes and aren’t afraid to fail. We don’t let past failures or successes stop us from taking future bold action and achieving our goals.
Deliver wow
We insist on high standards and deliver delightful, effective end-to-end experiences that our users can rely on. We choose to focus on fewer things — each of which aligns to our ambitious vision — so we can deliver high-quality experiences that accelerate positive measurable learning with our strategic partners.
We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, or Veteran status. We value diversity, equity, and inclusion, and we encourage candidates from historically underrepresented groups to apply. As part of this commitment, Khan Academy will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations for the hiring process. If reasonable accommodation is needed, please contact [email protected]
