Manchester Digital
Animator Educational Video Series
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Posted: 1 August 2026
Pay: £500 per calendar month (£6,000 total for initial term)
Contract: Freelance / self-employed retainer. Not a contract of employment.
Term: 12 months initially, with option to continue by mutual agreement
Output: 1 fully scripted and animated episode per month — up to 2 minutes of original animation
Pipeline: Minimum 3 months of scripts planned and in development at all times
Location: Remote UK based preferred
Start: As soon as possible
Payment: Monthly on written acceptance of that month's episode and pipeline deliverables
What is Ladybird?
A Manchester-based AI company on a mission to make artificial intelligence understandable for everyone. We are building a YouTube educational series that breaks down how AI actually works, in plain English, for people who have never thought about it before. NHS staff. Patients. Students. The curious public. Think TED-Ed. Character-led. Warm. One episode a month. Topics like how a machine learns, what training data is, why AI makes mistakes, and what it means for the world we live in.
This is a freelance retainer with option to continue long term.
What is this role?
Research, script, and animate one educational episode per month as part of the Ladybird AI Educational Series. This is not a brief-to-animation role. You research each topic, write the script, build the content pipeline, and animate it. Ladybird provides the series direction, the voiceover, and the branded intro and outro. Everything else is yours.
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Important read this first
To apply you must complete the application form below. Applications sent directly by email will not be reviewed.
What You Will Produce
- One fully scripted and animated episode per month
- Up to 2 minutes of original animation — excluding the 10-second branded intro and outro
- Character-led, TED-Ed style, warm, human, non-technical
- Animated to a voiceover audio file provided by Ladybird
- Maintained 3-month content pipeline at all times, always researching, scripting, and animating simultaneously
Style references
You must have
- Strong 2D character animation skills: expressive, dimensional characters that feel warm and human
- Experience producing educational or explainer animation
- Comfortable working within an existing visual identity and style guide
- Able to research AI topics using publicly available educational resources and write plain-English scripts for a non-technical audience
- Able to work independently and deliver consistently to a monthly cadence
Useful But Not Essential
- Healthcare or educational animation experience
- NHS audience awareness
- Science communication background
What Ladybird Provides
- Series direction, episode topics, audience context, and tone guidelines
- Full creative brief per episode
- Branded intro and outro (10 seconds each) source files provided
- Ladybird brand guidelines
- Voiceover audio file per episode, recorded separately by Ladybird
- One round of animation revisions per episode
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Not suitable if
- You are looking for a brief-to-animation role where scripts are handed to you ready-made
- You cannot commit to a monthly delivery cadence and a rolling 3-month pipeline
- You are not comfortable researching and writing the scripts as well as animating them
The opportunity
This is a long-term engagement with scope to grow as the series expands. The animator who builds this series from the ground up will have the deepest knowledge of the content, the characters, the audience, and is strongly positioned to grow with it.
How To Apply 3 Stages
You must complete the application form to be considered.
Applications sent by email will not be reviewed.
- Form: Complete the application with the link below, approximately 15 minutes. Portfolio links, scripting experience, availability, and background.
- Video: Shortlisted candidates will be invited to record a 60–120 second introduction video answering three questions. Full guidance including questions, format, and deadline will be provided.
- Group interview: Final candidates will be invited to a 90-minute group interview via Google Meet. There will also be a live writing task.
You will hear back within 48 hours at every stage either way.
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