The Heist Tech Stack

Animation and motion design studio for brand storytelling

Entertainment Providers Chicago, IL 11–50 employees Founded 2013 Privately Held

The Heist is a 11–50 person creative studio in Chicago built around motion-design and animation production for brands. The tech stack is pure creative: Adobe Creative Cloud (Premiere, After Effects, Photoshop, Illustrator), 3D engines (Cinema 4D, Maya, Blender, Houdini), and supporting tools like Figma and Marvelous Designer. Active hiring is heavily skewed toward design roles (5 of 7 open positions), split evenly between junior and senior talent, suggesting both portfolio expansion and mentorship-tier growth — a pattern consistent with studios scaling output without losing craft direction.

Tech Stack 17 technologies

Core StackAdobe Premiere Pro After Effects Redshift Adobe Illustrator Adobe Photoshop Adobe Creative Cloud Figma Cinema 4D Photoshop Adobe After Effects Marvelous Designer Houdini Blender Maya

What The Heist Is Building

◆Challenges

Scheduling conflicts
Bandwidth challenges
Resource utilization

▲Active Projects

Micro-content campaigns
Ar projects
Short animated films
High-impact marketing campaigns
Ar apps
Out-of-home activations

Hiring Activity

Accelerating7 roles · 7 in 30d

Department

Design

Marketing

Ops

Seniority

Junior

Senior

Mid

Notable leadership hires: Motion Art Director, Creative Director

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About The Heist

The Heist creates animation, motion design, and live-action content for digital, experiential, and broadcast platforms. The studio works on short-form animated films, AR projects, out-of-home activations, and micro-content campaigns for brand marketing. Founded in 2013 and based in Chicago, the studio is operationally small (11–50 employees) and recently acquired as part of Thinkingbox. Current hiring velocity is accelerating, with roles open across design, marketing operations, and creative direction, including Motion Art Director and Creative Director positions. The company reports resource and scheduling challenges as production constraints.

HeadquartersChicago, IL

Company Size11–50 employees

Founded2013

Hiring MarketsCanada

Frequently Asked Questions

What software does The Heist use for animation and motion design?

The studio's core stack includes Adobe Creative Cloud (Premiere Pro, After Effects, Photoshop, Illustrator), Cinema 4D, Maya, Houdini, Blender, Redshift, and Figma. Marvelous Designer is also in active use for 3D asset creation.

What projects is The Heist currently working on?

Active projects span micro-content campaigns, AR projects, short animated films, AR apps, out-of-home activations, and high-impact marketing campaigns. The studio also serves brands across digital, experiential, and broadcast platforms.