{"id":3170647,"url":"https://alion.io/job/absurd-ventures-software-engineer-animation","title":"Software Engineer, Animation","company":{"id":669423,"name":"Absurd Ventures","domain":"absurdventures.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/absurdventures","size_band":"51-200","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Greenhouse","truth_index":null},"role":"Backend","role_family":"Backend","seniority":"middle","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Santa Monica, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":120000,"max":150000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":150000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":3,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"C++","optional":false},{"name":"Inverse Kinematics","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false},{"name":"Unreal Engine","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-23T16:51:07Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-23","last_verified_at":"2026-10-26T17:34:27Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":3,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":3},"description":"Summary \nWe are seeking a skilled Animation Engineerto join our team and help develop the systems and technology that bring characters to life in a new IP AAA open world game. As an Animation Engineer at Absurd Ventures, you will work closely with Animators, Gameplay Engineers, Designers, and Technical Artists to build and support responsive, high-quality character animation systems in Unreal Engine. \nYou will contribute to runtime animation systems, tools, and workflows that enable the team to create believable characters while meeting the technical and performance demands of a large-scale game. This is a hands-on engineering role for someone who enjoys solving problems at the intersection of animation, gameplay, and technology. \nCore Responsibilities \nDevelop, maintain, and improve runtime animation systems for player characters, NPCs, creatures and enemy characters. \nWork closely with Animators, Designers, and Gameplay Engineers to implement responsive, high-quality character behaviors and animation-driven gameplay. \nBuild and support animation systems for locomotion, traversal, interactions, combat, crowds and other gameplay scenarios. \nDevelop tools and workflows that improve the efficiency and iteration speed of the Animation team. \nImplement and support animation functionality using C++, Blueprints, Animation Blueprints, state machines, blend spaces, montages, and other Unreal Engine animation technologies. \nCollaborate with Technical Animation and Technical Art to integrate character rigs, animation assets, and procedural systems into the game. \nDiagnose and resolve animation-related technical issues across code, animation content, and gameplay systems. \nProfile and optimize animation systems for runtime performance, memory, and scalability. \nWork within existing engineering architecture and contribute clean, maintainable, well-documented code. \nParticipate in code reviews and technical discussions and contribute to engineering standards and best practices. \nProactively identify animation technology risks and communicate technical challenges and potential solutions to the appropriate disciplines. \nCore Qualifications \n3+ years of professional experience as an Animation Engineer or Gameplay Engineer, or similar role in the video game industry. \nStrong C++ programming skills and experience developing real-time game systems. \nProfessional experience working with Unreal Engine. \nStrong understanding of real-time character animation concepts, including animation blending, state machines, locomotion, inverse kinematics, and animation-driven gameplay. \nExperience working with Unreal Engine animation systems such as Animation Blueprints, Blend Spaces, Montages, and skeletal animation. \nStrong debugging and problem-solving skills with the ability to investigate issues spanning code and animation content. \nExperience collaborating directly with Animators, Designers, Technical Artists, and other Engineers. \nStrong communication skills and a collaborative mindset. \nPlus if... \nExperience developing animation systems for AAA, open-world, or large-scale 3D games. \nExperience with Unreal Engine 5 animation technologies such as Control Rig, Motion Warping, Pose Search, or Motion Matching. \nExperience with procedural animation, IK, runtime rigging, or physical animation. \nExperience developing Unreal Engine editor tools or animation pipeline tools. \nFamiliarity with motion capture pipelines and animation data processing. \nExperience profiling and optimizing animation systems on console hardware. \nExperience with animation systems involving traversal, combat, locomotion, or contextual character interactions. \nFamiliarity with Python or other scripting languages used in animation or content pipelines. \nDescription \nFull-time job with benefits. \nRole is on-site in Santa Monica, CA. \nOffice is located near downtown Santa Monica - near metro and freeways. \nThe base pay range for this position is $120,000 to $150,000 per year. Actual compensation is based on market location and may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. We also offer a competitive package of benefits including vacation time, sick time, company holidays, parental leave, medical/dental/vision insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, and 401(k) matching to regular full-time employees. Certain roles may also be eligible for bonus and equity.","description_format":"text","description_chars":4404,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":3,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Equity","Life insurance","Parental leave","Vision insurance"],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Film Production","Game Development"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-23T18:27:38Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":90,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.903,"p_room":1,"age_days":2,"expected_fill_days":30,"reasons":["conf:2","velocity","win:early"],"computed_at":"2026-10-26T05:57:25Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":150000,"is_top_pay":false},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/absurd-ventures-software-engineer-animation","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/absurd-ventures-software-engineer-animation.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-26T18:55:37Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":25508,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-27T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":669423},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=669423"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fabsurd-ventures-software-engineer-animation"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fabsurd-ventures-software-engineer-animation"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fabsurd-ventures-software-engineer-animation"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/absurd-ventures-software-engineer-animation\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fabsurd-ventures-software-engineer-animation"}]}