Senior Technical Animator

This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Senior Technical Animator based in United States.

This is an opportunity to bridge animation and engineering while helping create immersive, atmospheric, and emotionally impactful gaming experiences. You will design and maintain sophisticated animation systems, rigs, tools, and pipelines that bring characters and worlds to life in-game. The role combines hands-on technical expertise with close collaboration across animation, design, gameplay engineering, and other disciplines. You will work primarily in Unreal Engine, contributing to scalable workflows and technical standards that support high-quality game development. Your work will directly influence animation performance, runtime stability, and the efficiency of the broader creative team. You will also have the opportunity to mentor junior technical animators and help solve complex technical challenges across the animation pipeline. This is a highly collaborative environment where technical innovation and creative ambition come together to deliver memorable player experiences.

Accountabilities:

• Develop and maintain animation systems, character rigs, automated lip-sync solutions, and runtime animation systems within Unreal Engine.
• Build and improve tools and pipelines that increase the efficiency, consistency, and scalability of animation workflows.
• Collaborate closely with animators to ensure rigs, skeletons, and animation assets perform effectively within the game.
• Partner with gameplay engineers to integrate animation features and systems into gameplay experiences.
• Optimize animation assets for performance, memory usage, and runtime stability across supported platforms.
• Troubleshoot and resolve complex animation, rigging, deformation, and pipeline issues throughout development.
• Support motion capture integration, animation retargeting, and procedural animation systems when required.
• Establish, document, and promote best practices for animation pipelines, technical standards, and production workflows.
• Contribute hands-on animation work when needed to support production goals and maintain a strong understanding of the creative process.
• Mentor junior technical animators and provide technical guidance to the broader animation team.
• Collaborate across art, design, and engineering disciplines to identify technical opportunities and deliver reliable animation solutions.

Requirements:

• Bring 3+ years of professional experience in technical animation and rigging within the video game industry.
• Demonstrate strong experience with Unreal Engine, particularly Control Rig and animation systems within the engine.
• Have strong proficiency with Maya or similar digital content creation tools, including rigging and scripting workflows.
• Understand animation state machines, blend trees, and runtime animation systems.
• Have a solid understanding of character rigging, skinning, deformation, and related technical animation systems.
• Bring familiarity with Python, MEL, C++, or Blueprint scripting for developing animation tools and production pipelines.
• Demonstrate strong problem-solving and debugging skills, particularly when addressing complex animation and rigging challenges.
• Have excellent communication skills and the ability to collaborate effectively with artists, designers, engineers, and other disciplines.
• Experience with motion capture pipelines and retargeting systems is a valuable advantage.
• Knowledge of Unreal rigging tools, procedural animation with Control Rig, physics-based animation, or inverse kinematics systems is preferred.
• Experience optimizing animation for console or PC performance constraints is beneficial.
• Experience creating animations in a production environment is a plus.
• Experience shipping at least one AAA or mid-sized studio game title is highly desirable.
• Experience developing animation tools or plugins is an additional advantage.

Benefits:

• The annual base salary range varies by U.S. metropolitan area and location.
• San Francisco, New York City, Los Angeles, Seattle, Boston, and Washington, DC metropolitan areas: $125,000-$149,000 USD annually.
• Austin, Denver, Nashville, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, and Miami metropolitan areas: $100,000-$130,000 USD annually.
• All other U.S. locations: $92,000-$118,000 USD annually.
• Final compensation within the applicable range is determined based on factors such as experience, qualifications, and work location.
• Eligible U.S.-based full-time employees receive profit sharing.
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance are available to eligible employees.
• A 401(k) matching program is provided.
• Flexible spending and health savings account options are available through FSA/HSA programs.
• Employees receive paid time off, sick time, and paid holidays.
• Parental leave is available to eligible employees.
• The role supports a remote working arrangement, subject to applicable employment and location requirements.
• The organization is committed to equal employment opportunities and an inclusive workplace.