Animator (External Development)

1 Month ago • 3 Years + • Animation • $87,667 PA - $131,497 PA

Job Summary

Job Description

Santa Monica Studio seeks an Animator to collaborate with their external development (ExDev) team. This hybrid role involves working with external animation studios to produce high-quality assets for AAA games, ensuring they meet Santa Monica Studio's standards. Responsibilities include managing communication with external partners, creating pipeline documentation, troubleshooting technical issues, integrating assets into the game engine, and tracking content deliveries. The ideal candidate has 3+ years of gameplay animation experience, proficiency in Maya and a real-time game engine (Unreal Engine or similar), and strong communication skills. They will partner with the Animation Director and Leads to successfully ship a AAA title.
Must have:
  • 3+ years Gameplay Animator experience
  • Proficiency in Maya & real-time game engine
  • Strong communication & collaboration skills
  • Understanding of animation principles
  • Experience with character creation pipelines
Good to have:
  • Experience with outsourcing teams
  • Familiarity with combat animation systems
  • Experience using Shotgrid
Perks:
  • Medical, dental, and vision benefits

Job Details

Why PlayStation?

PlayStation isn’t just the Best Place to Play — it’s also the Best Place to Work. Today, we’re recognized as a global leader in entertainment producing The PlayStation family of products and services including PlayStation®5, PlayStation®4, PlayStation®VR, PlayStation®Plus, acclaimed PlayStation software titles from PlayStation Studios, and more.

PlayStation also strives to create an inclusive environment that empowers employees and embraces diversity. We welcome and encourage everyone who has a passion and curiosity for innovation, technology, and play to explore our open positions and join our growing global team.

The PlayStation brand falls under Sony Interactive Entertainment, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation.

 

Join the award-winning team that created God of War

Santa Monica Studio is looking for an Animator to partner with the external development group and help drive a variety of animation-related tasks.

This hybrid role leverages your animation skills and your ability to communicate with outside partners. Team members will collaborate with external animation studios to produce high-quality assets. Additionally, you will facilitate the integration of their work into the game engine, address technical issues, and troubleshoot problems encountered by our external animation teams. 

The ideal candidate possesses the experience and knowledge necessary to create high-quality animations in a game development environment, has a strong understanding of game animation pipelines, and demonstrates the ability to collaborate with our external teams as well as our Animation Director and Leads to successfully ship a AAA game.

Responsibilities

  • Regularly represent the studio in external animation-related communication and discussion with an external group of animators
  • Work with the External Development group to maintain strong relationships with external animation studios and ensure their success in working with our team to meet Santa Monica Studio standards
  • Create documentation for outsourcing animation pipeline guidelines, tutorials, examples, and delivery expectations for our external partners
  • Assist the ExDev animation team to ensure content deliveries meet the studio's artistic and technical standards, including ensuring that delivered assets are of final shipping quality
  • Help troubleshoot animation, rigging, or workflow problems with external partners
  • Integrate delivered content directly into the game
  • Partner with the production team to help track incoming assets and deliveries

Requirements

  • 3+ years of experience as a Gameplay Animator in the game industry
  • Strong understanding of gameplay animation principles, including weight, timing, and responsiveness
  • Proficiency in Maya and experience working with animation in a real-time game engine (Unreal Engine, proprietary engines, etc.)
  • Working knowledge of character creation and animation pipelines
  • Exhibits strong communication, organizational, time management, and interpersonal skills
  • Shows an interest in tackling the challenges of collaborating with multiple external animation groups

Preferred Experience

  • Experience working with outsourcing teams and animation pipelines
  • Familiarity with combat, traversal, or systemic animation systems in third-person action games
  • Experience using Shotgrid is a plus

 

#LI-SMS

 Please refer to our Candidate Privacy Notice for more information about how we process your personal information, and your data protection rights.

 

At SIE, working with our partners, we consider several factors when setting each role’s base pay range, including the competitive benchmarking data for the market and geographic location. 

Please note that the individual base pay range may vary based on job-related factors which may include knowledge, skills, experience, and location.

In addition, this role is eligible for benefit offerings that include medical, dental, and vision. Click here to learn more.

The estimated base pay range for this role is listed below, this is an hourly rate.

$44.38 - $66.59 USD

Equal Opportunity Statement:

Sony is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All persons will receive consideration for employment without regard to gender (including gender identity, gender expression and gender reassignment), race (including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin), religion or belief, marital or civil partnership status, disability, age, sexual orientation, pregnancy, maternity or parental status, trade union membership or membership in any other legally protected category.

We strive to create an inclusive environment, empower employees and embrace diversity. We encourage everyone to respond. 

PlayStation is a Fair Chance employer and qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records will be considered for employment.

Similar Jobs

Virtuos - Animator

Virtuos

Malaysia (On-Site)
1 Month ago
Virtuos - 3D Environment Artist (Dalat)

Virtuos

Vietnam (On-Site)
1 Week ago
Larian Studios - Senior Animator

Larian Studios

Quebec, Canada (On-Site)
4 Weeks ago
Lakshya Digital - 3D Animation Artist (Motion Capture Specialist)

Lakshya Digital

Haryana, India (On-Site)
1 Week ago
Ubisoft - Technical Artist World

Ubisoft

Annecy, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France (On-Site)
1 Month ago
Flying Bark Productions - Surfacing Lead

Flying Bark Productions

New South Wales, Australia (Hybrid)
2 Weeks ago
Flying Bark Productions - Nuke Compositor

Flying Bark Productions

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (On-Site)
8 Months ago
QUANTIC DREAM - Associate Animation Director

QUANTIC DREAM

Paris, Île-de-France, France (Hybrid)
4 Weeks ago
DNEG - Shot Sculpt Artist

DNEG

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India (On-Site)
1 Month ago
IO Interactive - Senior Gameplay Animator

IO Interactive

İstanbul, İstanbul, Türkiye (Hybrid)
2 Weeks ago

Get notifed when new similar jobs are uploaded

Similar Skill Jobs

Insomniac Games - Senior Visual Effects Artist

Insomniac Games

United States (Remote)
1 Month ago
Xentrix Studios - Animation – Artist

Xentrix Studios

India (On-Site)
5 Months ago
Framestore - Technical Artist - Immersive

Framestore

England, United Kingdom (On-Site)
2 Months ago
Ubisoft - Senior Gameplay Animator

Ubisoft

Toronto, Ontario, Canada (Hybrid)
2 Weeks ago
Xentrix Studios - Visual FX – Team Lead

Xentrix Studios

India (On-Site)
5 Months ago
Ubisoft - Senior Rigger

Ubisoft

Montreal, Quebec, Canada (Hybrid)
6 Days ago
Frontier Developments - Character Artist

Frontier Developments

Cambridge, England, United Kingdom (Hybrid)
2 Months ago
Oculus VR - Senior Narrative Systems Designer

Oculus VR

San Mateo, California, United States (Remote)
1 Month ago
DNEG - DMP Artist

DNEG

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India (On-Site)
4 Weeks ago
Wargaming - Lead Environment Artist

Wargaming

Vilnius, Vilnius County, Lithuania (Hybrid)
1 Month ago

Get notifed when new similar jobs are uploaded

Jobs in Los Angeles, California, United States

NVIDIA - Senior Circuit Design Engineer, Power Delivery

NVIDIA

California, United States (Hybrid)
1 Week ago
Patel greene - PD&E Project Manager

Patel greene

Bartow, Florida, United States (On-Site)
5 Months ago
NVIDIA - Senior Signal Integrity Design Engineer

NVIDIA

Santa Clara, California, United States (On-Site)
3 Months ago
Nagarro - Principal Consultant, Business Analyst

Nagarro

New York, New York, United States (On-Site)
6 Months ago
Netflix - Manager/Counsel, Business and Legal Affairs - Original Series // Drama

Netflix

Los Angeles, California, United States (On-Site)
1 Week ago
Evolution - In Studio Game Presenter

Evolution

Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States (On-Site)
4 Weeks ago
ByteDance - Research Scientist Graduate (Foundation Model, Video Generation) - 2025 Start (PhD)

ByteDance

Seattle, Washington, United States (On-Site)
5 Months ago
Google - Developer Relations Engineer, Mobile Ads

Google

Mountain View, California, United States (On-Site)
1 Week ago
ByteDance - Software Engineer, Unity Engine and XR

ByteDance

San Jose, California, United States (On-Site)
1 Month ago
NVIDIA - Cable and Connector Architect

NVIDIA

Santa Clara, California, United States (On-Site)
1 Week ago

Get notifed when new similar jobs are uploaded

Animation Jobs

Epic Games - Producer

Epic Games

Porto Alegre, State Of Rio Grande Do Sul, Brazil (On-Site)
1 Week ago
Ubisoft - Technical Cinematic Designer

Ubisoft

Bordeaux, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France (On-Site)
4 Weeks ago
Virtuos - Senior 3D Animation

Virtuos

China (On-Site)
3 Days ago
Epic Games - Associate Art Producer

Epic Games

Porto Alegre, State Of Rio Grande Do Sul, Brazil (On-Site)
1 Week ago
Epic Games - Technical Artist, Developer Relations (Metahuman)

Epic Games

Cary, North Carolina, United States (On-Site)
1 Week ago
11 bit studios - Animation Programmer

11 bit studios

Warsaw, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland (Hybrid)
1 Month ago
Larian Studios - Senior Generalist Technical Animator

Larian Studios

Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain (On-Site)
4 Weeks ago
Flying Bark Productions - CG Lighting Artist

Flying Bark Productions

New South Wales, Australia (Hybrid)
2 Weeks ago
Ubisoft - Technical Animation Director

Ubisoft

Annecy, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France (On-Site)
4 Weeks ago
Liquid Development - Senior 3D Animator

Liquid Development

(Remote)
1 Month ago

Get notifed when new similar jobs are uploaded

About The Company

Want to take your career to the next level? Search open job vacancies at any of the Sony Interactive sites by visiting playstation.com/careers/


Sony Interactive Entertainment pushes the boundaries of entertainment and innovation, starting from the launch of the original PlayStation in Japan in 1994. Today, we continue to deliver innovative and thrilling experiences to a global audience through our PlayStation line of products and services that include generation-defining hardware, pioneering network services, and award-winning games. Headquartered in San Mateo, California, with global functions in California, London, and Tokyo, and game development studios around the world as part of PlayStation Studios, we believe that the power of play is borderless. Sony Interactive Entertainment is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation.  


For more information about our company, please visit SonyInteractive.com. For more information about PlayStation products, please visit PlayStation.com.

California, United States (Hybrid)

Los Angeles, California, United States (Remote)

Aliso Viejo, California, United States (On-Site)

London, England, United Kingdom (On-Site)

London, England, United Kingdom (Hybrid)

London, England, United Kingdom (Hybrid)

San Mateo, California, United States (On-Site)

Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia (On-Site)

Helsinki, Uusimaa, Finland (On-Site)

Helsinki, Uusimaa, Finland (On-Site)

View All Jobs

Get notified when new jobs are added by PlayStation Global

Level Up Your Career in Game Development!

Transform Your Passion into Profession with Our Comprehensive Courses for Aspiring Game Developers.

Job Common Plug