Senior Animator

Summary 

We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Senior Animator to join our dynamic team. As Senior Animator, you will be responsible for creating high-quality character and creature animations that define the quality of animation across our game world. You will have a direct impact on the player's experience by ensuring that our animations are fluid, realistic, and enhance the overall gameplay.  

 Core Responsibilities 

• Create high-quality keyframe and motion capture animations for player characters, enemies, and NPCs. 
• Work closely with designers and engineers to ensure animations integrate seamlessly into gameplay and AI systems. 
• Help define and refine animation pipelines and workflows to maximize efficiency and quality. 
• Collaborate with technical animators and engineers to develop animation state machines, blend trees, and procedural animation solutions. 
• Maintain a high level of artistic and technical quality while meeting project deadlines. 
• Mentor and support junior animators, sharing knowledge and best practices. 
• Provide feedback and iterate animations based on playtests and internal reviews. 

Core Qualifications 

• 5+ years of experience in animation for games. 
• Strong proficiency in Maya.  
• Experience working with animation systems in modern game engines (Unreal Engine preferred). 
• A strong understanding of animation principles, character performance, and motion dynamics. 
• Familiarity with motion capture processes, cleanup, and implementation. 
• Experience with state machines, blend trees, and animation-driven gameplay mechanics. 
• Ability to collaborate across disciplines and communicate effectively with designers and engineers. 
• A strong portfolio demonstrating high-quality character animation. 

Plus if... 

• Experience working in Motionbuilder. 
• Experience with procedural animation and runtime animation techniques. 
• Familiarity with scripting or tools development (Python, MEL, Blueprint, etc.). 
• Background in combat animation, creature animation, or cinematic animation. 
• Previous experience mentoring or leading a small team of animators. 

Description  

• Full time job with benefits  
• Role is on-site in San Rafael, CA or Santa Monica, CA. 

The base pay range for this position is $125,000 to $160,000 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.