Senior Cinematic Animator - Contract

Playground Games is seeking a Senior Cinematic Animator to create top-tier cutscenes and bespoke animation content for the Fable team. This role involves driving creative vision from previsualization to final polish, enhancing narrative through cinematic storytelling, and ensuring seamless integration of animations within the proprietary engine. The ideal candidate is an expert in conveying emotion through performance, with extensive experience in motion capture and hand-keyed animation, and familiarity with in-engine cinematic implementation.

Must Have

• Capture, solve, retarget, and polish facial and full-body mocap data.
• Iterate rapidly on cinematic layout to enhance visual storytelling.
• Implement cinematics into proprietary engine.
• Impressive animation portfolio showcasing high-quality, realistic facial and body animations.
• Five or more years in animation, with a proven track record on at least two published titles.
• Proficient in body, facial, and camera animation, motion capture clean-up, and industry-standard animation software.
• Genuine enthusiasm for video games, narrative, and the creative process.

Good to Have

• Experience in cinematography
• Experience in editing
• Experience in game engine implementation

Perks & Benefits

• Relocation assistance for qualified candidates
• Opportunity to make world-class games
• Work with an established, talented, and collaborative team
• Focus on self-development, career progression, and well-being
• Inclusive and welcoming working environment

Description

Playground Games is looking for a Senior Cinematic Animator to join our talented Fable team here in Leamington Spa.

ABOUT US:

As a first-party Xbox Game Studio, we are passionate about making genre-defining games that are accessible, beautiful, and, most of all, fun. We are excited to be rebooting the much-loved Fable franchise and are expanding our diverse team to create a new classic in the action RPG genre.

ABOUT THE ROLE:

As a Senior Cinematics Animator, you'll work closely with our cinematics team to produce top-tier cutscenes and bespoke animation content. You will drive creative vision from previsualization through final polish, enhance narrative through cinematic storytelling, and ensure your animations are seamlessly integrated within our proprietary engine.

We’re looking for an expert animator who is passionate about storytelling, excels at conveying emotion through performance, and has a deep understanding of both facial and body performance. The ideal candidate has extensive experience with motion capture and hand-keyed animation, as well as familiarity with implementing cinematics in-engine.

This is a contract position at our state-of-the-art facilities in Royal Leamington Spa, operating under a hybrid work model. Relocation assistance is available for qualified candidates.

WHAT YOU'LL DO:

• Capture, solve, retarget, and polish both facial and full-body mocap data for cutscenes, ensuring high-quality, believable performances.
• Iterate rapidly on cinematic layout to enhance visual storytelling, refine pacing, and support narrative impact.
• Work closely with the Lead, Director, and cinematic team to incorporate feedback and align animations with the overall creative vision.
• Implement cinematics into our proprietary engine, ensuring seamless integration with gameplay and overall flow.

WHAT YOU'LL BRING:

• Impressive animation portfolio showcasing high-quality, realistic facial and body animations across multiple projects, ideally from AAA titles. A link to the portfolio website or an attachment with your CV is acceptable.
• Five or more years in animation, with a proven track record on at least two published titles.
• Proficient in body, facial and camera animation, motion capture clean-up and industry-standard animation software.
• A genuine enthusiasm for video games, narrative, and the creative process.
• Experience in cinematography, editing, or game engine implementation is highly desirable and will set you apart.

This is a fantastic opportunity to make world-class games with an established, talented, and collaborative team at one of the industry’s most exciting first-party game studios.

Playground Games is proud to be an equal opportunity employer, we believe that diversity and inclusion fuels creativity. We are dedicated to creating a safe, comfortable and welcoming working environment.

We strive to build an inclusive culture that encourages, supports and celebrates the diverse voices of our team members. It drives our innovation and connects us closer to our players. We are committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion across age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

At Playground Games we recognise the importance of self-development, career progression, well-being and retention of our colleagues. We celebrate difference and welcome everyone to join us and to be themselves at work.

If you require any reasonable accommodation to apply for this position, please contact us on recruitment@playground-games.com