Senior Technical Animator

Company Description

People Can Fly is one of the leading independent AAA game development studios. Our international team consists of hundreds of talented individuals working from offices in Poland, the UK, Ireland, the US, and Canada, as well as remotely across the globe.

Founded in 2002, we made our mark on the shooter genre with titles such as Painkiller, Bulletstorm, Gears of War: Judgment, and Outriders. As one of the most experienced Unreal Engine studios in the industry, we continue to expand on our expertise and push the boundaries of what’s possible in game development.

Our creative teams are currently working on several exciting titles: Gears of War: E-Day developed in collaboration with Microsoft; Project Echo for KRAFTON; and Lost Rift, an original IP we are developing in-house under our self-publishing model. We are also exploring new platforms and experiences with VR and other unannounced projects.

With over 20 years of experience, PCF continues to explore new horizons. We aim to combine our expertise with the creativity of the best and most forward-thinking talent in the industry, building the next generation of action games for players worldwide.

If you join us on this journey, you’ll have the chance to perfect your craft, expand your knowledge, and work alongside industry leaders to create unique, unforgettable experiences for gamers everywhere.

Job Description

• Responsibilities: Develop/maintain rigging and animation pipelines; create high-quality rigs (characters, creatures, props); collaborate across departments; contribute to pipeline tools; support cloth/hair simulation; provide clean/optimized assets; mentor and provide technical feedback.
• Requirements: 5+ years experience; strong Maya rigging/skinning; strong anatomy and deformation knowledge; facial rig experience; cloth/hair physics sim; Python scripting (Maya + MotionBuilder); MotionBuilder or similar DCCs; strong communication and collaboration.
• Preferred: Shipped AAA title(s); modeling/animation experience; Houdini/Blender familiarity.

Qualifications

Additional:

• This role is a hybrid between rigger, animator support, and pipeline engineer. Beyond character setup, it requires building robust tools in Maya/MotionBuilder, supporting retargeting from legacy rigs, and ensuring scalable, reusable solutions.
• Expected to interface frequently with stakeholders across Animation, Character Art, Tech Art, and Engineering, aligning rigging tools and deformation quality with gameplay needs. Must be proactive in debugging, surfacing risks, and validating rigs directly in-game builds.
• Requires skillsets of understanding technical animation of human, animal, creature and facial anatomy with strong deformation solutions (skin weighting, corrective blendshapes, pose-space deformers, RBFs).
• Comfort with cloth/physics simulation.
• MotionBuilder is strong plus.
• Strong communication and organizational skills are expected — the role juggles “a lot of moving parts” across animation, rigging, and pipeline needs.
• Needs to thrive in a tool-driven environment, where automation, serialization, and re-use are expected. Must adapt legacy character data into modern rigs and support scalable pipelines for archetypes and facial systems.
• Acts as a mentor: helps guide partners and less-experienced riggers/animators, instilling best practices in deformation, tool use, and workflow consistency.
• Should be an avid player of melee action games, understanding how rigging choices affect combat readability, timing, and animation fidelity.

Technical Expertise & Desire Beyond PCF standard Role:

• Requires Python expert-level skills in Maya/Mobu (tool creation, pipeline automation, data serialization).
• Strong MotionBuilder knowledge for integrating facial/body animation workflows.
• Capable of building extensible deformation systems (blendshapes, RBF, corrective poses).
• Must support batch retargeting pipelines to bring legacy data into new rigs.
• Cloth/physics sim experience (setup + troubleshooting) expected.

Additional Information

What we offer:

• Benefit package 100% paid by PCF. The insurance company reimburses 100% of claims (Up to $1000 per service a year, as well as individual family coverage).
• Full Dental coverage, including major dental.
• 4% RRSP matching before tax deductions, 100% vested on day 1.
• Paid week off during the Winter Holidays.
• 20 paid vacation days and 5 paid sick days.
• Free virtual health and mental well-being sessions are included in the plan for members and their dependents.
• Personal development opportunities and ability to work in a global environment.
• Work in a creative team with people full of passion for what they do.