Senior Technical Animator

3 Months ago • 5 Years + • Animation • $120,000 PA - $165,000 PA

Job Summary

Job Description

Senior Technical Animator at Turtle Rock Studios will focus on developing and improving animation features in Unreal Engine, implementing assets, and optimizing animation systems. Responsibilities include creating animation blueprints, blendspaces, and montages; maintaining rigs for unique characters; collaborating with programmers, animators, and designers; prototyping and delivering combat, character locomotion, facial animation, and other game features; documenting systems and features; troubleshooting asset and editor problems; and optimizing workflows and tools. The ideal candidate will have at least 5 years of experience as a Technical Animator in games, strong knowledge of Maya and Python, experience with Unreal Engine 4 animation systems, and excellent communication skills.
Must have:
  • 5+ years experience as Technical Animator
  • Strong Maya & Python knowledge
  • Unreal Engine 4 Animation Systems exp
  • Animation Blueprints creation & maintenance
  • Excellent communication skills
Good to have:
  • Cinematics & facial animation experience
  • Procedural/physically-altered animation
  • Rig creation and maintenance expertise
  • Multiple 3D package experience
  • Realtime Shaders and FX/Simulation
Perks:
  • 100% Medical, Dental, Vision Coverage
  • 401k Matching
  • Student Loan Repayment Plan
  • College Savings Plan
  • Career Improvement Plan
  • Flexible Work Arrangements
  • Generous Time Off Policy
  • Company Events
  • Fully Stocked Kitchen

Job Details

At Turtle Rock, we make the games we want to play. We're dedicated to providing a collaborative environment where our team members feel empowered with the creative freedom to contribute and grow. While we are based in Orange County, CA, we support flexible work arrangements ranging from in-studio, hybrid, to fully remote throughout North America. Join our award-winning game development team and help create our next AAA title.

We are looking for a Senior Technical Animator to join our team! Working with animators, engineers, and designers, this role focuses on developing and improving animation features in engine, implementing assets, and optimizing current animation systems, tools, and practices. Join our exceptional development team to help us create industry leading animation and gameplay experiences! This position will report to the Lead Technical Artist. 

Responsibilities

  • Create and maintain animation blueprints, blendspaces, and montages within Unreal
  • Construct and maintain rigs for unique characters through the development process
  • Support and implement animation content, and fine tune parameters for gameplay animation
  • Work directly with Programming, Animation, and Design to prototype and deliver excellent combat, character locomotion and movement mechanics, facial animation, and
  • other new game features to deliver extremely polished gameplay and animation. Help to determine risk/reward throughout the process
  • Help document design features and parameters, brainstorming all avenues for the creation of animation content
  • Investigate, identify, and improve pipeline, optimize workflows and tools, setting best practices/standards streamlining the animation process
  • Troubleshoot asset and editor problems for the Animation and other development teams
  • Document systems and feature functionality for use by the teams and future employees
  • Coordinate with all departments to achieve project goal

Requirements

  • Enthusiastic gamer with a passion for making great games and animations
  • Minimum 5 years experience as a Technical Animator for games with an emphasis on developing and maintaining animation systems
  • Strong knowledge of Maya and Python
  • Experience in Unreal Engine 4 Animation Systems
  • Experience with creating and maintaining Animation Blueprints 
  • Experience with animation pipelines from prototype to final assets
  • Demo reel showing expertise with animation systems
  • Excellent communicator with strong verbal and written English skills
  • Excellent problem solving and time management skills
  • Team player with a positive attitude and the ability to provide and receive objective feedback

Preferences

  • Excellent eye for animation and visual aesthetics balanced with technical skills
  • Experience with cinematics and facial animation
  • Experience working with procedural/physically-altered animation techniques
  • Experience creating and maintaining rigs for unique characters through the development process
  • Experience with multiple 3D packages
  • Experience with Realtime Shaders and FX/Simulation

Benefits

Some of the benefits and perks our employees get to enjoy, include:

  • 100% Medical, Dental, Vision Coverage for you and your family
  • 401k Matching
  • Student Loan Repayment Plan / College Savings Plan
  • Career Improvement Plan
  • Flexible Work Arrangements - In-House, Hybrid, and Remote
  • Generous Time Off Policy
  • Company Events - In-Person + Virtual Events
  • Fully Stocked Kitchen + Sponsored Food Trucks

The estimated base pay range for this role is:

$120,000 to $165,000 USD

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

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About The Company

Founded in 2002, we are Turtle Rock Studios, a multi-project, award-winning independent developer located in the heart of Orange County, CA. We thrive in an open, collaborative environment which is led to this day by co-founders Chris Ashton and Phil Robb.


Our past projects consist of AAA Competitive / Co-Op shooters: Left4Dead, Evolve, and Back 4 Blood, and VR titles: Journey of the Gods and Face Your Fears II. 


We're gamers who believe in iteration, so we work alongside our community to make our, and their, gameplay dreams reality.


We have a project in development at this time and we're looking for top tier talent to add to our development team!


To learn more about our team and culture, visit www.turtlerockstudios.com/our-studio/


For specific job listings visit www.turtlerockstudios.com/careers/


PSA: If you receive any information about a job listing at Turtle Rock Studios that is not from a turtlerockstudios.com domain, it did not come from Turtle Rock Studios. Turtle Rock Studios will also never request your bank account information in any correspondence regarding potential career opportunities and will never request that a candidate contact us via external social messaging platforms, including but not limited to: Telegram, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Discord, or WeChat. Please be wary of contact coming from anything other than a turtlerockstudios.com domain.

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