Technical Animation Director

As a Technical Animation Director at Ubi MTL, you’ll lead teams in building fluid, expressive, and high-performing animation systems for an unannounced AAA project. This role involves blending leadership, technical expertise, and a passion for animation, acting as a key facilitator between animation, rigging, programming, and tools teams to ensure robust, scalable pipelines aligned with creative vision and technical feasibility.

Must Have

• Design, implement, and maintain a high-performance, scalable animation pipeline.
• Collaborate with the tools team to develop or improve scripts in MotionBuilder (Python).
• Work closely with animators and programmers to design and refine animation systems within the game engine.
• Support the implementation of procedural animation systems and full-body IK with animation programmers.
• Ensure animation systems support character customization requirements.
• Partner with rigging artists to strike the right balance between artistic quality and technical performance.
• Document processes and provide day-to-day support to technical animators and animation teams.
• 7 years of experience in animation within the video game industry, technical animation system development, or programming.
• 3 years of experience in a leadership role.
• Strong command of game engines (Unity, Unreal) and 3D software (MotionBuilder, 3ds Max, Maya).
• Solid understanding of scripting languages (Python, C#, JavaScript, MaxScript), motion capture, and state machines.
• Experience with bug tracking tools (Jira) and version control systems (Perforce).

Perks & Benefits

• Hybrid work model
• Work-life balance

JOB DESCRIPTION

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As a Technical Animation Director at Ubi MTL, you’ll be at the heart of both the technological and artistic innovation of a unannounced AAA project. You’ll lead teams in building animation systems that are fluid, expressive, and high-performing, while ensuring alignment between creative vision and technical feasibility.

This role blends leadership, technical expertise, and a passion for animation. You’ll act as a key facilitator between animation, rigging, programming, and tools teams, making sure pipelines are robust, scalable, and tailored to the project’s ambitions.

What You’ll Do

• Design, implement, and maintain a high-performance, scalable animation pipeline tailored to the project’s needs.
• Collaborate with the tools team to develop or improve scripts in MotionBuilder (Python).
• Work closely with animators and programmers to design and refine animation systems within the game engine.
• Support the implementation of procedural animation systems and full-body IK with animation programmers.
• Ensure animation systems support character customization requirements.
• Partner with rigging artists to strike the right balance between artistic quality and technical performance.
• Document processes and provide day-to-day support to technical animators and animation teams.

QUALIFICATIONS

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What you bring to the team

• Education: Degree in 3D animation, computer science, software engineering, or a related field.
• Experience: 7 years of experience in animation within the video game industry, technical animation system development, or programming, including 3 years in a leadership role.
• Technical Expertise: Strong command of game engines (Unity, Unreal) and 3D software (MotionBuilder, 3ds Max, Maya). Solid understanding of scripting languages (Python, C#, JavaScript, MaxScript), motion capture, and state machines.
• Tools & Methodologies: Experience with bug tracking tools (Jira) and version control systems (Perforce).