Technical Animation Lead

1 Week ago • All levels • Animation • $151,585 PA - $244,558 PA

Job Summary

Job Description

Lead Gameplay Technical Animator at Epic Games. Collaborate with artists and engineers to improve workflows and tools, impacting Fortnite and other projects. Responsibilities include working with technical animators, leads, and directors; setting up assets in Unreal Engine 5 (rigs, cloth, physics, blueprints); rigging characters, weapons, and vehicles; and mentoring junior animators. Requires extensive experience in Maya and/or Unreal Engine rigging, a strong portfolio showcasing character and creature rigging, and familiarity with Unreal Engine 5's art pipeline. Strong communication and problem-solving skills are essential.
Must have:
  • Extensive Maya/Unreal Engine rigging experience
  • Strong portfolio demonstrating rigging skills
  • Unreal Engine 5 pipeline familiarity
  • Excellent communication & teamwork
  • Exceptional problem-solving skills
Good to have:
  • Control Rig experience
  • Python programming skills

Job Details

WHAT MAKES US EPIC?

At the core of Epic’s success are talented, passionate people. Epic prides itself on creating a collaborative, welcoming, and creative environment. Whether it’s building award-winning games or crafting engine technology that enables others to make visually stunning interactive experiences, we’re always innovating.

Being Epic means being a part of a team that continually strives to do right by our community and users. We’re constantly innovating to raise the bar of engine and game development.

ART

What We Do

Push your artistic talent to the limit on a team of world-class environment, character and concept artists who strive to innovate and inspire.

What You'll Do

Epic Games is searching for a Lead Gameplay Technical Animator with a passion for expressive character movement to join our team. In this talented team of veteran and emerging artists, you’ll collaborate across teams and contribute directly to Fortnite and other Epic projects. Joining this team means you’re motivated to seek solutions to problems and work with other disciplines to make positive changes to workflows, tools, and technologies that directly impact Gameplay.

In this role, you will

  • Work closely with technical animators, Leads, Directors, and Outsource Managers on the team to ensure assets are set up for success in the different stages of production
  • Communicate and drive alignment around strategy for technical animation and adjacent gameplay teams
  • Work with production to schedule, prioritize, and delegate assets for the team
  • Working closely with animators, modelers, and designers to ensure a smooth development pipeline that delivers high-quality assets. This will also include mentorship of rigging-focused technical animators
  • Assisting with pipeline tools and working with engine and project leads on the continuous improvement of those engine tools
  • Setting up assets in Unreal Engine 5; including control rigs, cloth, physics, and blueprints
  • Rigging characters, weapons, creatures, and vehicles. Maintain detailed documentation, video reference, and examples of art asset production, procedures, and engine requirements to support internal and external artists

What we're looking for

  • Extensive experience rigging characters in Maya and/or Unreal Engine
  • A portfolio demonstrating rigging for a range of characters, bipeds, and creatures, both body and faces
  • Attention to aesthetic detail, especially with regard to character deformation and physics movement
  • Familiarity with the Unreal Engine 5 art pipeline
  • A positive individual with strong written communication and teamwork skills
  • Exceptional problem-solver
  • Control Rig experience a plus
  • Python programming is a plus

This role is open to multiple locations in North America (including CA & WA).

Pay Transparency Information

The expected annual base pay range(s) for this position are detailed below. Each base pay range is relevant only for individuals who are residents of or will be expected to work within the specified locale. Compensation varies based on a variety of factors, which include (but aren’t limited to) things such as skills and competencies, qualifications, knowledge, and experience. In addition to base pay, most employees are eligible to participate in Epic’s generous benefit plans and discretionary incentive programs (subject to the terms of those plans or programs).

California Base Pay Range
$164,744$244,558 USD
Washington Base Pay Range
$151,585$222,324 USD

ABOUT US

Epic Games spans across 25 countries with 46 studios and 4,500+ employees globally. For over 25 years, we've been making award-winning games and engine technology that empowers others to make visually stunning games and 3D content that bring environments to life like never before. Epic's award-winning Unreal Engine technology not only provides game developers the ability to build high-fidelity, interactive experiences for PC, console, mobile, and VR, it is also a tool being embraced by content creators across a variety of industries such as media and entertainment, automotive, and architectural design. As we continue to build our Engine technology and develop remarkable games, we strive to build teams of world-class talent.

Like what you hear? Come be a part of something Epic!

Epic Games deeply values diverse teams and an inclusive work culture, and we are proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer. Learn more about our Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Policy .

Note to Recruitment Agencies: Epic does not accept any unsolicited resumes or approaches from any unauthorized third party (including recruitment or placement agencies) (i.e., a third party with whom we do not have a negotiated and validly executed agreement). We will not pay any fees to any unauthorized third party. Further details on these matters can be found .

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About The Company

Founded in 1991, Epic Games is a leading interactive entertainment company and provider of 3D engine technology. Epic operates Fortnite, one of the world’s largest games with over 350 million accounts and 2.5 billion friend connections. Epic also develops Unreal Engine, which powers the world’s leading games and is adopted across industries such as film and television, architecture, automotive, manufacturing, and simulation. Through Unreal Engine, Epic Games Store, and Epic Online Services, Epic provides an end-to-end digital ecosystem for developers and creators to build, distribute, and operate games and other content. Epic has over 40 offices worldwide with headquarters in Cary, North Carolina.

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