Technical Animator, Narrative

2 Months ago • 2 Years + • Animation

Job Summary

Job Description

The Technical Animator will join the Animation team to accelerate the workflow for Cinematic Animators, Quest Designers, and others. The role involves implementing and optimizing Unreal Engine 5 features, such as SmartObjects and Sequencer, for narrative-driven content. Responsibilities include troubleshooting technical issues, creating tools, and integrating animation requirements. This role focuses on supporting narrative storytelling by building tools and complex scenarios, validating assets, and troubleshooting technical hurdles. The ideal candidate will have a strong technical animation background and a passion for narrative integration in a large-scale open-world project.
Must have:
  • 2+ years of experience in Technical Animation on large-scale projects.
  • Strong knowledge of Sequencer and its features in Unreal Engine 5.
  • Proficiency in Maya and MotionBuilder for animation tasks.
  • Solid understanding of Unreal Engine 5 features for animation workflows.
  • Ability to create tools/scripts for automation in the narrative pipeline.
  • Solid understanding of animation principles and cinematic timing.
  • Basic C++ or Blueprint knowledge to debug gameplay/cinematic code.
  • Strong problem-solving skills with attention to detail.
  • Effective communication and collaboration skills.
Perks:
  • Flexible working hours.
  • Welcome pack filled with goodies.
  • Trainings, lectures and courses.
  • Merch - gifts for newborn rebels and regular chances to nab some cool swag!
  • Private medical healthcare for employees, partners, and relatives.
  • Free mental health support.
  • Multisport card for access to sporting facilities.
  • Dog-friendly office.
  • Social events.
  • Healthy selections (fruit, snacks, etc.).
  • International working environment.
  • Sustainable campus with green initiatives.
  • Onsite gym with climbing wall and classes.
  • Car and bike parking spaces.
  • No dress-code.
  • Relocation package.
  • Polish lessons for foreign employees and partners.
  • Paid Leave.

Job Details

Company Description

To create revolutionary, story-driven RPGs which go straight to the hearts of gamers — this is our mission. Want to dive deeper into our company’s culture? Explore our social media and check out our YouTube channel where we share behind-the-scenes insights and stories direct from our team members!

Job Description

We are looking for a Mid-Level Technical Animator to join the Animation team. In this role, you will be integrated into the narrative area, helping to accelerate the workflow for Cinematic Animators, Quest Designers, Open World Designers, and Cinematic Designers. You will work closely with Animators, Designers, and Engineers to implement and optimize the workflow of Unreal Engine 5’s SmartObjects, Sequencer setups, and our Story Tech toolset, ensuring that narrative-driven content is both performant and visually compelling.

At CD PROJEKT RED, story is king. You’ll have the chance to support our narrative storytelling by building tools and complex story-driven scenarios, validating assets, and troubleshooting technical hurdles that may arise while setting up cutscenes, scripted events, and world interactions. If you have a strong foundation in technical animation and want to focus on narrative integration within a large-scale open-world project like The Witcher 4, this is the role for you.

Daily responsibilities

  • Support Designers by troubleshooting technical issues, removing pipeline blockers, and providing custom tools or scripts to streamline their workflow.
  • Setting up and fine-tuning SmartObjects for narrative scenarios, ensuring props and interactive elements behave correctly in-engine.
  • Build or extend Python/Maya/MotionBuilder scripts and tools to automate repetitive tasks, validate cinematic assets, and speed up iteration.
  • Prototype narrative-driven scenarios in collaboration with designers in order to push the boundaries and complexity of our narrative content.
  • Collaborate with Quest, Cinematic and Open World Designers to integrate animation requirements into our narrative technologies.
  • Participate in Motion Capture sessions when needed, ensuring performance data meets narrative timing and technical requirements.
  • Establish, document and maintain animation workflow, folders, naming conventions, and engine-related structures.

Qualifications

  • At least 2 years of experience in Technical Animation, preferably on large-scale or open-world projects with a strong narrative focus.
  • Deeper understanding and knowledge about Sequencer and its features in Unreal Engine 5.
  • Familiarity with the concept of graph-based storytelling tools.
  • Proficiency in Maya and MotionBuilder for animation cleanup, retargeting, and pipeline integration.
  • Strong foundation of Unreal Engine 5 features including Motion Matching, Control Rig, StateTrees, and SmartObjects for narrative-driven animation workflows.
  • Ability to create and maintain tools or scripts that automate asset validation, file conversions, or batch operations in the narrative pipeline.
  • Solid understanding of animation principles, body mechanics, and cinematic timing to support high-quality cutscenes.
  • Basic C++ or Blueprint knowledge to read and debug simple gameplay or cinematic-related code, collaborating with programmers when deeper fixes are required.
  • Strong problem-solving skills and attention to detail when diagnosing technical animation issues in narrative contexts.
  • Effective communication and collaboration skills; able to work cross-departmentally with Animators, Designers, and Engineers.
  • Passion for cinematic storytelling and the ability to balance creative goals with technical constraints.

Additional Information

Working mode

  • Working primarily from the Warsaw office in a full in-office or hybrid mode.

Perks & Professional Growth

  • Flexible working hours — start your workday anytime between 8:00 and 10:00 AM.
  • A welcome pack filled with goodies — to help you feel right at home once you join the team.
  • Trainings, lectures and courses — internal workshops, external training for each employee, ‘Meet a star’ events, knowledge-sharing initiatives, online tutorials, and e-learning classes are all available. There’s always something to learn!
  • Merch — gifts for newborn rebels and regular chances to nab some cool swag!

Health & Well-being

  • Private medical healthcare — a selection of medical plans with dental care to choose from, which are also accessible for your partner and relatives.
  • Psychological care — free mental health support and various well-being webinars. 
  • Multisport card — gain access to a wide number of sporting and fitness facilities across the city.

Social Activities & Life in the Office

  • Dog-friendly office — dog owner? Bring your pooch with you and look after them while working! There’s always a furry friend or two to meet at the studio.
  • Social events — we host regular gatherings at the studio where we can all unwind, play games, and just have some fun together.
  • Healthy selections — ​​organic fruit, snacks, muesli, organic honey, vegan milk, and speciality coffee are all at your disposal around the studio. Enjoy!
  • Truly international working environment — a chance to meet and work with a diverse selection of people from all around the world.

Head office in Warsaw

  • Sustainable campus with an eco ethos — solar panels provide green energy, 2000 plants and an air-filtering system to help provide clean air, electric car charging points, flower meadows, and more green features in the works.
  • An onsite, well-equipped gym with a climbing wall, daily Gym Assistant support and yoga and healthy spine classes.
  • Car and bike parking spaces.
  • A designated space for your bicycle, as well as bicycle repair equipment and showers available whenever you need them.
  • No dress-code — we like to keep it casual.

Relocation support

  • Relocation package – flight ticket, company apartment for your first month, relocating your pet, shipping your belongings: it’s all covered. 
  • Relocation assistance — processing your legalization operations for you, assistance with finding residence, tax settlements - all you need to feel right at home is taken care of.
  • Polish lessons for foreign employees — and for your spouse or partner, too.
  • Paid Leave — from 20 to 26 days of holiday for every team member per year, paid sick leave, and paid maternity & paternity leave.

If you've observed any irregularities (i.e. legal or ethical violations) in our recruitment process, please click here to report them anonymously.

Similar Jobs

Sloclap - Associate Producer

Sloclap

Paris, Île-de-France, France (Hybrid)
4 Weeks ago
SEGA - Lead Animator

SEGA

Horsham, England, United Kingdom (Hybrid)
2 Months ago
Sega (UK) - Lead Technical Animator

Sega (UK)

Sofia, Sofia City Province, Bulgaria (Hybrid)
1 Month ago
frozenbyte games - HR

frozenbyte games

Helsinki, Uusimaa, Finland (On-Site)
4 Weeks ago
frozenbyte games - Work Practice Program (TET)

frozenbyte games

Helsinki, Uusimaa, Finland (On-Site)
4 Weeks ago
Maverick Games - Technical Animator

Maverick Games

Warwick, England, United Kingdom (On-Site)
6 Months ago
Colo pl - 3D Animation Artist

Colo pl

Minato City, Tokyo, Japan (On-Site)
3 Months ago
Kojima - Animation Programmer

Kojima

Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan (On-Site)
3 Months ago
Rockstar Games - Procedural Motion Animation Programmer

Rockstar Games

Oakville, Ontario, Canada (On-Site)
2 Months ago
Qingci - Animator

Qingci

Xiamen, Fujian, China (On-Site)
2 Months ago

Get notifed when new similar jobs are uploaded

Similar Skill Jobs

cold symmetry  - Character Animator

cold symmetry

(Remote)
6 Months ago
Halon - Senior Animator

Halon

United Kingdom (Hybrid)
2 Weeks ago
VOID Interactive - Animator

VOID Interactive

Ireland (Remote)
4 Months ago
xogar games - 3D Animator Internship

xogar games

Bengaluru, Karnataka, India (On-Site)
5 Months ago
Convai Technologies - Character Animator

Convai Technologies

Cairo, Cairo Governorate, Egypt (Hybrid)
1 Year ago
TiMi Studio Group - Principal Cinematic Artist

TiMi Studio Group

Bellevue, Washington, United States (On-Site)
2 Months ago
Sandbox VR - Shift Lead (Key Holder) Grand Canal

Sandbox VR

Las Vegas, Nevada, United States (On-Site)
1 Week ago
SEGA - Lead Technical Animator

SEGA

Sofia, Sofia City Province, Bulgaria (Hybrid)
2 Months ago
Ubisoft - 3D Gameplay Animator

Ubisoft

Montpellier, Occitanie, France (On-Site)
4 Months ago
Rockstar Games - Senior Technical Artist: Performance Capture Pipeline

Rockstar Games

Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom (On-Site)
9 Months ago

Get notifed when new similar jobs are uploaded

Jobs in Warsaw, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland

SoftSwiss - Manual QA Engineer - Middle

SoftSwiss

Poznań, Greater Poland Voivodeship, Poland (Remote)
1 Week ago
Liquid Advertising - Associate Media Planner

Liquid Advertising

Masovian Voivodeship, Poland (Hybrid)
3 Months ago
TransPerfect - Translation Project Coordinator - Thur to Mon shift

TransPerfect

Warsaw, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland (Hybrid)
1 Week ago
Techland - Junior FX Artist

Techland

Wrocław, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Poland (On-Site)
2 Months ago
TransPerfect - German Localization Games Tester

TransPerfect

Warsaw, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland (On-Site)
4 Weeks ago
rebel wolves - Audio Programmer

rebel wolves

Warsaw, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland (Remote)
2 Months ago
Novomatic - Engineering Lead

Novomatic

Zabierzów, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland (Remote)
1 Month ago
Valeo - Product Architect - eMotor for Electric Drives

Valeo

Czechowice, Łódź Voivodeship, Poland (On-Site)
1 Week ago
wenkyl studio - Unity 3D Developer

wenkyl studio

Gliwice, Silesian Voivodeship, Poland (Hybrid)
4 Weeks ago
Axi - Senior Backend Developer

Axi

Poland (Remote)
4 Weeks ago

Get notifed when new similar jobs are uploaded

Animation Jobs

Sega (UK) - Lead Technical Animator

Sega (UK)

Sofia, Sofia City Province, Bulgaria (Hybrid)
1 Month ago
Cloud Imperium Games - Senior Gameplay Animation Programmer

Cloud Imperium Games

Manchester, England, United Kingdom (On-Site)
8 Months ago
flying wild hog - Animation Programmer

flying wild hog

(Remote)
12 Months ago
Tactic studios - Animation Programmer

Tactic studios

Canada (Remote)
3 Months ago
Epic Games - Technical Designer in Animation

Epic Games

(On-Site)
4 Months ago
Maverick Games - Technical Animator

Maverick Games

Warwick, England, United Kingdom (Hybrid)
5 Months ago
Kojima - Facial Animator

Kojima

Minato City, Tokyo, Japan (On-Site)
2 Months ago
Rockstar Games - Senior Technical Artist: Animation

Rockstar Games

Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom (On-Site)
2 Months ago
DNEG - Production Coordinator (DNEG Animation)

DNEG

London, England, United Kingdom (On-Site)
7 Months ago
UPF Industries  - Senior Animator

UPF Industries

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (Hybrid)
1 Month ago

Get notifed when new similar jobs are uploaded

About The Company

Warsaw, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland (Hybrid)

Warsaw, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland (Hybrid)

Warsaw, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland (On-Site)

Warsaw, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland (Hybrid)

Warsaw, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland (Hybrid)

Warsaw, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland (Hybrid)

Warsaw, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland (Hybrid)

Warsaw, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland (Remote)

Warsaw, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland (Remote)

Warsaw, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland (Remote)

View All Jobs

Get notified when new jobs are added by CD PROJEKT RED

Level Up Your Career in Game Development!

Transform Your Passion into Profession with Our Comprehensive Courses for Aspiring Game Developers.

Job Common Plug