Animator

Welcome to Maxis, home to tinkerers, craftspeople, & storytellers. Our drive is to inspire everyone to make a better world through creative play. As the developer of The Sims, we create games and experiences for millions of people around the world and are always looking for new ways to inspire our players. Maxis is a place where you can do what you love and help others grow while doing it; a place where your unique voice can be heard and seen. We put creativity and inclusivity at the core of our work and don’t settle for seeing the world only as it is, but strive to build a world as it could be.

Teams are building the next generation game and creative platform, Project Rene, and reimagining The Sims that players know and love with even more new ways to play.

We’re excited you’re interested to learn more about how you can join our team and dream big.

Job Description

As an Animator, you will create high quality key-frame animations and collaborate with other disciplines to design and implement interaction state-flows in-engine. You will be creating animations that express a wide range of emotions and personality. You have a strong understanding of the latest keyframe animation workflows. You have extensive experience using Maya and implementing content in-engine. You will receive direction and feedback directly from Senior Animators and the Animation Directors.

Your Skills:

Experience as a gameplay animator contributing to all phases of game production on a AAA title
Proficient in creating full body keyframe animation with a primary emphasis on full body character performance in Maya
Proficient technical comprehension in relation to designing and implementing animation state machines in a game engine such as Unity, Unreal or similar.
Experience in evaluating object rigs for production.
Adaptable to new animation styles, in game animation production tools, workflows, and pipelines.
Effective collaborator able to work across diverse groups to find creative solutions.
A mindset that focuses on quality, collaboration, innovation, and accountability.

Bonus Experience

Experience in the Simulation genre of games.
Comfortable creating entertaining acting performances for reference for your animations or others.
Experience working with motion capture processes.
Experience with Atlassian Confluence, Jira software, Shotgun or similar tools

Key Responsibilities:

Work with Animation Lead and Director to create high-quality keyframe animation with heavy emphasis on full body character acting.
With guidance from your Lead, collaborate with other essential contributors of the Production process to fulfill Design Goals.
Work with different technical and art disciplines to solve implementation challenges.
Work with Leads to provide estimates for content.
Design assets and state machines using our proprietary engine.
Present implementation strategies
Use proprietary engine to implement and technically verify animation content.
Work with other essential disciplines to solve game bugs.
Maintain and track animation assets related to your implementations
Create technical documentation
Share knowledge across the animation team through documentation

About Electronic Arts

We’re proud to have an extensive portfolio of games and experiences, locations around the world, and opportunities across EA. We value adaptability, resilience, creativity, and curiosity. From leadership that brings out your potential, to creating space for learning and experimenting, we empower you to do great work and pursue opportunities for growth.

We take a holistic approach with our benefits program, focusing on physical, emotional, financial, career, and community wellness to support a balanced life with paid time off and new parent leave, plus free games and so much more. We nurture environments where our teams can always bring their best to what they do.

Electronic Arts is an equal opportunity employer. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, genetic information, religion, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, marital status, family status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We will also consider employment qualified applicants with criminal records in accordance with applicable law. EA also makes workplace accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities as required by applicable law.

About The Company

Maxis, creators of the ever-expanding Sims world, is an EA studio where a diverse collection of creatives make games that inspire players across the globe. We have offices in Redwood City, CA, Austin, TX, and Kitchener, ON, as well as team members based across the US and Europe.

Maxis is a place for people who see building games as a unique opportunity to change hearts and minds by giving players the chance to create their own unique experiences. Members of our team are working toward a better world not only through our games, but through employee resource groups and the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council.

We support each other so we can be authentic. We foster connectedness so we can collaborate. We respect boundaries to build an environment that’s safe, creative, and ideal for tinkering. We’re on the lookout for diverse, innovative thinkers who want to make a positive impact on the world.