Senior Gameplay Engineer (Animation)

Location: Cambridge, UK – (Remote available within the UK with team onsite days in the Cambridge office approx. 4 times per year)

Are you an experienced Gameplay Engineer who loves working with talented animation teams and creating solutions that help bring the characters and creatures in games to life?

As a Senior Gameplay Engineer focused on animation in RuneScape: Dragonwilds, our new open-world survival crafting game currently in early access and being developed in Unreal Engine 5, you’ll take the lead on animation systems that bring characters, creatures, and combat to life.

This is a highly impactful role in the team that blends gameplay and animation engineering. You’ll own key systems such as character movement, combat, spellcasting, emotes and more, ensuring seamless integration with gameplay while enhancing animation quality and technical performance. Collaborating closely with animators, technical artists, and gameplay engineers, you’ll shape the player experience through expressive and responsive animation.

What you’ll be doing:

• Design, implement and maintain animation systems across the game—covering character movement, combat, spells, emotes, Ais, IKs, NPCs and more.
• Build tools and pipelines that support animation workflows, improving efficiency and data quality.
• Partner with animators and technical animators to define best practices, automate processes, and enable creative iteration.
• Write clear, maintainable and portable C++ code that aligns with engineering standards and gameplay requirements.
• Support gameplay engineers by writing clean interfaces they can plug into and coordinating with them on architectural design.
• Mentor junior engineers through code reviews, architecture discussions, and knowledge sharing.
• Proactively identify risks and opportunities within the animation space, proposing technical strategies and improvements.
• Occasionally contribute to core gameplay features, offering flexibility and cross-discipline collaboration.
• Support the engineering team with recruitment and hiring.

What we’re looking for:

• Excellent experience in animation programming, with a passion to become the team’s subject matter expert.
• Proven background implementing complex gameplay and animation features in multiplayer games.
• Strong understanding of game design principles and a genuine passion for gaming.
• Advanced C++ knowledge, with the ability to apply principles across additional languages such as C# or Python.

• Knowledgeable in profiling and optimising code. 

• Ability to design complex systems using appropriate patterns, solving architectural and system-level problems. 

• Good knowledge of source code repository usage (perforce). 

• Capacity to mentor others and contributing to the team continuous improvement by sharing and refining best practices. 

• At ease with independence, allowing one to co-organise own strike team and allocate resources intelligently. 

• Excellent communication skills and sociability, enabling efficient remote work environment. 

• Experience in UE4 or UE5 C++. 

• Familiarity with animation pipelines involving Maya or similar 3D tools.

What we offer:

When you join Jagex you can look forward to a generous Perks & Benefits package including:

• Private Healthcare, including Dental Plan.
• Minimum 6% Pension contributions.
• Employee Assistance Programme & onsite Counselling.
• Life Insurance.
• Discretionary annual performance bonus.
• Enhanced family leave policies from day 1.
• Flexible working hours.
• 25 days annual leave + Bank holidays & the option to buy/sell holidays + so much more!

About Jagex:

Jagex is a leader in developing and publishing deep, engaging online games that connect millions of players worldwide. Best known for the RuneScape franchise, which includes two of the world’s longest running and most successful MMORPGs, in Old School Runescape and Runescape, and the open-world survival crafting game, Runescape: Dragonwilds; we have proven success in delivering immersive Forever Games and fostering strong player communities.

We strive to foster an inclusive workplace built on trust, autonomy, and a shared passion for creating forever games.
Our values guide everything we do: We Embrace Fellowship by collaborating and sharing openly. We Hone our Craft by always learning and improving; we Honour our Vows by being honest and transparent; we are our Customers’ Heroes by striving to understand our team & player needs, and we Seize The Day by making the most of every opportunity.

With over two decades of experience, and over 400 people in our team, we continue to innovate in live game development, leveraging data-driven insights, and a commitment to player-first game design. We have a diverse and talented team where creativity, collaboration, and community-driven game development drives everything we do.

As part of Jagex, you’ll have the opportunity to work on a globally successful franchise, contribute to exciting new projects, and be part of a company that hugely values both our employees and our players.