Technical Animator, Narrative

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.

• 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.

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.

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