Principal Technical Animator

Job Description

Cliffhanger Games is a newly formed Seattle Studio focusing on blockbuster action-adventure games and pioneering next-generation emergent storytelling beginning with Marvel's Black Panther. Join us to pursue your passion to build unique, groundbreaking, and inclusive games that empower players to create incredible stories of heroic adventure. Become a foundational part of an ambitious, respectful and diverse team as we are looking for a Principal Animator to join our team.

Reporting to the Senior Animation Director, this role will own and define the tools, workflows, and best practices for the Animation Department, with a focus on player movement and locomotion. The Principal Technical Animator will collaborate closely with animators, technical artists, engineers, designers, and artists to create high-quality animation content, tools, and systems for complex features, laying the foundation for the animation team's workflow.

You have a passion for the research and development of new tools and technologies in application to animation and gameplay development. You are a highly creative problem solver, utilizing your artistic and technical skills to approach problems in unique and creative ways. You are an expert in creating animation to support player locomotion across movement and combat systems. The Principal Animator will combine foundational animation skills, technical knowledge and effective cross discipline collaboration to breathe life into the characters on screen.

Responsibilities
• Collaborate with animation, tech art, engineering, and design to establish the systems for player movement and locomotion across the gameplay experience.
• Own and develop the animation teams tools and workflows in Maya.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to understand and provide tool and pipeline requirements for animation implementation into the different systems in the unreal engine.
• Create high-quality animation content from prototype to final quality that serves as the benchmark and inspiration for the team.
• Establish motion capture for locomotion best practices and workflows. Partner with the Animation Director developing mocap shot list and provide mocap direction when applicable.
• Research and implement new innovative systems and technologies to fulfill development goals and increase animation quality and efficiency.
• Mentor and nurture the career development of the studio's animation team through patient mentorship, process sharing, and thoughtful critique.

Qualifications
• Minimum 10 years' experience in the games industry. 4+ years as a Principal Animator or equivalent.
• A portfolio demonstrating your animation and tooling experience.

We encourage you to apply, even if you don't match every qualification listed above. Let us know why this role appeals to you, why you will be great, what unique perspectives you will bring, and which requirements will challenge you to grow.

Ceci ne s'applique pas au Québec.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

The base salary ranges listed below are for the defined geographic market pay zones in these locations. If you reside outside of these locations, a recruiter will advise on the range and benefits for your specific location.

EA has listed the base salary ranges it in good faith expects to pay applicants for this role in the locations listed, as of the time of this posting. Pay offered will be determined based on numerous relevant business and candidate factors including, for example, education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, and business or organizational needs.

BASE SALARY RANGES
• California (depending on location e.g. Los Angeles vs. Sacramento):

º $170,500 - $259,300 USD Annually
• New York (depending on location e.g. Manhattan vs. Buffalo):

º $167,300 - $259,300 USD Annually
• Jersey City, NJ :

º $202,600 - $259,300 USD Annually
• Colorado (depending on location e.g. Denver vs. Colorado Springs):

º $180,100 - $237,200 USD Annually
• Washington (depending on location e.g. Seattle vs. Spokane):

º $167,300 - $238,500 USD Annually
• British Columbia (depending on location e.g. Vancouver vs. Victoria):

º $151,800 - $208,900 CAN Annually

Base salary is just one part of the overall compensation at EA. In the US, we offer a package of benefits including paid time off (3 weeks per year to start), 80 hours per year of sick time, 16 paid company holidays per year, 10 weeks paid time off to bond with baby, medical/dental/vision insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, and 401(k) to regular full-time employees. Certain roles may also be eligible for bonus and equity. For British Columbia, we offer a package of benefits including vacation (3 weeks per year to start), 10 days per year of sick time, paid top-up to EI/QPIP benefits up to 100% of base salary when you welcome a new child (12 weeks for maternity, and 4 weeks for parental/adoption leave), extended health/dental/vision coverage, life insurance, disability insurance, retirement plan to regular full-time employees. Certain roles may also be eligible for bonus and equity.

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-g6opvj-34-231-180-210-42 in your application.