Technical Animation Director

Job Description

Electronic Arts Inc. (''EA'') is a leading global interactive entertainment software company. EA delivers games, content, and online services for Internet-connected consoles, personal computers, mobile phones, and tablets.
Our Character Animation Research Team (known as the A-Team) is a small team based in Vancouver, British Columbia.

We are committed to advancing the field of Character Animation, for a future where video-games characters not only look believable, but they move convincingly as well. Our technology is shared across multiple games in EA including FIFA, Madden, NHL, Skate, Battlefront, Dragon Age and many others. We are looking for a passionate Technical Animator to join our team to push the boundaries of how characters look and move in games.

The Technical Animation Director will report to the Head of Animation and work with A-Team leads, game team Technical Directors, Animation Directors, and central content teams to create tools, workflows, systems, provide support and guidance, and lead large projects to achieve the highest quality character animation.

Responsibilities:
• You will provide top-level technical support around the A-Teams tools to all the game teams at EA.
• Participate in and enhance the EA animation community.
• Coordinate with content creators to provide high quality tools and workflows for our game team partners.
• Partner with technical leaders on alignment strategies and implementation.
• Collaborate on solutions with other disciplines (Animation, Engineering, and Art).
• Participate in development of training programs and documentation for A-Team.
• Design and guide the UX for the animation tools in service of the broader animation community.
• Communicate risks and concerns with A-Team leadership.
• Work with your peers on the A-Team on future animation design for workflows.
• Aim to improve cross studio communication and team culture especially within the animation community.
• Write and expand documentation, where applicable, and test new tools.
• Coordinate with QA to guarantee A-Team products are reliable and properly tested

Qualifications:
• At least 10+ years of animation and technical experience in games and/or film.
• Expertise in creating and maintaining common tools and workflows for animators.
• Expert knowledge in Maya or Motionbuilder. Working knowledge in both.
• Knowledge in Python and visual scripting.
• Understanding of physical motion, weight, balance, and form.
• Knowledge of human and creature anatomy.
• Experience with motion capture, motion capture direction, and motion retargeting.
• Communicate technical concepts clearly to non-technical people.
• Can identify issues and proactively implement solutions. Can identify root problems and not just symptoms.
• Have a proactive and self-directed work ethic.
• Computer graphics/animation/science degree or equivalent experience.
• Game development experience required.
• Experience with editor-based game development environments (Unreal, Unity).

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-gk20j8-18-191-223-123-42 in your application.