Lead Animator

Job Description

DESIGN

Put your design skills to work at a cutting-edge company that challenges the norm. From character and level design to competitive gameplay and system design, help shape the future of interactive entertainment at Epic.

What You'll Do

Epic Games seeks Lead Animator(s) for our Cary, NC Studio, to work closely with the Animation Director to produce high quality keyframe animations, ranging from highly realistic to exaggerated and stylized, for AAA video games.

They will be responsible for overseeing and critiquing a range of detailed animations, from convincing acting performances to polished body mechanics for gameplay and cosmetic assets. This position will also communicate with other departments to ensure all aspects of each animation being shipped fits the overall game needs. You will collaborate with Design on gameplay feel and with Engineering on animation systems like state machines.

In this role, you will
• Help push keyframe animation quality on the team, from action sequences with broad body mechanics to acting performance with subtle facial expressions to creature animations while maintaining industry standards.
• Utilizing Maya, using our ART tools set.
• Help work with the Concept, Modeling and Rigging teams to develop characters and creatures that will be animation friendly, with an eye for proper proportions, silhouettes, mesh topology, and deformation as part of the preproduction process.
• Collaborate with designers and programmers on solving gameplay problems while maintaining artistic vision.
• Work with Engineering to implement animation systems in Unreal Engine using our animation blueprint system.
• Provide direction to/collaborate with multiple disciplines (FX, Audio, Rigging, Modeling, etc) to take initial concepts and fully realize them into a shippable product.
• Work with the Pipeline teams to continually improve upon and maintain artistic tools.
• Oversee and review multiple animation assets from outsource vendors.
• Improve upon existing ideas to fully realize the potential of the animation being shipped.
• Ensure each animation works successfully in the game, free of technical bugs and glitches, and is shipped at the highest quality standard.

What we're looking for

Candidates must have at least five (5) years of work experience as a character animator in the film or video game industry and with all of the following:
• Creating high quality human and creature animation.
• Creating animations in Maya.
• Utilizing animation pipelines and standard industry processes to create workable animations.
• Giving animation related feedback on modeling, skinning, rigging.
• Working with mocap data.
• POC for artistic and technical development of a character in a theatrical released feature production or AAA game.
• Alignment of Art, Modeling and Rigging teams in relation to the final delivery of a character and their performance in a theatrical released feature production or AAA game.
• Delivering feedback to a team of animators for the full duration of a production of a theatrical released feature production or AAA game.

At least two (2) production cycles on a commercially released movie or video game.

To qualify, applicants must submit a reel demonstrating high quality keyframe animation in both realistic and stylized animation. It must also show examples of keyframe expertise with both facial animation (during character acting moments) and polished body mechanics (during action sequences). Applications submitted without a reel will not be considered.

This is an in-office position and not eligible for work from home/remote.

Multiple Openings for this position.

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Note to Recruitment Agencies: Epic does not accept any unsolicited resumes or approaches from any unauthorized third party (including recruitment or placement agencies) (i.e., a third party with whom we do not have a negotiated and validly executed agreement). We will not pay any fees to any unauthorized third party. Further details on these matters can be found here.

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-d9mwq7-98-82-140-17-42 in your application.