Senior Technical Animator - The Sims

Job Description

Welcome to Maxis, home to tinkerers, craftspeople, & storytellers. Our drive is to inspire everyone to make a better world through creative play. As the developer of The Sims, we create games and experiences for millions of people around the world and are always looking for new ways to inspire our players. Maxis is a place where you can do what you love and help others grow while doing it; a place where your unique voice can be heard and seen. We put creativity and inclusivity at the core of our work and don't settle for seeing the world only as it is, but strive to build a world as it could be.

Teams are building the next generation game and creative platform, Project Rene and reimagining The Sims that players know and love with even more new ways to play. We're excited you're interested to learn more about how you can join our team and dream big.

You will be reporting to the Senior Technical Art Director.

Location: Remote North America - open to most North America locations

As a Technical Animator at Maxis, you will collaborate with Animation Directors, Animation Leads, Technical Artists, and Engineers across the studio and EA, to push the boundaries of animation technology. The model applicant is passionate about exploring new technologies, identifying efficiencies, and implementing new solutions for existing and new IPs.

Responsibilities:
• Collaborate closely with the Animation Director, Art Director, Engineers, Character Leads and Animation Leads to deliver content pipelines and runtime implementations with a forward-looking goal of delivering industry-leading animation.
• Develop and maintain character offline and runtime rig, deformation, & physics workflows and systems, and guide related content pipelines to achieve highest aesthetic standards.
• Help developing and maintain a technical animation pipeline from Maya to Unreal.
• Create prototypes and pursue research in the field of animation, geared towards applying latest technologies to aesthetic and performance goals for the product.
• Collaborate with animation technical direction to define animation performance and optimization requirements, diagnose, profile, and manage content costs with the content team.
• Firefight production issues, investigating urgent issues and resolving roadblocks.
• Keep up with the latest trends and technical tools for animation content development.
• Collaborates with teams across the studio and EA to improve rigging and deformation processes.

Qualifications:
• 5+ years experience in Unreal Editor with a focus on runtime animation, including Animation Blueprints, Assets, and Editors, etc.
• Expert proficiency in developing and maintaining Maya riggs & animation workflows for games.
• Experience of animation systems and developing content for runtime animation.
• Expert understanding of animation blending techniques and selection structures.
• Expert understanding of procedural animation techniques.
• 3+ years of experience designing and owning large animation systems such as locomotion, combat, crowds, etc.
• Experience with designing animation content that integrates with dynamic systems (character and world physics).
• Experience architecting facial animation rigging and pipelines.
• Experience with human and creature anatomy, proportion, silhouette, and topology.
• Experience building custom deformers and blend shape solutions.
• Knowledge of traditional, mocap and procedural animation workflows.
• Proficiency in Python, Mel, and developing artists production tools.
• Ability to create solid documentation and training material.
• Knowledge of version control software (Perforce preferred).
• Familiarity with ShotGrid(Shotgun), Jira or other bug tracking and project management software.
• Ability to collaborate and across multiple disciplines to achieve team technical objectives.

Visit us at: https://www.ea.com/ea-studios/maxis

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 $113,300 - $171,700 USD Annually
• New York (depending on location e.g. Manhattan vs. Buffalo):
º $111,500 - $171,700 USD Annually
• Jersey City, NJ :
º $126,700 - $171,700 USD Annually
• Colorado (depending on location e.g. Denver vs. Colorado Springs):
º $111,500 - $144,000 USD Annually
• Washington (depending on location e.g. Seattle vs. Spokane):
º $111,500 - $157,300 USD Annually
• British Columbia (depending on location e.g. Vancouver vs. Victoria):
º $93,700 - $143,700 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-r7577k-18-219-58-157-42 in your application.