Technical Animator

Job Description

As a Technical Animator, you will focus on developing and maintaining animation systems, and work with animators and designers to bring their ideas to life. You will work with artists, designers, and engineers to integrate features from the ground up and ensure a high quality bar of usability and performance. You will be a source of truth for character technology all across the team and throughout the lifetime of an asset, from concept, to creation, to integration.
As a Technical Animator II on the R&D Technical Art Team, you will focus on supporting animators and designers in bringing their ideas to life within the Unreal Engine animation system. You will weigh in with your technical expertise on the best ways to implement, support, and deploy those features, as well as how to leverage character technologies more broadly. You will work with engineering and QA to ensure runtime performance metrics are met.

Responsibilities:
• Develop animation systems within the Unreal Engine to bring animation and design ideas to life
• Drive optimization efforts to ensure performance benchmarks are met
• Work with animators, character artists, and designers to define best practices for a smooth, efficient character animation pipeline
• Maintain and extend cosmetic physics systems to achieve higher fidelity and control while ensuring ease-of-use
• Build relationships across departments and initiatives to better understand and serve the needs of the project holistically
Required Qualifications:
• 5+ years of professional experience as a technical artist in games or related industries
• Professional experience in Unreal Engine's animation workflows, with an emphasis on animation graph creation and maintenance
• Professional experience in mobile, indie, or AAA game development
• Strong art skills and deep understanding of animation concepts and anatomy
• Detail oriented and able to communicate effectively in written or recorded media
Desired Qualifications:
• Understanding of C++ and/or Python within the Unreal Engine
• Expertise in Autodesk Maya
• Experience with secondary Unreal animation tools, such as Control Rig and Sequencer
• Experience with rigid body physics systems such as Kawaii, Chaos, or Havok
For this role, you'll find success through craft expertise, a collaborative spirit, and decision-making that prioritizes the delight of players. We will be looking at your past studies, experience, and your personal relationship with games. If you embody player empathy and care about players' experiences, this could be your role!
Our Perks:
Riot focuses on work/life balance, shown by our open paid time off policy and other perks such as flexible work schedules. We offer medical, dental, and life insurance, parental leave for you, your spouse/domestic partner, and children, and a 401k with company match. Check out our benefits pages for more information.
At Riot Games, we put players first. That mission drives every decision in our quest to create games and experiences that make it better to be a player. Whether you're working directly on a new player-facing experience or you're supporting the company as a whole, everyone at Riot is part of our mission. And just like in our games, we're better when we work together. Our goal is to create collaborative teams where you are empowered to bring your unique perspective everyday. If that sounds like the kind of place you want to work, we're looking forward to your application.

• (Los Angeles Only) Base salary range between $135,700.00 - $188,700.00 USD + incentive compensation + equity + 401K with company match + medical, dental, vision, and life insurance + short and long-term disability + open PTO.

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-z3o9p7-216-73-216-18-42 in your application.