Lead Animator (Animation and Tech Animation)

Compulsion Games•Montreal, QC

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

Compulsion Games, a first-party game studio and subsidiary of Microsoft’s Xbox Game Studios located in Montreal, Canada, is seeking a talented Lead Animator to join their human-sized animation team. This role involves supporting and mentoring a team of 8 people, including animators, technical animators, and animation systems designers. The ideal candidate will have a strong understanding of both the technical and craft aspects of animation, with a passion for leading and supporting the team throughout the entire production process. The studio emphasizes a human-first culture, trust, respect, and a shared passion for game development, aiming to create unique and handcrafted experiences with compelling characters and narratives that explore heavy themes with care and empathy.

Requirements

Previous experience in a leadership role in an animation or technical animation team.
Strong animation and technical animation skills.
Strong communication and leadership skills, with the ability to inspire and mentor a team.
Proficiency in Maya, Blender, or other industry-standard animation tools.
Strong understanding of rigging and DCC animation tools and pipelines.
Strong understanding of character motion, physics, and animation principles.
Strong coding or scripting knowledge to help develop animation and character pipelines.
Experience with organizing and defining priorities, within the team and with other disciplines.
Experience working with motion capture and keyframe animation.
Familiarity with Unreal Engine and real-time animation workflows.
Passion for creating unique and expressive characters.

Responsibilities

Lead and mentor the full animation and technical animation team, helping to achieve project needs while celebrating and empowering the craft of bringing interactive characters to life.
Support the full animation team and collaborate with tech, design, art, narrative, and production teams to bring worlds and characters to life in ways that enhance gameplay and storytelling.
Be a people-focused individual who deeply cares for colleagues and is always there to support them.
Collaborate effectively with a diverse group of artists, designers, programmers, and producers using excellent communication skills.
Provide feedback and guidance to maintain quality, consistency, and collaboration within the animation team.
Act as the primary point of support for the team to help unblock any technical or production issues encountered.
Collaborate with the Animation Director to execute on the animation style and vision of the project.
Develop and refine rigging and animation workflows to optimize efficiency and pipeline processes.
Work closely with the design and tech teams to ensure animations align with gameplay mechanics and player experience.
Work closely with the art, design, and tech teams to ensure characters and creatures are developed to meet both production and experiential needs.
Ensure animations and characters integrate seamlessly into Unreal Engine, troubleshooting and refining as needed.
Help to conduct animation team reviews, maintaining consistency and ensuring animations and technical animation work meet production goals.
Be a part of the tech leadership group to help shape the tech direction of the project.
Stay up to date with industry trends and advancements in animation technology.