Principal Character Technical Animator

2K • Novato, CA

15d • Hybrid

About The Position

As a Principal Technical Animator at Cloud Chamber you’ll join a group of talented developers to expertly craft realistic, expressive character rigs and pipelines. In this role, you’ll use your extensive background in rigging and technical animation to collaborate with the animation and programming teams and push forward the creative vision and technical boundaries of the project. Your main objective in this role is to solve problems within our technical limitations and bring our characters to life in a richly imagined world. What We’ll Do Together: As a highly technical member of the Animation Team your specific blend of technical proficiency, anatomical knowledge, and artistic understanding will enable us to create functional, animatable control systems and bring our characters to life. Working with the animation and programming teams, together we will push the creative vision and technical boundaries of our project forward, working to problem solve technical limitations. Who We Are: At Cloud Chamber we strive to make BioShock games that move people: evocative, immersive, and meaningful experiences that stay with you long after you’ve rolled credits. Great games are born from great collaborations, supported by a culture that brings out the best in our teams. We work openly, learn through play, take ownership, push ourselves to be better, and deliver for our players.

Requirements

• 8 to 10+ years of professional experience in 3D rigging and character technology for games with increasing seniority over the course of your career.
• Experience as either a Lead or Principal Rigger, Technical Animator, or Senior Rigger on at least one shipped AAA title.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Technical Art, 3D Animation, or in a related field, or equivalent industry experience and an exceptional portfolio.
• Demonstrable expertise in relevant scripting languages and tools like Unreal and Unreal Python API and/or C++.
• Mastery in deformations, FK/IK systems, set driven keys, and blend shape creation to achieve a wide range of character performances.
• Proficient with providing modeling and topology guidance related to skin deformations.
• Proficient in industry standard DCC tools and software with a keen understanding of their downstream implications.
• Solid knowledge of Maya Python API, including knowledge of the standard library, Qt toolkit (PySide, PyQt), and common 3rd Party Libraries and frameworks.
• Extensive experience supporting cross discipline teams with best-in-class rigging, tools, and documentation.
• Extensive experience working with and augmenting large established rigging pipelines.
• Deep understanding of human kinesiology and anatomy, including the underlying muscles, bone structure, and how they contribute to animation fundamentals.
• A reliable, positive force multiplier, actively seeking opportunities to integrate work across disciplines and contribute to a healthy, supportive team environment.
• A solid communicator with excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to articulate complex ideas clearly, package information for diverse audiences, and deliver difficult feedback with empathy and professionalism.
• A persistent and self-motivated person with a proactive mindset.
• Able to maintain effectiveness and quality under pressure, ambiguity, and fast-changing priorities.
• An active listener able to build and maintain trust-based relationships across all levels of the organization, understand differing perspectives, and navigate organizational complexity with tact and emotional intelligence.
• Highly open to feedback and direction, possessing a desire to learn new skills, and capable of producing quick, quality revisions based on new insights or constraints.
• A strong owner of your tasks, who strives to drive their work forward autonomously while maintaining a critical eye for detail and organization, ensuring high standards of quality.
• Dedicated to upholding Cloud Chamber’s core values, contributing to a positive and respectful company culture while striving for excellence in all endeavors.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with FACS driven rigs.
• Experience working with JALI, or other procedural driven facial systems.

Responsibilities

• Engage with stakeholders to align objectives and develop scalable solutions that optimize content authoring workflows.
• Craft advanced character rigs and systems, while upholding high standards in character performance and optimization for Unreal Engine.
• Implement characters and features within Unreal Engine: physics, RBF driver set-ups, modular character set-ups, procedural rigging, and more.
• Create and oversee an industry-leading character rigging pipeline and toolset, continuously exploring and integrating next-generation technologies.
• Mentor team members on best practices for rigging and tooling by sharing your expert-level knowledge.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Principal
• Number of Employees: 1,001-5,000 employees