Principal Cinematic Animator

Hasbro•Montreal, QC

16h•Onsite

About The Position

Skeleton Key is headquartered in Austin, TX, and we’re building out a new, growing studio in Montreal, QC. We’re looking for a passionate and dedicated Principal Cinematic Animator to join the Montreal team and help bring our first AAA game to life. Reporting to the Animation Director, you will be a key contributor as we enter pre-production, focused on creating high-quality cinematic animation that integrates seamlessly with gameplay. This role focuses on interactive cinematic moments, working closely with cinematics, design, and engineering teams to deliver compelling narrative experiences both systemically and through bespoke content.

Requirements

5+ years of professional experience in cinematic animation for games or film.
Strong understanding of cinematic principles, including pacing, camera movement, shot selection, and character performance.
High-level experience cleaning and polishing performance capture data.
Excellent keyframe animation skills.
Experience working with tools such as Unreal Engine, Maya, MotionBuilder, or comparable software.
Ability to work independently and manage tasks with minimal oversight.
Strong collaboration skills and the ability to work effectively across disciplines.
Passion for games, storytelling, and cinematic animation.

Nice To Haves

Experience using Unreal Engine Sequencer.
Experience authoring cinematics for video games.
Familiarity with rigging, skinning, or other technical animation workflows.
Experience with 3D cinematography and camera work.
Experience working with actors in motion capture or performance capture environments.

Responsibilities

Create high-quality cinematic animation using both motion capture and keyframe animation techniques.
Collaborate with the Cinematic Director to define staging, camera work, and shot composition for cinematic sequences.
Previsualize cinematic sequences to support motion capture shoots.
Clean up and polish motion capture performances to a high level of fidelity.
Refine facial animation, including expressions, eyelines, and hand-keyed acting beats.
Craft interactive cinematic moments in collaboration with the Design team.
Contribute to building and maintaining an animation library for systemic narrative content.
Support implementation, maintenance, and debugging of cinematic animation systems, and help improve related pipelines and tools.