Principal Gameplay Animator - Elsewhere Entertainment

Activision Blizzard, Inc. • Santa Monica, CA

3d • $136,880 - $253,260

About The Position

Elsewhere Entertainment is looking for a Principal Gameplay Animator to help shape the animation vision for an exciting new IP. You’ll combine outstanding animation craft with deep gameplay and combat expertise, collaborating with highly skilled developers to create innovative, exhilarating and expansively entertaining experiences. As a senior creative voice on the project, you’ll help elevate both the game and the studio through inclusivity, mutual respect, thoughtfulness, empathy, professionalism and collaboration.

Requirements

• Significant gameplay animation experience, including a senior or principal-level contribution to one or more shipped titles.
• Strong combat animation skills, with experience creating impactful, responsive player and enemy combat behaviours.
• A deep understanding of combat readability, timing, anticipation, hit reactions, attack cycles, locomotion and player control.
• Experience working in game engines and contributing to animation systems and implementation.
• Strong knowledge of motion-capture pipelines, including editing, cleanup and blending mocap with keyframe animation.
• Exceptional animation fundamentals across human and creature movement, including timing, weight, balance and physicality.
• Proven experience collaborating across disciplines and influencing creative decisions at a project level.
• A thoughtful, constructive approach to giving feedback and supporting the growth of other animators.
• Advanced proficiency in Maya and the ability to adapt quickly to new tools and technologies.
• Strong technical and collaborative problem-solving skills.

Responsibilities

• Owning and driving the quality bar for gameplay animation, with a particular focus on responsive, readable and satisfying combat.
• Creating and refining high-quality character animations using strong animation fundamentals, gameplay principles and motion-capture data.
• Shaping animation approaches that support combat design, player expression, enemy behaviours, traversal and moment-to-moment gameplay.
• Partnering closely with Design, Engineering, Art, Audio and Narrative to ensure animation enhances the overall player experience.
• Applying deep knowledge of game design mechanics, 3Cs (character, camera and controls), AI behaviour, camera animation and narrative context.
• Contributing to animation systems, state machines, blending, transitions and in-engine implementation to achieve fluid, responsive gameplay.
• Providing clear creative direction, feedback and mentorship to help raise the craft and capability of the animation team.
• Identifying opportunities to improve tools, workflows and pipelines, helping the team work more effectively at scale.
• Solving complex technical and creative challenges while balancing quality, performance and production needs.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, health savings account or health reimbursement account, healthcare spending accounts, dependent care spending accounts, life and AD&D insurance, disability insurance
• 401(k) with Company match, tuition reimbursement, charitable donation matching
• Paid holidays and vacation, paid sick time, floating holidays, compassion and bereavement leaves, parental leave
• Mental health & wellbeing programs, fitness programs, free and discounted games, and a variety of other voluntary benefit programs like supplemental life & disability, legal service, ID protection, rental insurance, and others
• Relocation assistance

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Principal
• Education Level: No Education Listed