Principal or Senior Software Engineer - Animation

Giant Skull • Encino, CA

6d • Hybrid

About The Position

Giant Skull is an independent game studio on a mission to craft unforgettable single-player, gameplay-driven action-adventures in rich, immersive worlds. We are currently working on a new game set in the Dungeons and Dragons universe. We are highly collaborative and value empowering autonomy; each individual at Giant Skull has the opportunity to feel their impact across the game, studio, and team. If you’re ready to join a studio where every voice shapes the adventure, we’d love to create something extraordinary together. The Role: As a Senior or Principal Software Engineer with a focus in animation and character systems, you will help to design and implement the runtime animation and movement systems that define how players experience our characters moment to moment. With a strong foundation in character mechanics, controls, and camera systems, you’ll ensure animation, input, and camera behavior work together to deliver responsive, readable, and expressive gameplay. Giant Skull thrives on a culture based on autonomy and rapid iteration giving you the chance to shape our approach to character-driven gameplay, solving complex problems at the intersection of animation, input responsiveness, and camera presentation to ensure our characters feel grounded, reactive, and emotionally resonant in every gameplay scenario. Impact and Ownership You will architect and implement real-time animation systems, including state machines, blend trees, IK systems, and runtime procedural techniques. You will collaborate with and empower our creative team members, from designers and animators to technical artists, to achieve efficient workflows and iterate rapidly. You will develop robust, performant animation runtime code that supports a wide range of use cases—from gameplay abilities to cinematics. You will define the interface between animation and gameplay systems, ensuring player input, responsiveness, and transitions feel tight and intentional. You will optimize animation systems for performance across platforms, including memory, CPU usage, and streaming behavior. You will establish technical standards, help define the animation pipeline, and influence long-term architectural decisions in animation technology. You will collaborate on motion matching, ragdoll systems, or dynamic animation blending when needed. You will contribute to debugging tools and visualizers that help animators and engineers understand animation states and transitions. You may mentor engineers and contribute code reviews, helping level up technical rigor across the team. You may contribute to animation tooling or pipeline improvements that support rigging, motion capture integration, or retargeting.

Requirements

• You have extensive experience working on animation systems for real-time games, including both runtime and tools-side development.
• You have strong C++ programming skills and a solid understanding of animation principles, data flow, and system architecture.
• You have extensive experience with the animation systems in UE5, specifically regarding Animation Blueprints, Motion Matching, Control Rig, and Sequencer.
• You have experience collaborating closely with Animators, Rigging, and Gameplay teams to bring characters to life with style and responsiveness.
• You have a strong foundation in 3D math, including linear algebra, quaternions, and transformation matrices.
• You have shipped titles where you owned or contributed significantly to animation pipelines or runtime systems.
• You are team-focused and have excellent communication and collaboration skills.
• You prioritize doing what is best for the player experience and work in partnership with other disciplines.
• You are a proactive problem solver, you take initiative to help drive improvements and make things better.
• You value an open feedback culture and have the ability to give and receive constructive feedback.

Nice To Haves

• You may have experience mentoring engineers or leading technical animation efforts.
• You may contribute to animation tooling or pipeline improvements that support rigging, motion capture integration, or retargeting.

Responsibilities

• Architect and implement real-time animation systems, including state machines, blend trees, IK systems, and runtime procedural techniques.
• Collaborate with and empower our creative team members, from designers and animators to technical artists, to achieve efficient workflows and iterate rapidly.
• Develop robust, performant animation runtime code that supports a wide range of use cases—from gameplay abilities to cinematics.
• Define the interface between animation and gameplay systems, ensuring player input, responsiveness, and transitions feel tight and intentional.
• Optimize animation systems for performance across platforms, including memory, CPU usage, and streaming behavior.
• Establish technical standards, help define the animation pipeline, and influence long-term architectural decisions in animation technology.
• Collaborate on motion matching, ragdoll systems, or dynamic animation blending when needed.
• Contribute to debugging tools and visualizers that help animators and engineers understand animation states and transitions.
• Mentor engineers and contribute code reviews, helping level up technical rigor across the team.
• Contribute to animation tooling or pipeline improvements that support rigging, motion capture integration, or retargeting.

Benefits

• You will collaborate with a passionate team of AAA veterans from studios like Epic, Respawn, Rocksteady, Riot, and more on exciting and ambitious gaming projects.
• You will enjoy a development process that balances collaborative teamwork with a high degree of individual autonomy.
• You will benefit from competitive compensation, access to cutting-edge technology and resources to support your work, as well as opportunities for career growth, personal and professional development.
• You will be shown trust and flexibility through remote or hybrid options, open PTO, and support for balancing work and personal life.
• Your ultimate impact will be unconstrained by your focus areas. You will have the opportunity to shape not only the game we are making but the foundation of our studio and development cultures, best practices, team collaboration, and beyond.
• You will add to a deeply inclusive workplace where every team member is valued and respected.

What This Job Offers

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