Senior Animator

Keywords Studios

10h•Remote

About The Position

Keywords Studios is seeking a Senior Animator to join their Create service line in Japan. This role involves creating high-quality animations for characters, creatures, vehicles, and gameplay systems, ensuring they are expressive, believable, and support gameplay responsiveness and narrative goals. The Senior Animator will produce polished animation cycles, maintain animation consistency, and implement animations within game engines like Unreal Engine or Unity. Collaboration with design, engineering, cinematic, audio, and art teams is crucial, as is contributing to the improvement of animation pipelines and workflows. Technical responsibilities include optimizing animation assets, assisting with motion capture, contributing to animation systems, and maintaining organized source files. The ideal candidate will stay current with animation trends and techniques.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Animation, Game Art, Fine Arts, Multimedia, or equivalent industry experience.
Shipped at least one AAA, AA, or commercially released game title.
Advanced understanding of animation principles, including timing, weight, posing, spacing, and body mechanics.
Strong portfolio or demo reel demonstrating high-quality gameplay and cinematic animation work.
High proficiency with industry-standard software such as Autodesk Maya, MotionBuilder, Blender, or equivalent.
Experience implementing animations in Unreal Engine, Unity, or proprietary engines.
Understanding of rigging constraints, animation systems, and technical pipelines.
Excellent communication, collaboration, and feedback skills.
Strong problem-solving and organizational abilities.
Fluent in Japanese and with a high degree of English language proficiency.
Currently residing in Japan and possess valid authorization to work in Japan.

Responsibilities

Create high-quality keyframe and/or motion capture animations for characters, creatures, vehicles, and gameplay systems.
Develop expressive and believable movement that supports gameplay responsiveness and narrative goals.
Produce polished animation cycles including locomotion, combat, traversal, facial animation, cinematic performances, and interactive sequences.
Maintain consistency of animation style, quality, and performance across the project.
Implement and refine animations within game engines such as Unreal Engine or Unity.
Troubleshoot and resolve animation issues related to rigging, blending, state machines, and gameplay integration.
Collaborate closely with design, engineering, cinematic, audio, and art teams to achieve gameplay and storytelling objectives.
Participate in creative reviews, sprint planning, and milestone deliverables.
Contribute ideas to improve animation pipelines, workflows, and player experience.
Work with technical artists and programmers to ensure animations meet engine and performance requirements.
Optimize animation assets for runtime performance and memory constraints.
Assist with motion capture shoots, cleanup, retargeting, and implementation.
Contribute to animation systems including blend trees, state machines, IK systems, and procedural animation workflows.
Maintain organized source files and documentation according to studio standards.
Stay current with emerging animation techniques, tools, and industry trends.