Senior Technical Artist, Rigging - Unannounced Game | Irvine, CA or Albany, NY

About the position

At Blizzard, we craft genre-defining games and legendary worlds for all to share. Through unparalleled creativity and storytelling, we create immersive universes and iconic characters that are beloved across platforms, borders, backgrounds, and generations -- only made possible by building a work environment that cultivates the artistry of game development and unleashes the aspirations of our people. We are looking for a Senior Rigging Artist to help craft a new, unannounced game for Blizzard. As an essential part of the development team, you will design and maintain advanced deformation systems for characters, creatures, and vehicles, ensuring realistic movement and high-quality performance. This role requires strong problem-solving skills, technical expertise, and a deep understanding of animation principles to create seamless character deformations. You are comfortable operating in a dynamic environment, navigating fluid deadlines and changing priorities with purpose. This role is anticipated to be a hybrid work position, with some work on-site and some work from home. The potential home studio for this role is Irvine, CA or Albany, NY.

Responsibilities

• Develop, test, and maintain rigs, including skinning for characters, weapons, and vehicles.
• Collaborate closely with animators, modelers, and technical artists to set standards and enhance rigging tools and animation workflows.
• Optimize and refine content creation pipelines, identifying and addressing workflow bottlenecks to enhance efficiency for both yourself and the broader art team.
• Oversee and implement simulations for cloth, hair, and other dynamic elements across a diverse range of characters and creatures.
• Develop and maintain Python/MEL scripts to streamline and automate rigging processes.
• Mentor junior rigging artists, fostering best practices and technical growth.

Requirements

• 8+ years in the game industry as a character rigger or related role.
• A strong demo reel and online portfolio showcasing expertise in rigging, motion controls, complex deformations, and advanced skinning for both body and facial animation in characters and creatures.
• Expertise in AAA game engines with a solid understanding of art implementation and integration workflows.
• Deep understanding of character pipelines, including industry-standard 3D creation tools.
• Experience developing custom rigging and animation tools.
• Strong scripting skills in Python, MEL, or similar languages.

Nice-to-haves

• Experience working through early development and R&D phases of a project.
• Solid understanding of game development beyond technical art (e.g., lighting, VFX, animation, audio, rendering, systems).
• Experience with Unreal Engine, blueprints and physics setups.
• Experience with motion capture pipelines.
• A passion for video games and a deep understanding of game animation and interactivity.

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 if required to move geographic locations for the job.