Senior Technical Designer in Animation

Epic Games • Cary, NC

23h

About The Position

Epic Games is looking for a Senior Technical Designer in Animation (TDiA) to join our team working across various animation systems. As a TDiA, you will use your animation sense and technical understanding of character animation to design and create gameplay animation systems that facilitate appealing, high-quality character motion. You will be the primary point of contact for animation implementation issues and any animation-related technical challenges, and you will work closely with Animation, Design, and Programming colleagues to ensure the animation pipeline operates smoothly and efficiently. You will also help identify potential issues and deploy correct solutions, using your technical knowledge to help bridge and facilitate communication between the animation team and other departments. In this role, you will Creation of animation behavior tools/techniques/philosophies that allow the building of complex movement systems Design and implement animation state machines/behaviors and runtime solutions Work closely with the Animation, Design, and Programming departments to analyze, troubleshoot, and solve in-game animation implementation issues and animation-related technical challenges Closely collaborate with the animation leadership to maintain the style and quality bar for animations in the game Look for opportunities to improve the animation pipeline/workflow and help provide solutions for technical animation problems, including performing training and creating documentation for the animation team

Requirements

• A strong animation sense with a clear understanding of realistic and stylized character motion and how to achieve them with modern animation methods
• Expertise with animation pipelines, including source content creation tools such as Maya, MotionBuilder, and the Unreal Engine, using our Control Rig toolset
• Exceptional problem-solving ability with strong written communication and teamwork skills
• Familiarity with gameplay animation tools and concepts, such as blend trees and state machines; experience with Unreal Engine Animation Blueprints is a plus
• Experience with AAA game development, preferably on a large team using an established game engine (internal or commercial); experience with Unreal Engine is a plus
• Self-motivation, a strong work ethic, and the ability to work independently

Nice To Haves

• Coding knowledge or experience with C++ is not required

Responsibilities

• Creation of animation behavior tools/techniques/philosophies that allow the building of complex movement systems
• Design and implement animation state machines/behaviors and runtime solutions
• Work closely with the Animation, Design, and Programming departments to analyze, troubleshoot, and solve in-game animation implementation issues and animation-related technical challenges
• Closely collaborate with the animation leadership to maintain the style and quality bar for animations in the game
• Look for opportunities to improve the animation pipeline/workflow and help provide solutions for technical animation problems, including performing training and creating documentation for the animation team

Benefits

• We pay 100% for benefits for both employees and dependents and offer coverage for supplemental medical, dental, vision, critical illness, telemedicine, Life and AD&D, long term disability insurance as well as weekly indemnity (short term disability) and a retirement savings plan with a competitive employer match.
• In addition to the EAP (employee assistance program), we also offer a robust mental well-being program through Modern Health, which provides free therapy and coaching for employees & dependents.

What This Job Offers

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