Software Engineer, Animation

Absurd Ventures•Santa Monica, CA

2d•Onsite

About The Position

Absurd Ventures is seeking an Animation Engineer to develop systems and technology for a new IP AAA open-world game. The role works closely with Animators, Gameplay Engineers, Designers, and Technical Artists to build and support responsive, performant, high-quality character animation systems in Unreal Engine. The position contributes to runtime animation systems, tools, and workflows that support believable characters and meet the technical and performance demands of a large-scale game. This is a hands-on engineering role focused on problems at the intersection of animation, gameplay, and technology. The role is full-time and on-site in Santa Monica, California, near downtown Santa Monica, metro, and freeways. The base pay range is $120,000 to $150,000 per year. Actual compensation depends on market location and job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Benefits for regular full-time employees include vacation time, sick time, company holidays, parental leave, medical, dental, and vision insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, and 401(k) matching. Certain roles may also be eligible for bonus and equity.

Requirements

At least 3 years of professional experience as a Gameplay Engineer or in a similar role in the video game industry, including work on animation systems.
Strong C++ programming skills and experience developing real-time game systems.
Professional experience working with Unreal Engine.
Strong understanding of real-time character animation concepts, including animation blending, state machines, locomotion, inverse kinematics, and animation-driven gameplay.
Experience with Unreal Engine animation systems such as Animation Blueprints, Blend Spaces, Montages, and skeletal animation.
Strong debugging and problem-solving skills, including investigating issues spanning code and animation content.
Experience collaborating directly with Animators, Designers, Technical Artists, and other Engineers.
Strong communication skills and a collaborative mindset.

Nice To Haves

Experience with AAA, open-world, or large-scale 3D games.
Experience developing Unreal Engine editor tools or animation pipeline tools.
Experience with gameplay animation techniques such as motion matching, motion warping, procedural animation, or physical animation.
Familiarity with motion capture pipelines and animation data processing.
Experience profiling and optimizing animation systems on console hardware.

Responsibilities

Develop, maintain, and improve runtime animation systems for player characters, NPCs, creatures, and enemy characters.
Work with Animators, Designers, Gameplay Engineers, and AI Engineers to implement responsive, high-quality character behaviors and animation-driven gameplay.
Build and support animation systems for locomotion, traversal, interactions, combat, crowds, and other gameplay scenarios.
Develop tools and workflows that improve the Animation team's efficiency and iteration speed.
Implement and support animation functionality using C++, Blueprints, Animation Blueprints, state machines, blend spaces, montages, and other Unreal Engine animation technologies.
Collaborate with Technical Animation and Technical Art to integrate character rigs, animation assets, and procedural systems into the game.
Profile and optimize animation systems for runtime performance, memory, and scalability.
Work within existing engineering architecture and contribute clean, maintainable, well-documented code.
Participate in code reviews and technical discussions and contribute to engineering standards and best practices.
Identify animation technology risks and communicate technical challenges and potential solutions to the appropriate disciplines.