Sr. Technical Animator, VR

Axon • Washington, DC

2d • $104,250 - $166,800

About The Position

Axon is hiring a Senior Technical Animator to help build VR/XR public-safety training simulators for standalone headsets. The role bridges art and technology, owning the animation pipeline and systems and turning motion-capture data into believable NPC behavior that meets mobile performance constraints. The animator will work with Art, Engineering, Content, UX, and User Research on immersive training focused on empathy, coping, and de-escalation.

This is a senior, independent role. The person will own their area end to end, take direction from the Lead Technical Artist and Art Director, and contribute to a collaborative team through daily check-ins, open-format meetings, play tests, and documentation. The position is based in Seattle, Washington, and has no direct reports.

Requirements

• Shipped at least one title as a Technical Animator.
• Strong animation skills and an eye for timing, weight, and polish when elevating motion-capture data.
• Hands-on character-rigging experience.
• Experience cleaning up and retargeting motion-capture data and integrating it into Unity.
• Experience building and maintaining animation systems.
• Proficiency in Maya and/or MotionBuilder.
• Experience with the Unity Playables API.
• Familiarity with AI animation tools such as Cascadeur and Kimodo.
• Experience using AI-assisted development workflows, such as Cursor or Claude Code, in daily work.
• Experience building tools and pipeline automation using AI toolsets.
• A portfolio demonstrating past work, including animation systems and pipelines.
• A track record of working independently and owning deliverables, including in ambiguous environments.
• Ability to work with cross-functional teams, including Engineering, Design, and Product.
• Portfolio showcasing animation work and other relevant materials.
• Experience with character animation.
• At least 5 years of experience in the gaming and/or VR industry.
• At least 5 years of Unity or Unreal game-engine experience.

Nice To Haves

• Unity experience (strongly preferred).
• Experience with VR or mobile VR.
• Unreal Engine experience.
• Runtime IK experience, using Animation Rigging or custom solutions.
• Facial animation experience, including ARKit blendshapes, lip-sync, and visemes.
• Experience profiling animation performance on mobile hardware.
• Experience blending authored and procedural or physics-driven animation, such as ragdoll.
• Experience building engine-side control rigs that facilitate motion editing.
• Experience with Motion Matching systems and pipelines.
• Version-control experience with Perforce or Git.

Responsibilities

• Own the animation pipeline from DCC to engine, including rigs, motion-capture ingest, retargeting, export, import, setup, and validation.
• Rig characters for runtime-driven animation.
• Design, build, and maintain animation systems and character setups in Unity, including state machines, blend trees, and animation controllers.
• Build runtime inverse kinematics and procedural animation layers, blending them with authored and physics-driven motion.
• Build and maintain facial animation setups, including ARKit-style blendshapes, lip-sync, and viseme systems.
• Evaluate and integrate AI animation tools into the team's workflow.
• Build tools and automation using AI toolsets to improve animation workflows.
• Partner with Engineering on animation-driven gameplay and runtime behavior.
• Profile animation and keep its cost within platform budgets, including skinning, bone counts, and Animator and Playables overhead.
• Troubleshoot and resolve technical animation issues to ensure smooth engine integration.
• Collaborate with Tech Art and Animation to evolve the animation system and create seamless, immersive experiences.
• Document pipelines and tools, establish standards, and educate teammates on best practices.
• Communicate pipelines and methods to artists and software engineers.
• Attend stand-ups and play tests to share progress and provide feedback on the experience.

Benefits

• Competitive salary.
• 401(k) with employer match.
• Discretionary paid time off.
• Robust parental leave policy.
• Award-winning office and working environment.
• Opportunities to ride along with real police officers, explore third-party VR content, and get paid to play.

What This Job Offers

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