Technical Animation Artist - Featurette

Bardel Entertainment•Vancouver, BC

6d•CA$1,400 - CA$1,500•Hybrid

About The Position

We're looking for an Animation Technical Artist who enjoys solving technical challenges that enable great animation. You'll work at the intersection of Animation, Rigging, and Pipeline, ensuring our artists have reliable tools, efficient workflows, and production-ready assets throughout the animation process. Success in this role means removing technical obstacles before they become production issues, improving the reliability of our animation pipeline, and building solutions that allow animators to focus on creating great performances.

Requirements

Professional experience supporting animation production within animation or VFX.
Strong knowledge of Autodesk Maya.
Experience scripting with Python and MEL.
Understanding of animation pipelines and production workflows.
Experience working with ShotGrid or comparable production tracking software.
Familiarity with rigging, character systems, constraints, skinning, and deformation workflows.
Strong troubleshooting and debugging skills.
Excellent communication and documentation abilities.

Nice To Haves

Experience developing production tools or pipeline integrations.
Familiarity with version control and pipeline technologies.
Experience supporting large-scale animated productions.
Knowledge of Maya API, PySide/PyQt, or other pipeline development frameworks.
Experience collaborating with Pipeline or Software Engineering teams.

Responsibilities

Maintain and support animation tools, workflows, and production systems.
Troubleshoot technical issues affecting animation scenes, rigs, caches, and assets.
Integrate, validate, and maintain animation assets throughout production.
Develop Python, MEL, or similar scripting solutions that automate repetitive production tasks.
Collaborate with Pipeline to design and improve artist tools and production workflows.
Work with Rigging to ensure characters and animation systems function reliably in production.
Identify recurring production issues and implement scalable solutions that improve pipeline stability.
Evaluate emerging technologies and workflows that could improve animation production.
Document tools, workflows, and technical processes to support knowledge sharing across the department.
Escalate complex technical issues while helping identify their root causes.