Viewmodel Gameplay Animator (Contract) - Sledgehammer Games

Activision Blizzard, Inc. • Work from Home - CA, OR

9d • $30 - $56 • Remote

About The Position

Sledgehammer Games is seeking a Viewmodel Gameplay Animator (Contract) to create polished first-person weapon animations that support responsive, readable, and impactful gameplay. This role involves close collaboration with various teams, including animation, design, engineering, tech art, rigging, and modeling, to bring weapons and gameplay systems to life. The position is focused on contributing to active production within an established development pipeline in a fast-paced environment. The contract is for up to one year, with remote work permitted.

Requirements

• 3+ years of professional animation experience.
• 1+ years of professional game animation experience.
• Strong animation fundamentals with an emphasis on human movement, weight, timing, posing, and physicality.
• Experience creating or implementing first-person, or gameplay animation.
• Advanced proficiency with Autodesk Maya
• Experience working with animation implementation tools and game engines.
• Strong problem-solving skills across creative and technical challenges.
• Ability to work effectively with multiple disciplines in a collaborative development environment.
• Ability to receive feedback, iterate quickly, and maintain a high-quality bar.
• Strong communication, organization, and self-direction.
• Ability to quickly learn and work within an established production pipeline.

Nice To Haves

• At least one shipped game title is preferred.
• Experience working on a first-person shooter.
• Experience with motion capture cleanup, retargeting, or editing.
• Experience with proprietary game engines or animation pipelines.
• Experience mentoring junior or associate animators.
• Interest in participating in previs or mocap shoots, if required by the project.
• Demonstrated ability to take ownership of complex animation tasks from initial direction through implementation and polish.
• Ability to provide constructive feedback and technical guidance to less experienced animators.
• Ability to identify risks early and help resolve production issues independently.

Responsibilities

• Use traditional animation fundamentals to craft game motions that range from stylized to hyper-realistic.
• Create polished first-person weapon animations, including firing, reloads, weapon handling, inspections, melee, equipment use, and other gameplay interactions.
• Apply strong animation fundamentals to create motion ranging from grounded and realistic to stylized, depending on the needs of the game.
• Maintain clear weapon readability, strong posing, convincing weight, and responsive timing from the player’s perspective.
• Animate and refine first-person camera motion when needed to support gameplay clarity, impact, and presentation.
• Collaborate closely with designers, engineers, tech artists, riggers, modelers, and other animators to solve creative and technical problems.
• Implement, test, and debug animation in the game engine or proprietary tools.
• Respond well to feedback and iterate efficiently to achieve the level of polish expected for a AAA title.
• Help identify workflow or pipeline improvements that increase the efficiency and quality of the animation team.
• Clearly communicate progress, risks, technical issues, and creative intent to partners and leads.
• Support the development of animation standards, documentation, and reusable animation systems.

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 the Company requires that you move geographic locations for the job)

What This Job Offers

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