Senior Technical Animator (Unreal Engine | Remote) Europe
Senior technical animator on a contract co-development project for an unannounced game: building and optimizing character rigs/skinning, real-time animation systems in Unreal Engine 5 (Animation Blueprints, Motion Matching, Control Rig), and Maya/Blender-to-engine pipelines and tools. Fully remote.
- Compensation
- Not disclosed
- Location
- United States
- Work setup
- Remote
- Seniority
- Senior
- Employment
- Contract
- Experience
- 6+ years
- Category
- Creative
- Posted
Skills
Must have
- 6+ years of professional experience in game animation or technical animation
- Proven experience working on commercially released game productions
- Strong hands-on experience with Unreal Engine 5 and real-time character animation systems
- Excellent technical skills in character rigging, skinning, and deformation
- Strong understanding of animation principles, character mechanics, and real-time animation workflows
- Professional proficiency with Maya and Blender, including integration with Unreal Engine
- Practical experience with Animation Blueprints, State Machines, Blend Spaces, and Motion Matching
- Understanding of Behavior Trees, State Trees, and their interaction with character animation systems
- Experience developing and maintaining DCC-to-engine animation pipelines
- Ability to diagnose and resolve complex animation integration and performance issues
- Strong understanding of technical constraints, performance optimization, and scalable production workflows
- Ability to work independently and collaborate effectively with animators, technical artists, and programmers
- Excellent communication skills and fluency in English
Nice to have
- Strong experience with Unreal Engine Control Rig and procedural animation systems
- Knowledge of IK Rig, IK Retargeter, Full Body IK, and runtime animation solutions
- Experience with Python, MEL, or mGear for rigging and pipeline automation
- Experience creating custom animation tools and editor utilities
- Familiarity with high-fidelity character systems and complex character deformation
- Experience with procedural animation, physics-driven animation, or runtime rigging
- Experience optimizing animation systems for demanding real-time applications
- Previous experience working in a co-development environment with international teams
Full description
Senior Technical Animator (Unreal Engine | Remote)
Location: Remote | International Team
Employment: Project-Based / Contract
Open Positions: 2
Position Overview
We are looking for experienced Senior Technical Animators with strong Unreal Engine expertise and a passion for solving complex animation challenges for an unannounced game project with one of our partners.
We believe exceptional technical animation is about more than creating character rigs. It's about building reliable systems, developing efficient workflows, and empowering animators to bring characters to life with the highest level of quality and technical precision.
As part of our co-development team, you will work closely with animators, technical artists, and gameplay programmers to develop, integrate, and optimize character rigs, animation systems, and production pipelines directly in Unreal Engine.
This is a hands-on senior role for someone with strong technical animation fundamentals, excellent problem-solving skills, and the ability to take ownership of complex animation systems within an established production environment.
Responsibilities
Character Rigging & Technical Animation
- Create, maintain, and optimize character rigs for bipedal, non-bipedal, and mechanical characters.
- Develop robust rigging and skinning solutions that support high-quality character performances.
- Ensure character rigs are efficient, scalable, and suitable for real-time game production.
- Collaborate with animators to resolve deformation issues and improve animation workflows.
- Maintain technical consistency across character setups and animation assets.
Unreal Engine Animation Systems
- Implement and maintain character animation systems directly in Unreal Engine.
- Work with Animation Blueprints, State Machines, Blend Spaces, and Motion Matching workflows.
- Support animation logic and integration involving Behavior Trees and State Trees.
- Collaborate with gameplay programmers to develop reliable character animation behavior.
- Investigate, debug, and resolve animation-related issues across in-game systems.
- Optimize animation systems to meet real-time performance requirements.
Animation Pipelines & Tools
- Develop and improve workflows connecting Maya, Blender, and Unreal Engine.