Senior Animator

Summary  

We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Senior Animator to join our dynamic team. As Senior Animator, you will be responsible for creating high-quality character and creature animations that define the quality of animation across our game world. You will have a direct impact on the player's experience by ensuring that our animations are fluid, realistic, and enhance the overall gameplay.   

 Core Responsibilities  

• Create high-quality keyframe and motion capture animations for player characters, enemies, and NPCs.  
• Work closely with designers and engineers to ensure animations integrate seamlessly into gameplay and AI systems.  
• Help define and refine animation pipelines and workflows to maximize efficiency and quality.  
• Collaborate with technical animators and engineers to develop animation state machines, blend trees, and procedural animation solutions.  
• Maintain a high level of artistic and technical quality while meeting project deadlines.  
• Mentor and support junior animators, sharing knowledge and best practices.  
• Provide feedback and iterate animations based on playtests and internal reviews.  

Core Qualifications  

• 5+ years of experience in animation for games.  
• Strong proficiency in Maya.   
• Experience working with animation systems in modern game engines (Unreal Engine preferred).  
• A strong understanding of animation principles, character performance, and motion dynamics.  
• Familiarity with motion capture processes, cleanup, and implementation.  
• Experience with state machines, blend trees, and animation-driven gameplay mechanics.  
• Ability to collaborate across disciplines and communicate effectively with designers and engineers.  
• A strong portfolio demonstrating high-quality character animation.  

Plus if...  

• Experience working in Motionbuilder.  
• Experience with procedural animation and runtime animation techniques.  
• Familiarity with scripting or tools development (Python, MEL, Blueprint, etc.).  
• Background in combat animation, creature animation, or cinematic animation.  
• Previous experience mentoring or leading a small team of animators.  

Description   

• Full time job with benefits   
• Role is on-site in San Rafael, CA or Santa Monica, CA.  

The base pay range for this position is $120,000 to $150,000 per year. Actual compensation is based on market location and may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. We also offer a competitive package of benefits including vacation time, sick time, company holidays, parental leave, medical/dental/vision insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, and 401(k) matching to regular full-time employees. Certain roles may also be eligible for bonus and equity.