Senior Character Rigger at ANALOG

ANALOG; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 279,000 - 446,000; Full time

Job summary

Analog is seeking a hands-on Senior Character Rigger to join as an individual contributor. This on-site role focuses on building high-quality, animator-friendly rigs in Autodesk Maya for real-time 3D, AR/VR, and game pipelines.

You will own skeleton setup, skinning, controls, and deformation systems; collaborate with animators and engineers to ensure performance on Unity/Unreal. The ideal candidate ships production rigs and communicates rig decisions clearly.

Qualifications

• Expert-level rigging experience in Autodesk Maya
• 5+ years of professional experience as a character or creature rigger
• Proven experience shipping real-time 3D projects (AAA games, AR/VR, or high-end interactive experiences)
• Strong understanding of anatomy, deformation, skinning, and corrective techniques
• Solid grasp of animation fundamentals to support animator needs
• Experience working with Unity or Unreal pipelines from a rigging perspective
• Ability to work independently, take ownership, and deliver production-ready work
• Strong communication skills and ability to clearly explain rigging decisions

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and deliver production-ready character and creature rigs in Autodesk Maya
• Own skeleton setup, skinning, deformation systems, constraints, and corrective solutions
• Create clean, stable, animator-friendly control rigs focused on performance and usability
• Collaborate closely with animators to support expressive and efficient animation workflows
• Ensure rigs meet real-time engine constraints (Unity / Unreal) in collaboration with technical teams
• Debug, iterate, and improve rigs based on animation and runtime feedback
• Maintain and improve existing rigs without compromising quality or consistency

Skills

Autodesk Maya rigging

Character/Creature rigging

Real-time pipeline (Unity/Unreal)

Animation collaboration

Tools

Unity

Unreal Engine

Job description

This Full time on site position offers great opportunities for career growth.

We are seeking a hands-on, production-proven Senior Character Rigger to join Analog as an individual contributor. This is a rigging-focused role, centered on building high-quality, animator-friendly rigs in Autodesk Maya for real-time 3D and AR/VR experiences. This position is intended for a specialist rigger who actively builds, debugs, and ships rigs in production. It is not a hybrid Tech Artist or animation systems role. We are open to strong mid-level or senior candidates, provided they are deeply hands-on today.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and deliver production-ready character and creature rigs in Autodesk Maya
• Own skeleton setup, skinning, deformation systems, constraints, and corrective solutions
• Create clean, stable, and animator-friendly control rigs focused on performance and usability
• Collaborate closely with animators to support expressive and efficient animation workflows
• Ensure rigs meet real-time engine constraints (Unity / Unreal) in collaboration with technical teams
• Debug, iterate, and improve rigs based on animation and runtime feedback
• Maintain and improve existing rigs without compromising quality or consistency

This Role Is Not A Tech Artist or tools-focused role

• A lead-only or supervisory position with limited hands-on rigging
• An animation-first position
• Blender- or 3ds Max-centric rigging role

Qualifications

• Expert-level rigging experience in Autodesk Maya (non-negotiable)
• 5+ years of professional experience as a character or creature rigger
• Proven experience shipping real-time 3D projects (AAA games, AR/VR, or high-end interactive experiences)
• Strong understanding of anatomy, deformation, skinning, and corrective techniques
• Solid grasp of animation fundamentals (timing, weight, staging) to support animator needs
• Experience working with Unity or Unreal pipelines from a rigging perspective
• Ability to work independently, take ownership, and deliver production-ready work
• Strong communication skills and ability to clearly explain rigging decisions

Nice to Have

• Cloth, hair, or secondary motion setups in Maya or real-time environments
• Motion capture familiarity and basic mocap cleanup workflows
• Understanding of character modeling and texturing pipelines

Portfolio Requirement

Applicants must provide a portfolio that clearly demonstrates:

• Multiple fully built character or creature rigs
• Clear evidence of personal, hands-on contribution
• Deformation quality, control design, and animator usability

Candidates should be comfortable walking through their rigs and explaining how and why they were built.