Senior Technical Animator

2K; Nanaimo; On-site; CAD 87,000 - 131,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking a Senior Technical Animator to join their innovative team. In this role, you will collaborate with animation and engineering teams to enhance the creative vision and technical capabilities of future sports interactive entertainment programs. You will be responsible for creating and maintaining complex rigs in Maya, optimizing assets for performance, and mentoring others in the team. This position offers a unique opportunity to work on exciting projects within a vibrant and inclusive work environment, where your contributions will directly impact the development of world-class gaming experiences. If you have a passion for animation and a desire to push creative boundaries, we encourage you to apply.

Qualifications

• Strong understanding of animation principles and their application in games.
• Experience with game engines like Unreal or Unity is essential.
• Proficient in creating rigs and tools in Maya and Python.

Responsibilities

• Create and maintain rigs in Maya for various complexities.
• Implement assets in the game engine and troubleshoot animation issues.
• Mentor team members on technical workflows and best practices.

Skills

Animation Principles

Human Anatomy Knowledge

Game Engine Experience

Creative Problem-Solving

Maya Rigging

Python Development

Object-Oriented Programming

Collaboration Skills

Asset Optimization

Facial Rigging

Education

Degree in Animation or Related Field

Tools

Maya

Motion Builder

Unreal Engine

Unity

PySide2

PyQt5

C++

Job description

Who We Are

2K Games is headquartered in Novato, California and is a wholly owned label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO). Founded in 2005, 2K Games is a global video game company, publishing titles developed by some of the most influential game development studios in the world. Our studios responsible for developing 2K’s portfolio of world-class games across multiple platforms, include Visual Concepts, Firaxis, Hangar 13, CatDaddy, Cloud Chamber, 31st Union, and HB Studios. Our portfolio of titles is expanding due to our global strategic plan, building and acquiring exciting studios whose content continues to inspire all of us! 2K publishes titles in today’s most popular gaming genres, including sports, shooters, action, role-playing, strategy, casual, and family entertainment.

Located in Vancouver, BC, 2K Sports Lab is a small collective being formed within 2K Games that is driving the research and development of future sports interactive entertainment programs. Within this group, speculative work will be done on future sports games with an eye towards taking the magic of 2K’s publishing and development expertise and applying them to future opportunities.

Our team of engineers, marketers, artists, writers, data scientists, producers, thinkers and doers, are the professional publishing stewards of our growing library of critically-acclaimed franchises such as NBA 2K, 2K PGA, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, Lego Drive, BioShock, Borderlands, The Quarry, Mafia, Sid Meier’s Civilization, Marvel’s Midnight Suns, WWE 2K, and XCOM.

At 2K, we pride ourselves on creating an inclusive work environment, which means encouraging our teams to Come as You Are and do your best work! We encourage ALL applicants to explore our global positions, even if they don’t meet every requirement for the role. If you're interested in the job and think you have what it takes to work at 2K, we encourage you to apply!

What We Need

Our team at 2K Sports Lab is looking for a Senior Technical Animator to work closely with the animation and engineering teams to push the creative vision and technical boundaries. Someone who really understands run-time animation, content authoring, creating tools, and pipeline development that is engaged in designing and improving efficient workflows.

Who We Think Will Be a Great Fit

You are someone with a very keen artistic eye and who loves to work their technical wizardry! You are a person who is truly passionate about their craft and enjoys supporting the team. You work towards understanding the whys of how something works and able to clearly communicate the findings to others. You have a thirst for knowledge, seeks wisdom, and takes joy in supporting and mentoring others.

We are looking for someone with:

• Good understanding of animation principles and how they can be applied to video games.
• Knowledge of human anatomy and kinesiology, and understanding of how it relates to deformation rigs.
• Experience working with a game engine (e.g. Unreal, Unity, or AAA proprietary game engines).
• Enjoy creative problem-solving and have the chance to create prototypes and iterate on your work by using UE 5.
• Vast experience creating animator friendly rigs in Maya and Motion Builder.
• Tools development experience in Python, and PySide2 or PyQt5.
• Strong understanding of object-oriented programming principles and practical usage.
• Experience with driving positive and effective collaborative processes in a team environment.
• Experience with optimizing (e.g. lod, fps performance, memory footprint) assets for a game engine.
• Animation, skinning, rigging, and/or pipeline tools development experience in Maya is a plus.
• Experience working with FACS based facial rig is a plus.
• Maya plug-in authoring experience in C++ is a plus.

What You Will Do:

• Create and maintain various complexity of rigs in Maya.
• Setting up automated pipelines for retargeting animation in Maya or Motion Builder.
• Implement and set up assets in the game engine.
• Help troubleshoot issues relating to animation in both Maya and the game engine.
• Create, maintain, and continuously improve tools and pipelines in Maya.
• Help make sure assets and systems are optimized for run-time performance.
• Work closely with the team to refine workflows and content authoring processes.
• Mentor and teach others on tool usages, technical workflows, and best practices.
• Create a written or video documentation to aid information sharing.

The pay range for this position in British Columbia at the start of employment is expected to be between CAD $87,800 and CAD $130,880 per year. However, actual pay offered is based on market location and may vary further depending on individualized factors for job candidates, such as job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and other objective business considerations. If hired, the company reserves the right to modify base pay (as well as any other discretionary payment or compensation or benefit program) at any time, including for reasons related to individual performance, company or individual department/team performance, and market factors.

As an equal opportunity employer, we are committed to ensuring that qualified individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform their essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us if you need reasonable accommodation.