Skydance Animation is hiring Senior Crowds Artist, 2026

Festybay; Madrid; Hybrid; EUR 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

Skydance Animation in Madrid offers an opportunity for a Senior Crowds Technical Artist to enhance their technical pipeline. The role involves creating optimized crowd rigs and collaborating with creative teams to deliver high-quality animations.

Ideal candidates have over 5 years of experience in VFX or animation, with expert knowledge of SideFX Houdini and Autodesk Maya. This position demands innovative thinking and technical prowess in a hybrid work setting.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional production experience in VFX or animation.
• Expert-level knowledge of SideFX Houdini's Crowd System.
• Proficient in Autodesk Maya and Houdini.

Responsibilities

• Configure and optimize crowd assets and workflows.
• Implement high-fidelity crowd simulations for production shots.
• Collaborate with the crowd simulation team and provide technical support.

Skills

Crowd simulation

Technical problem solving

Houdini

Autodesk Maya

Creativity

Tools

SideFX Houdini

Pixar RenderMan

Job description

Skydance Animation offers a dynamic, inclusive, and ever‑evolving studio culture where innovative ideas are openly welcomed and professional growth is actively fostered. Skydance Animation sit at the intersection of unique artistic creativity and major technological advancements, with a driving commitment to bold, immersive, and relevant storytelling. Spain jobs.

Skydance Animation seeks individuals who want to push the limits of what the world’s most collaborative art form can achieve, and we provide those pioneers with the space, resources, and trust to build a world‑class studio culture that is doing something genuinely different. Spain jobs.

Job Overview

Company Skydance Animation

Location Madrid, Spain (Hybrid Workspace)

Employment Type Full‑Time

Experience Level Senior (5+ years industry experience)

Core Software Toolset SideFX Houdini & Autodesk Maya

Rendering Architecture Pixar RenderMan

Language Profile High English level desirable; Spanish a plus

The Opportunity as Senior Crowds Technical Artist

Skydance Animation is expanding its technical pipeline in Madrid. Skydance Animation is seeking an experienced, vision‑driven Senior Crowds Technical Artist to serve as a key technical anchor for our crowd simulation department.

In this role, you will assist the Crowds Supervisor and Lead with both technical and creative approaches to assigned cinematic sequences. Your primary responsibility will be creating robust, highly optimized master crowd rigs and deploying them seamlessly to the broader crowd artistry team for shot‑level production execution.

This position balances procedural asset design with hands‑on shot implementation, making it ideal for a senior technical artist who loves solving complex spatial puzzles and mentoring other artists.

Scope of Work & Key Responsibilities

As a Senior Crowds Technical Artist, your workflow will directly dictate the visual scale, complexity, and pipeline efficiency of the studio’s animated features. Your responsibilities span asset design, technical problem‑solving, and cross‑department collaboration:

1. Asset Setup, Ridding & Procedural Workflows

• Pipeline Architecture: Configure, test, and optimize specialized crowd assets and Houdini Digital Assets (HDAs) inside our existing production environment.
• Procedural Procedures: Systematically test and implement new crowd workflows and tools under artistic supervision of the department Lead and Supervisor.
• Agent Development: Author a diverse range of optimized crowd agents—including bipeds, quadrupeds, props, and mechanical vehicles—engineered specifically for low‑overhead, high‑performance simulations.

2. Shot Execution & Technical Troubleshooting

• Behavior Implementation: Author, apply, and execute high‑fidelity crowd behavioral simulation graphs on final production shots, maintaining strict adherence to studio quality guidelines.
• Independent Problem Solving: Demonstrate exceptional technical debugging skills, isolating and resolving macro pipeline issues or specific shot technical bottlenecks independently.
• R&D Tracking: Stay continuously updated on evolving artistic methodologies, technological industry trends, and third‑party software tools that improve creative output.
• Artist Support: Work collaboratively alongside the crowd simulation team, providing technical support, daily troubleshooting guidance, and instruction to foster long‑term professional growth.
• Director Alignment: Follow creative guidance from the Crowds Lead and Supervisor, translating artistic direction into technical execution.
• Animation Synchronization: Provide direct, hands‑on technical assistance to the Character Animators, ensuring raw animation data smoothly retargets to crowd systems.
• Tool Iteration: Offer structured, actionable feedback to the department Technical Directors (TDs) to assist continuous development of custom layout and crowd simulation tools.

Position Requirements

Skydance is looking for a hybrid artist who couples advanced technical understanding of procedural animation networks with an eye for natural movement, weight, and layout composition.

Must‑Have Qualifications

• Industry Longevity: 5+ years of professional production experience within VFX or animation, with at least 3+ years dedicated specifically to stylized animation pipelines.
• Houdini Crowd Expertise: Deep, expert‑level knowledge of SideFX Houdini’s native Crowd System (state machines, agent configuration, steering behaviors).
• DCC Environment Literacy: Proven working knowledge of both Autodesk Maya and Houdini within high‑volume production environments.
• Procedural Rendering: Direct production familiarity with procedural rendering workflows, specifically Pixar RenderMan.
• Feature Film Background: Experience generating massive, high‑quality crowd simulations explicitly for animated feature films.
• Full Pipeline Comprehension: Comprehensive understanding of the entire 3D CG pipeline, tracking data and assets from modeling and rigging through lighting and final rendering.
• Language Fluency: Professional working proficiency in English highly desirable; knowledge of Spanish is a valuable asset.