Animator

the hive; Cambridge; Remote; GBP 35,000 - 55,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual bonus

Share options

Life assurance

Private healthcare

Flexible hours

Parental leave

Catering on site

Relocation help

Cycle to work

Bike servicing

Social events

Job summary

Frontier in Cambridge is seeking an experienced Animator to craft expressive character and creature animations using Maya and integrate them into the Cobra engine. You will collaborate across disciplines, take direction from leadership, and contribute to a culture of feedback and continuous improvement.

The role emphasizes collaboration with Character Art, Code, Design, and VFX teams, with a focus on technical know-how, timing, and believability in movement.

Qualifications

• Proven experience producing high-quality animation assets.
• Strong proficiency in Maya's character animation tools.
• Excellent understanding of body mechanics, posing, timing, and acting choices.
• Experience with creature animation and believable movement.
• Familiarity with animation state machines.
• Understanding of versioning software (SVN, Perforce).
• Strong time management and communication skills.
• Basic knowledge of rigging pipelines.

Responsibilities

• Create high-quality, expressive character and creature animations using Maya.
• Implement animations into our proprietary Cobra engine.
• Collaborate across disciplines including Character Art, Code, Design, and VFX.
• Take direction from the Lead Animator and Game Director to realise the creative vision.
• Contribute to a culture of feedback and continuous improvement.
• Solve production challenges with creativity and technical know-how.
• Maintain accurate task tracking and validate assets to minimise bugs.
• Provide feedback to external development partners when needed.
• Support junior team members and contribute to team knowledge sharing.

Skills

Maya animation

Character animation

Creature animation

State machines

Version control

Rigging basics

Time management

Communication

Tools

SVN

Perforce

Job description

WHAT'S THE ROLE?

Are you passionate about crafting compelling character and creature animation that elevates gameplay? At Frontier, animation is at the heart of our storytelling. We're looking for an experienced Animator to join our talented team and help bring our worlds to life.

*Please note that candidates invited to interview may be asked to complete a role-related assessment in their own time as part of the selection process. Further details regarding the expected time commitment will be provided in advance.

WHAT YOU'LL BE DOING

• Create high-quality, expressive character and creature animations using Maya.
• Implement animations into our proprietary Cobra engine.
• Collaborate across disciplines including Character Art, Code, Design, and VFX.
• Take direction from the Lead Animator and Game Director to realise the creative vision.
• Contribute to a culture of feedback and continuous improvement.
• Solve production challenges with creativity and technical know-how.
• Maintain accurate task tracking and validate assets to minimise bugs.
• Provide feedback to external development partners when needed.
• Support junior team members and contribute to team knowledge sharing.

WHAT YOU'LL BRING

• Proven experience producing high-quality animation assets.
• Strong proficiency in Maya's character animation tools.
• Excellent understanding of body mechanics, posing, timing, and acting choices.
• Experience with creature animation and believable movement.
• Familiarity with animation state machines.
• Understanding of versioning software (SVN, Perforce).
• Strong time management and communication skills.
• Basic knowledge of rigging pipelines.

BONUS IF YOU HAVE

• Experience with external animation behaviour tree software (e.g. Havok, Unity, Unreal)
• Scripting knowledge (Python, MEL)
• Experience mentoring or training junior animators

WHAT WE CAN OFFER YOU

You will work with talented and passionate people to support, develop or publish our sophisticated and enduring games, in a creative, collaborative and inclusive environment. We love what we do, and we work hard to provide outstanding experiences for our players.

Wellbeing is a big focus at Frontier, and we are continually evolving how we can support our people. We encourage a healthy work/life balance and provide a range of wellbeing activities, initiatives and sessions to support both mental and physical health.

We offer a competitive salary and benefits package.

• success-based annual bonus
• share option schemes
• life assurance
• private family healthcare
• flexitime working hours
• enhanced maternity/paternity leave
• in-house subsidised catering
• support with relocation
• a Cycle to Work scheme
• free bike servicing
• social activities and events

We strive to create an environment where everyone can fully demonstrate their capability and potential. If you therefore need any reasonable adjustments to support you during the recruitment process, please speak to your Talent Acquisition representative.

For queries, please email: [e-mail]