Real-Time Character Animator (Maya/Blender) - On-site UK

1956 Individuals; Haverhill, Tipton; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

1956 Individuals is seeking an experienced Technical Animator - Character to bring diverse hand-crafted 3D characters to life. You will work in-house on real-time characters built with Maya/Blender, delivering expressive animations for Unity-based projects.

You will define and drive the animation pipeline, collaborate with the art director and 3D artists, and ensure performance benchmarks are met in a tight production environment.

Qualifications

• Experience as a real-time 3D character animator with facial animation.
• Portfolio showing body and facial animation (keyframe and MoCap).
• Proficient with Maya and Blender.
• Experience in rigging and skinning (not auto rigging).
• Knowledge of IK, physics-driven animation and runtime systems.
• Experience with motion capture pipelines.
• Strong understanding of timing, emotion and body language.

Responsibilities

• Create dynamic full-body and facial animations using keyframe and MoCap workflows.
• Set up and refine character rigs for full-body and facial animation, working closely with the 3D art team.
• Perform skinning and weighting to ensure clean deformation during animation.
• Develop and refine facial performance using blend shapes, wrinkle maps, facial rigs, and visemes.
• Collaborate with 3D artists and developers to ensure assets are animation-ready and optimised for real-time performance.
• Set up, refine, and integrate animations in Unity, including asset implementation, state machine and blend tree setup, and quality testing.
• Maintain high-quality animation deliverables on tight deadlines, contributing creative ideas to character performance and storytelling.

Skills

Real-time 3D character animation

Facial animation

Rigging/Skinning

MoCap pipelines

Blend shapes/visemes

Unity integration

Tools

Maya

Blender

Unity

Job description

1956 Individuals is seeking an experienced Technical Animator - Character to bring diverse hand-crafted 3D characters to life. You will work in-house on real-time characters built with Maya/Blender, delivering expressive animations for Unity-based projects.

You will define and drive the animation pipeline, collaborate with the art director and 3D artists, and ensure performance benchmarks are met in a tight production environment.