Senior Animation Engineer

Hangar 13; Brighton; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

An innovative studio is seeking a Senior Animation Engineer to enhance their animation systems and technology. In this role, you will work with Unreal Engine 5 to develop and maintain animation features, collaborating closely with animators and designers to bring creative visions to life. You will mentor junior engineers, ensuring high standards of code quality and documentation. This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to AAA game titles in a diverse and welcoming environment, where your skills and creativity can truly make a difference.

Qualifications

• Experience in programming within a creative environment and shipped AAA titles.
• Strong understanding of animation principles and technical risks in game development.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain key animation systems and tools within Unreal Engine 5.
• Collaborate with design and animation teams to achieve creative goals.

Skills

C++

Animation Principles

Linear Algebra

3D Maths

Object-Oriented Design

Effective Communication

Tools

Unreal Engine 5

Blueprint

Lyra Animations

Job description

Hangar 13 is an internal 2K development studio that creates influential AAA video game experiences across all major platforms. The studio is based in four locations around the world: Brighton (UK), Brno & Prague (Czech Republic) and across the US, working collaboratively as one team. Each of our locations provides the opportunity to work with some of the most talented developers in the industry, on creatively challenging and exciting projects, in a diverse and welcoming environment.

Our focus is on making the highest quality games with sustainable, healthy development plans; to tell stories that engage players through worlds and experiences that keep them hooked from start to finish.

We strive to be a studio that our team members know they can make a difference and grow professionally alongside creating games they are proud of.

What We Need

We are looking for an inventive Senior Animation Engineer to join the Hangar 13 team. We’re seeking an engineer who has a high bar for code quality and a passion for animation. In this role, you will own and continue the development of our key animation systems, you will extend and maintain the code of our animation technology, tools, and pipelines, working closely with the animators, character artists, designers, and programmers to help develop spectacular animation features for our games.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Work within Unreal Engine 5 adapting existing systems and building new technology to fulfil the project’s technical needs and creativity.
• Prototyping and coding animation features
• Work closely and constructively with design, animation, and engineering teams to realise creative ambitions
• Support planning efforts by estimating and dependency checking gameplay feature development
• Identify technical and developmental risks/obstacles and generate solutions to overcome identified risks
• Research coding techniques and algorithms in order to keep current on technological developments and advancements in the game industry.
• Mentor other engineers in animation technology

What We’re Looking For

• Demonstrable programming experience in a creative environment
• Shipped one or more AAA game titles, ideally using Unreal or a comparable engine
• Advanced proficiency in C++, linear algebra, 3D Maths and strong familiarity with Object-Oriented (OO) design principles
• Unreal Engine, Blueprint and Lyra Animations expertise
• Dedication to code quality and documentation, and ability to learn and master new technologies and code
• Strong understanding of Animation Principles for game development
• Implementation experience in one or more of the following areas, Inverse Kinematics techniques, Ragdoll and physics-based character animation, Procedural animation techniques, Keyframe animation and forward kinematics, Motion matching, Machine learning driven animation techniques
• Ability to work independently and efficiently under deadlines
• Effective communicator and collaborator with engineers and team members from other teams
• Desire and demonstrated ability to mentor junior programmers and help with their growth

You Might Also Have

• Hands-on experience developing for Unreal Engine, Xbox Series X/S and PS5
• Experience with Motion Matching techniques

Hangar 13 prides itself on the diversity of its team members, partners, and communities. For this reason, we remain committed to providing equal employment opportunity in all aspects of the employment relationship, from recruitment and hiring through compensation, benefits, discipline and termination.

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