Senior Animator – Star Wars

NaturalMotion; London; Hybrid; GBP 40,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading gaming company is seeking a Senior Animator to enhance their upcoming title, Star Wars: Hunters. The role involves creating dynamic animations for characters in a highly collaborative environment. You'll join a talented team, share skills, and enjoy a supportive culture with flexible working conditions and generous benefits including a competitive salary, healthcare, and a pension plan.

Benefits

Competitive salary and discretionary annual bonus scheme

Flexible working hours & crunchy-free culture

26 days holiday + bank holidays and 2 paid personal days

Private medical and dental insurance

Fitness reimbursement plan worth £600 per annum

Annual season ticket advance and cycle to work scheme

Qualifications

• Extensive experience working as a Senior 3D Animator in game development.
• Strong proficiency with Maya and experience in motion capture.
• Self-organized and able to participate in team meetings.

Responsibilities

• Create high-quality character animations and collaborate with the team.
• Ensure animation quality meets the project vision and gameplay requirements.
• Identify production issues and communicate effectively.

Skills

Animation Core Principles

3D Animation

Collaboration

Technical Organization

Time Management

Tools

Maya

Unreal

Job description

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Art & Animation (Brighton-UK, London-UK)

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Senior Animator – Star Wars

Art & Animation (Brighton-UK, London-UK)

Apply

At NaturalMotion, we make games that wow people. We innovate to create experiences that previously were impossible and that would not exist without us. We take pride in making titles that reach a large audience and in creating communities that last. For the past six years, NaturalMotion Studios has been named one of the Best Places to Work in the UK games industry by gamesindustry.biz.

We embrace a hybrid work environment. Within this role, you would work 2 days per week (Tuesday and Wednesday) in our London or Brighton office and the remaining days at home.

Job Purpose

We are looking for a Senior Animator to join us in creating Star Wars: Hunters, a competitive arena combat game for the Nintendo Switch system and mobile devices. Star Wars: Hunters will bring players together to engage in thrilling, team-based, multiplayer battles featuring a diverse array of distinctive new Star Wars characters.

You will be working as part of a dedicated in-house team responsible for building amazing animations that wow our players and partners. Working in a highly motivated team, you will have an opportunity to develop and share your skills. You will be learning from experienced peers, collaborating with multiple disciplines to craft amazing characters.

Key Roles & Responsibilities

As a Senior Animator, you will work closely with the rest of the team to create high-quality character animations. You will be responsible for creating consistent levels of quality work and ensuring that each animation has the right energy and personality, as intended by the project vision.

• Animation Core Principles – Identifies and applies Animation Principles consistently such as “timing” and “weight”. Good understanding of human and animal body mechanics and anatomy. Good knowledge in hand-keyed and motion-captured animation.
• Animation Functionality - Create quality animations that integrate well with the rest of the content and ultimately work within defined gameplay requirements.
• Knowledge of game engine implementation.
• An excellent portfolio demonstrating your ability to create strong game animations in various styles.
• Passion and good knowledge of animation, art, and games.
• Cross-discipline communication and collaboration – Partners with other disciplines to build consensus and direction around a common goal.
• Understanding of art pipelines, game engines, and how your work fits with other game disciplines. Ability to identify production and pipeline issues and communicate them effectively.
• Giving and receiving feedback – Engages others with constructive, specific feedback based on a growth mindset. Participates in reviews and responds professionally to critical feedback.
• Technical organization – Practices good notation, naming conventions, and archiving practices to ensure work materials are accessible and understandable by others.
• Prioritization, efficiency, time management – Communicates with Leads and Production to align on goals, prioritize time-sensitive or high-risk deliverables, and consistently meet deadlines.

Required Skills & Experience

• Extensive experience as a Senior 3D Animator in game development.
• Proficiency with Maya.
• Experience in cleaning up and working with motion capture data.
• Experience in animation game implementation.
• Self-organized and participates actively in team meetings.

Desirable Skills & Experience

• Knowledge of Unreal Engine and Blueprint system.
• Experience working with external teams.
• A passion for games.

What we offer you:

• Competitive salary and discretionary annual bonus scheme.
• Opportunity to create next-gen games enjoyed by millions worldwide.
• Work in a collaborative, supportive team that invests in your growth.
• Flexible working hours and a crunch-free culture.
• Summer/Winter parties and weekly Happy Hour.
• 26 days holiday plus bank holidays, 2 paid personal days.
• Paid maternity/adoption leave (6 months) or paternity leave (16 weeks, eligibility criteria apply).
• Pension plan with employer matching up to 8%.
• Private medical, dental insurance, and healthcare cash plan.
• Life, accident, and long-term disability insurance.
• Company Employee Stock Purchase Plan (eligibility criteria apply).
• £600 annual Fitness Reimbursement.
• Charitable Giving Platform with company contribution 2:1.
• Season ticket advance and cycle to work scheme.