Senior Technical Animator

Warner Bros. Entertainment; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading entertainment company in London is seeking a Senior Technical Animator for a 9-month fixed-term role. The successful candidate will design and troubleshoot animation tools, maintain rigs for dynamic assets, and enhance visual quality while managing performance. A strong understanding of the Maya API, experience in 3D animation, and passion for collaboration are essential. This position offers a hybrid work model, allowing a mix of remote and in-office work.

Qualifications

• Highly motivated to learn and develop animation techniques and pipelines.
• Production experience creating rigs for Games or VFX is essential.

Responsibilities

• Design and troubleshoot animation tools and pipelines.
• Build and maintain rigs for dynamic assets.
• Collaborate with technical teams to maintain libraries.
• Enhance visual quality of assets while managing performance.
• Debug animation and rig issues.

Skills

Strong understanding of the Maya API

Experience coding UI using PySide or PyQt

Understanding of underlying math in 3D animation

Proficient production experience in rigging

Experience with gameplay technical animation

Foundational understanding of software engineering concepts

Job description

Senior Technical Animator (9-month FTC)

Rocksteady Studios is an award-winning, critically acclaimed video game developer. Founded in 2004, we are home to the widely celebrated Batman: Arkham series of games. Our philosophy for game development is all about treating people well to create quality entertainment that stands the test of time. We’re a one-project studio that built our success by combining genre-defining gameplay and character-driven cinematic narrative with AAA production values. Born in the heart of London, our multicultural team takes inspiration from the culture and history of our home in one of the most diverse cities in the world.

At Rocksteady Studios, the technical animation team sits at the crossroad of art and animation – the work ranges from creating creature and character rigs for cinematic and gameplay scenarios, to maintaining and improving pipelines, tools and establishing standards and workflows. There is always a variety of opportunities to work on creative solutions to support other teams to run as efficiently as possible.

We are looking for a Senior Technical Animator on a fixed term basis who is passionate about collaborating with and supporting great teams in creating awesome games.

The ideal candidate will be highly motivated in learning and/or developing techniques and pipelines to improve animation, asset, and rigging workflows.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and troubleshoot animation tools and pipelines in DCC and engine contexts.
• Build and maintain rigs for a variety of dynamic assets.
• Collaborate with the technical teams to document and maintain libraries for rigging & tools.
• Enhance visual quality of our assets and deformations while keeping project performance and time constraints in mind.
• Debugging animation and rig related issues, both in DCC and in engine.

Skill Requirements

• A strong understanding of the Maya API.
• Experience coding UI using PySide or PyQt.
• An understanding of the underlying math that 3d animation systems utilize.
• Proficient production experience creating rigs for Games, Feature Films, or VFX.
• Experience with gameplay technical animation – such as control rig, cloth, procedural physics, and ragdoll setups.
• Foundational understanding in software engineering concepts and patterns.

Hybrid Working - This role is advertised as a Hybrid work model, that combines remote and in-office work, following our current company policy and to be agreed with your Line Manager. Subject to any applicable laws, WBD / your Line Manager reserves the right to change this working agreement where this is essential to business needs and upon reasonable notice to you.

How We Get Things Done

Here at WBD, our guiding principles are the core values by which we operate and are central to how we get things done. You can find them at guiding-principles/ along with some insights from the team on what they mean and how they show up in their day to day. We hope they resonate with you and look forward to discussing them during your interview.

Championing Inclusion at WBD

Warner Bros. Discovery embraces the opportunity to build a workforce that reflects a wide array of perspectives, backgrounds and experiences. Being an equal opportunity employer means that we take seriously our responsibility to consider qualified candidates on the basis of merit, regardless of sex, gender identity, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, marital status, pregnancy, parenthood, disability or any other category protected by law.

If you’re a qualified candidate with a disability and you require adjustments or accommodations during the job application and/or recruitment process, please visit our accessibility page for instructions to submit your request.