Technical Animator

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

Technical Animator - Character - Maya / Blender

Haverhill, England, United Kingdom (On-site)

The Company

This is a well-funded, fast-moving tech business building cutting-edge interactive experiences.

Their in-house team blends artistry and engineering to create expressive, real-time 3D characters — and they’re scaling up. With a collaborative culture and a clear product vision, they’re offering the chance to get in early and help shape something genuinely innovative.

Role Overview:

We’re looking for an experienced 3D Technical Character Animator to join creative team and help bring a diverse range of hand-crafted 3D characters to life. Built entirely in-house using industry-standard tools and the PBR pipeline, these characters are designed for expressive, real-time interaction.

This hands-on, production-focused role involves working closely with their Art Director, and 3D artists to deliver emotionally rich animations in Unity environments. As the sole animator, you will help define and drive our animation pipeline and performance benchmarks.

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.

Required Skills & Experience:

• Experience working as a real-time 3D character animator, must have facial animation
• must be able to demonstrate at interview...Rigging / Skinning / Weighting
• Strong portfolio/showreel featuring both body and facial animation (keyframe and MoCap, keyframe is very important).
• Demonstrable proficiency with Maya and Blender
• Demonstrable experience in rigging and skinning (not auto rigging)
• An understanding of physics-driven animation, inverse kinematics (IK), and runtime animation systems.
• Experience with motion capture pipelines and animation rigs.
• Practical experience working with blend shapes, wrinkle maps, facial rigs, and viseme /lip sync systems.
• Strong understanding of character movement, weight, and physics.
• Solid understanding of animation principles; performance, timing, emotion, and body language.
• Comfortable working autonomously, while collaborating effectively with creative and technical team members.
• Knowledge of animation integration into engines, including blend trees, state machines, and performance constraints.