Senior Animation Engineer

Lever, Inc.; Portugal; Remote; EUR 60,000 - 85,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Technical ownership

International team

Remote work

Flexible contracts

Annual retreats

Long-term collaboration

Job summary

Lever, Inc. is seeking a Senior Animation Engineer based in Portugal to lead the animation runtime development in a major Unity3D project.

You’ll own advanced workflows at the intersection of Animation, Technical Art, and Engineering, driving prototypes to production-ready features. You will collaborate with Animators, Technical Artists, Gameplay Engineers, and Rendering Engineers, shaping tools, architecture, and standards across the team while tackling complex technical challenges in a highly

Qualifications

• Strong C# and Unity engineering experience.
• Hands-on ECS/DOTS experience or data-oriented engine architecture.
• Strong understanding of animation runtimes (states, blends, layers, root motion).
• Practical experience with GPU skinning, deformation, and shaders.
• Experience creating Unity Editor tooling and production automations.
• Experience profiling/optimizing graphics and animation on mobile (Adreno/Mali).
• Familiarity with GLES/Vulkan and platform-specific considerations.
• Excellent communication and ability to work with artists and engineers.
• Fluent English.

Responsibilities

• Develop, maintain, and optimize animation runtime systems in Unity (state machines, blend trees, layers, masks, root motion, events, compression).
• Design and integrate data-oriented animation solutions using ECS/DOTS, Entities, Jobs, Burst, and baking workflows.
• Research and implement advanced animation tech (GPU skinning, deformation, compute/vertex shaders).
• Build Unity Editor tools, validators, asset processors, workflows, and production utilities.
• Support rigging, skeleton, skinning, and FBX workflows between Maya/Blender and Unity.
• Profile and optimize animation systems for mobile hardware (Adreno/Mali).
• Collaborate with Animators, Technical Artists, Gameplay Engineers, Rendering Engineers, and others.
• Lead technical investigations from prototypes to production-ready features.
• Establish documentation, reusable workflows, and technical standards.
• Balance animation quality, runtime performance, system complexity, and usability in architecture decisions.
• Review and improve existing animation systems and workflows.

Skills

C# Unity

ECS/DOTS

GPU skinning

Shader development

FBX pipelines

Editor tooling

Maya/Blender

Mobile optimization

Profiling

English fluency

Tools

Unity Editor

Maya

Blender

Shader Graph

Job description

This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Senior Animation Engineer based in Portugal.

This is a senior technical role focused on the systems, tools, and technology behind high-quality character animation in a major Unity3D game project.
You will work at the intersection of Animation, Technical Art, and Engineering, translating creative requirements into scalable technical solutions.
The role combines animation runtime development with advanced areas such as ECS/DOTS, GPU skinning, shaders, deformation, and performance optimization.
You will collaborate closely with Animators, Technical Artists, Gameplay Engineers, and Rendering Engineers in a highly collaborative environment.
You will have significant ownership over technical R&D, taking ideas from early prototypes through to robust, production-ready features.
The position offers the opportunity to influence animation workflows, tooling, architecture, and technical standards across the wider team.
This is an ideal opportunity for an experienced engineer who enjoys solving complex technical challenges while staying closely connected to the creative side of game development.

Accountabilities

• Develop, maintain, and optimize animation runtime systems in Unity, including state machines, blend trees, layers, masks, root motion, animation events, and compression.

• Design and integrate data-oriented animation solutions using ECS/DOTS, Entities, Jobs, Burst, and baking workflows.

• Research and implement advanced animation technologies, including GPU skinning, deformation, compute shaders, vertex shaders, and vertex animation techniques.

• Build Unity Editor tools, validators, asset processors, custom workflows, and production utilities that improve the efficiency of animation teams.

• Support character rigging, skeleton, skinning, and FBX workflows between DCC tools such as Maya or Blender and Unity.

• Profile and optimize animation systems across mobile hardware, with particular attention to performance constraints on Adreno and Mali GPUs.

• Collaborate closely with Animators, Technical Artists, Gameplay Engineers, Rendering Engineers, and other technical disciplines.

• Lead technical investigations and take promising R&D concepts from initial prototypes through to production-ready and maintainable features.

• Establish clear documentation, reusable workflows, technical standards, and systems that enable other team members to build confidently.

• Balance animation quality, runtime performance, system complexity, and usability when making architectural and technical decisions.

• Review and improve existing animation systems while remaining comfortable evaluating both creative animation workflows and engineering implementations.

Requirements:

• Strong professional experience with C# and Unity engineering.

• Hands-on experience with ECS/DOTS, including Entities, Burst, Jobs, and baking, or deep equivalent experience with data-oriented engine architecture.

• Strong understanding of animation runtimes, including state machines, blend trees, layers, masks, root motion, animation events, and compression.

• Practical experience with GPU skinning and deformation using structured or constant buffers, compute shaders, vertex shaders, or comparable techniques.

• Shader development experience using HLSL and a node-based tool such as Shader Graph, Amplify, or similar.

• Solid understanding of character rigs, skeletons, skinning, and FBX pipelines using Maya, Blender, or comparable tools.

• Experience creating Unity Editor tooling, including asset postprocessors, validators, custom inspectors, editor windows, and production automation tools.

• Experience profiling and optimizing graphics and animation workloads on mobile platforms, particularly Adreno and Mali hardware.

• Familiarity with graphics APIs such as GLES and Vulkan and their platform-specific considerations.

• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills, with the ability to independently investigate complex technical challenges.

• Excellent communication skills and the ability to work effectively with both artists and engineers.

• Fluent English.

Nice to have:

• Experience with DOTS animation frameworks such as Rukhanka, Latios Kinemation, or similar technologies.

• Experience developing or extending a custom animation runtime.

• Knowledge of networked animation systems involving prediction and rollback.

• Experience with Netcode for Entities or comparable multiplayer technologies.

• Experience with procedural animation, including IK, secondary motion, or physics-driven animation layers.

• Experience developing facial animation systems using blendshapes, bones, textures, or hybrid techniques.

• Experience with crowd animation systems, including animation LOD, VAT, or update throttling.

• Previous experience developing animation systems for mobile or other performance-constrained platforms.

• Experience working on stylized game projects, particularly for mobile platforms.

Benefits:

• Meaningful technical ownership over animation technology on a major Unity3D game project.

• Direct collaboration with experienced Animators, Technical Artists, Engineers, and discipline leads.

• The opportunity to work on challenging technical R&D and transform innovative concepts into production-ready systems.

• A highly collaborative international team and cross-disciplinary working environment.

• Fully remote work.

• Flexible contract options depending on location.

• Competitive compensation based on experience and contract structure.

• Annual team retreats.

• Potential for long-term collaboration as the project and team continue to grow.