Animation Director

Global Sports Jobs Limited; Orlando (FL); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance

Job summary

EA SPORTS is seeking an Animation Director to lead the animation team and set the direction for motion across our AAA titles in a hybrid Orlando-based role. You will define the animation vision, establish the quality bar, and ensure seamless integration of animation into compelling player experiences.

You will collaborate with Creative, Art, Design, Engineering and technical teams to deliver high-quality motion, while mentoring staff and guiding workflows.

Qualifications

• 5+ years as a senior animation contributor or leader, including directing animation on AAA games.
• Proven leadership, people-management and mentoring abilities.
• Strong eye for style, performance, quality and technical balance.

Responsibilities

• Define and deliver the vision and quality bar for all motion in the game.
• Drive animation quality while balancing performance, continuity, and budget.
• Hire, mentor, and manage the animation team.
• Provide regular feedback and direction to the animation team.
• Advance the animation pipeline and workflows.
• Collaborate with Creative/Art leadership on direction, style, and execution.
• Ensure motion meets gameplay, responsiveness, and player-experience requirements.
• Collaborate with tech animators, riggers, and modelers to maintain high motion quality.

Skills

Leadership

Animation direction

Team management

Communication

Technical understanding

AAA games experience

Mentoring

Tools

Unreal Engine

Unity

Frostbite

Job description

About the Role

The Animation Director will lead the animation team and drive the animation direction for EA SPORTS games. The role involves setting the animation vision, defining the style and quality bar, and ensuring the seamless integration of animation into compelling player experiences. The Animation Director will collaborate with creative, art, design, engineering, and technical teams to deliver high-quality motion across the game.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and deliver the vision and quality bar for all motion in the game.
• Drive animation quality while balancing performance, continuity, technical, scheduling, and budgetary requirements.
• Hire, mentor, guide, and manage the work of the animation team.
• Provide regular feedback and direction to the animation team.
• Drive the evolution of the animation pipeline and establish efficient animation workflows and procedures.
• Collaborate with Creative and Art leadership to define the overall animation direction, style, quality, and execution.
• Collaborate with Design and Engineering to ensure motion meets the gameplay, responsiveness, and player-experience requirements of the game.
• Collaborate with technical animators, character riggers, and modelers to ensure characters maintain a consistently high quality bar in motion.
• Collaborate with graphics engineers to ensure characters are grounded in the world through lighting, shadows, visual effects, weather, and environmental interaction.
• Collaborate with physics engineers to ensure characters operate within the defined physical rules and interact with other characters and the environment in believable ways.

Required Experience & Qualifications

• A great eye for style, performance, and quality, combined with strong technical understanding.
• Passion for innovation and continuous improvement.
• 5+ years as a senior animation contributor or leader, including experience directing animation on high-quality AAA games.
• Strong leadership, people-management, communication, and mentoring skills.
• Ability to inspire and lead a team to deliver high-quality work on time and within budget.
• Skill in guiding a team to balance creative ambition with technical and production requirements.
• Experience and confidence directing actors and athletes for motion capture.
• A collaborative, motivated, and accountable approach to team leadership.
• Strong knowledge of current animation practices, technologies, and industry trends.
• Experience directing or working with real-time animation systems, including blend trees, state machines, motion-matching systems, or comparable runtime solutions, in engines such as Unreal Engine, Unity, Frostbite, or other proprietary technology.

Preferred Skills

• Experience evaluating and applying emerging animation technologies, including machine learning, procedural animation, performance capture, and automation tools, to improve quality or production efficiency.
• A passion for sports and strong knowledge of American football.
• Technical fluency with scripting, tools, or engine workflows that supports effective collaboration with engineers and technical teams.

Workplace

Hybrid (3x per week) role located in Orlando, FL.

Benefits & Perks

• May qualify for relocation assistance.

About the Company

EA SPORTS is one of the leading sports entertainment brands in the world, with top-selling videogame franchises, award-winning interactive technology, fan programs, and cross-platform digital experiences. EA SPORTS creates connected experiences that ignite the emotion of sport through industry-leading sports video games, including Madden NFL football, EA SPORTS College Football, EA SPORTS FC, EA SPORTS NHL hockey, and EA SPORTS UFC.