Cinematic Technical Animator

Side; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 55,000 - 83,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive pay

On-site in Los Angeles

Contract role (3 months)

Job summary

Side is seeking a Cinematic Technical Animator for a 3-month contract in Los Angeles. You will design cinematic pipelines, implement animations in Unreal Engine, and collaborate across narrative, audio, lighting, and art teams to deliver narrative-driven gameplay moments.

The role emphasizes hands-on in-engine work, storytelling timing, and scalable systems while shipping a cohesive first-person experience.

Qualifications

• 2+ years of game development with hands-on Unreal Engine implementation.
• Strong Unreal Engine 4 experience, especially Blueprints, visual scripting, animation systems, and cinematic workflows.
• Multidisciplinary background in Technical Art/Animation or Design with art/animation experience.
• Experience implementing animation in-engine including Animation Blueprints, Montages, Level Sequences.
• Strong narrative timing, pacing, and cinematic storytelling.
• Independent debugging, problem-solving abilities and strong collaboration skills.
• Experience shipping at least one game with narrative or mission design.
• Excellent cross-discipline communication and teamwork.
• Passion for narrative-driven first-person shooters.

Responsibilities

• Design scalable cinematic pipelines, tools, and systems for content teams.
• Build cinematic content using Level Sequences, Montages, and Animation Blueprints.
• Establish workflows supporting gameplay and cinematic storytelling.
• Implement character animation in Unreal Engine with runtime control.
• Use visual scripting to improve character performance, timing, and storytelling impact.
• Troubleshoot animation and cinematic issues in-engine and propose practical solutions.
• Collaborate with animation, narrative design, audio, lighting, and other teams.
• Balance technical requirements with storytelling, pacing, and presentation goals.
• Optimize cinematic systems for performance and scalability.

Skills

Animation

Unreal Engine

Blueprints

Cinematic workflows

Storytelling

Collaboration

Tools

Unreal Engine

Animation Montages

Level Sequences

Animation Blueprints

Blueprint scripting

Job description

At Side, we partner with some of the world's leading developers and publishers to solve complex production challenges and help bring exceptional games to life. From concept through live operations, our co-development teams work as trusted extensions of our clients' studios, contributing expertise across design, engineering, art, audio, QA, and production.

We're looking for a Cinematic Technical Animator to help bring dynamic, narrative-driven experiences to life through animation, scripting, and cinematic systems. This is a highly multidisciplinary role for someone who can move comfortably between animation, visual scripting, and storytelling while working hands-on in Unreal Engine every day.

This is a 3-month 1099 contract supporting a narrative-driven first-person game project.

Requirements

What you will do:

Cinematic & Narrative Systems

• Design and build scalable pipelines, tools, and systems for cinematic and narrative content, enabling creative teams to work efficiently with minimal engineering support.
• Build and implement cinematic content using Level Sequences, Animation Montages, Animation Blueprints, and Blueprint scripting.
• Help establish workflows that support both gameplay and cinematic storytelling.

Animation & In-Engine Implementation

• Implement character animation directly in Unreal Engine, including runtime animation control and integration.
• Use visual scripting and animation systems to improve character performance, emotional fidelity, timing, and storytelling impact.
• Troubleshoot and debug animation and cinematic issues directly in-engine, identifying practical solutions without relying heavily on engineering.

Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration

• Partner closely with animation, narrative design, audio, lighting, and other creative teams to create cohesive cinematic experiences.
• Balance technical requirements with storytelling, pacing, and presentation goals.
• Optimize cinematic systems for performance, reliability, and scalability while supporting ongoing creative iteration.

What we are looking for:

• 2+ years of game development experience with recent hands-on implementation experience.
• Strong Unreal Engine 4 experience, particularly with Blueprints, visual scripting, animation systems, and cinematic workflows.
• A multidisciplinary background such as Technical Art/Technical Animation with strong animation experience, or Design with strong art/animation experience.
• Hands-on experience implementing animation in-engine, including Animation Blueprints, Montages, Level Sequences, and character animation integration.
• Strong understanding of narrative timing, pacing, and cinematic storytelling.
• Strong investigative, debugging, and problem-solving skills with the ability to diagnose issues independently.
• Experience contributing to at least one shipped game, ideally one recognized for strong narrative or mission design.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively across multiple disciplines.
• Passion for narrative-driven first-person shooters.

Nice to Haves:

• Experience developing cinematic or narrative pipelines and tools.
• Experience with runtime character control and complex animation systems.
• Experience optimizing cinematic systems for performance and long-term scalability.
• Strong understanding of how animation, audio, lighting, and narrative systems work together to create dramatic moments.

Benefits

• Competitive Salary.
• Dynamic, multicultural and fun environment.
• You will be working for the world's leading provider of game services.
• We empower our people and offer regular progression opportunities to ensure our employees flourish.

About Side

Side (formerly PTW) is a global video game development and services provider, offering technical and creative solutions to many of the largest developers and studios around the world. Founded in 2009 and drawing on 30+ years' experience from our parent company in Japan, Side has since grown to become a global force with 20 studios in 14 countries across North America, Europe, South America, and Asia.

Our industry-leading services include game development, art production, audio production, quality assurance, localization, localization QA, player support, community management, and datasets.

Experience our side of life. For more information, visit www.side.inc