Cinematic Technical Designer

Absurd Ventures; Santa Monica (CA); On-site; USD 115,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Benefits package

Paid time off

401(k)

Job summary

Absurd Ventures in Santa Monica, CA is seeking a Cinematic Technical Designer to implement and polish cinematic moments in an open world project built in Unreal Engine 5. You will work with mission designers, animators, engineers and audio to ensure seamless transitions between player control, camera work, and scripted sequences.

The role requires expertise in Sequencer and Blueprint, a strong eye for camera timing, and the ability to troubleshoot streaming and world state integration.

Qualifications

• 3+ years in cinematic design or similar role in games
• Experience with Unreal Engine 5 Sequencer and Blueprint
• Familiarity with open world mission architectures and transitioning states
• Strong communication across design, art, animation and engineering
• Understanding of camera composition, timing, and director’s intent

Responsibilities

• Implement cinematic sequences in Unreal Engine 5 using Sequencer and manage full cinematics
• Glue mission scripting, player control, cameras, VFX and pacing for seamless transitions
• Build and maintain Blueprint logic for cinematic events and post-cinematic flow
• Ingest narrative data with correct timing using our writing tools
• Collaborate with Mission Designers to align cinematics with game design
• Pitch, playtest and profile cinematic needs to improve narrative quality
• Integrate character performances, facial animation, and mocap data
• Coordinate with Audio and Dialogue for VO, music, and sound events
• Diagnose issues at cinematic and open world boundaries (streaming, LOD, state)
• Document cinematic pipelines and workflows clearly
• Surface risks related to scope and implementation to Leads and Production

Skills

Unreal Engine 5 Sequencer

Blueprint scripting

Open world design

Camera language

Cross-discipline collaboration

Tools

Perforce

Job description

Overview

Cinematic Technical Designer

We are looking for a Cinematic Technical Designer to join our team and help bring story moments to life across an all-new open world IP built in Unreal Engine 5. This role lives at the intersection of mission design, cinematics, and systems — responsible for implementing cinematic sequences, building tools for cinematic systems, and owning the connective tissue between player control, mission scripting, and authored content.

As a Cinematic Technical Designer at Absurd Ventures, you will work closely with Mission Designers, Cinematics Directors, Animators, and Engineers to build, integrate, and polish cinematic moments across a broad range of contexts — from quiet interactive scenes to large-scale scripted set pieces. You are equally comfortable in Sequencer and Blueprint, and you understand how both tools behave in development environments and inside a live, streaming open world.

Core Responsibilities

• Implement cinematic sequences in Unreal Engine 5 using Sequencer, including full cinematics, interactive cinematics, and blended in-world moments.
• Own the "glue" between mission scripting, player control handoffs, cameras, VFX events, environment set dressing and cinematic playback — ensuring transitions are seamless and state is always clean.
• Build and maintain Blueprint logic supporting cinematic events: triggers, state management, player possession and de-possession, camera blending, and post-cinematic flow.
• Implement and modify narrative implementation in our writing tools to ensure we\'re ingesting the correct data with the correct timing.
• Collaborate with Mission Designers to identify where cinematics serves the design and problem-solve where authored content and systemic gameplay intersect.
• Pitch, playtest and profile cinematic needs to resolve creative problems and improve overall narrative and gameplay quality.
• Work with Animators to integrate character performances, facial animation, and mo-cap data into sequences correctly and to brief.
• Partner with Audio and Dialogue teams to ensure VO, music, and sound events are timed and triggered correctly across all cinematic contexts.
• Diagnose and resolve issues at the boundary of cinematic and open world systems — streaming, LOD, world state, and player state edge cases.
• Write and maintain clear technical documentation for cinematic pipelines, workflows, and implementation patterns.
• Proactively surface risks related to cinematic scope, performance, or implementation complexity and communicate them to Production and leads.

Core Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience as a Cinematic Technical Designer, Technical Designer, or similar role in the video game industry. Experience supporting cinematic implementation on at least one shipped AAA title.
• Strong hands-on expertise with Unreal Engine 5 Sequencer — shot tracks, event tracks, camera rigs, blending, and runtime playback.
• Solid Blueprint scripting skills, with the ability to build and debug cinematic control flows independently.
• Clear understanding of open world mission architecture — how cinematics are triggered, how player state is managed, and how streaming affects authored content.
• Fluency in the language of camera and editing: you understand shot composition, coverage, and timing, and you can implement a director's intent.
• Strong communication and cross-discipline collaboration skills. You can work across design, art, animation, and engineering without getting lost in translation.

Plus if...

• Experience with MetaHuman facial animation pipelines or driven performance systems in UE5.
• Familiarity with Perforce and large shared codebases.
• Background in film, screenwriting, or on-set production — people who think in shots tend to do this work at a different level.
• Experience with narrative branching systems or dialogue trees that intersect with cinematic delivery.
• Passion for narrative-heavy games and cinematics

Description

• Full-time job with benefits.
• Role is on-site in Santa Monica, CA.
• Office is located near downtown Santa Monica — near metro and freeways.
• The base pay range for this position is $115,000 - $140,000 per year. Actual compensation is based on market location and may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. We also offer a competitive package of benefits including paid time off, sick time, company holidays, parental leave, medical/dental/vision insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, and 401(k) to regular full-time employees. Certain roles may also be eligible for bonus and equity.

About Absurd Ventures

Absurd Ventures is a media company creating new IP across all platforms and for all formats. Absurd Ventures is building narrative worlds, creating characters, and writing stories for a variety of genres, without regard to medium, to be produced for live-action and animation; video games and other interactive content; books, graphic novels, and scripted podcasts.