Lead Animation Engineer — AAA Realism (Remote)

ACTIVISION PUBLISHING, INC.; Santa Monica (CA); Remote; USD 171,000 - 317,000; Full time

Job summary

Activision Blizzard’s Central Animation Technology Group is seeking a Principal Animation Engineer to join our team focused on the future of animation in our games. You will help improve how characters move and behave, tackling a wide range of challenges to deliver believability and style across game modes.

This role offers flexibility to be based in the United States or Europe, with remote work eligibility.

Qualifications

• 15+ years in programming focused on skeletal animation.
• Proficiency in C/C++ in multithreaded environments.
• Passion for high-fidelity interactive animation in AAA games.
• Strong 3D math and linear algebra.
• Experience on low-level game animation systems.
• Knowledge of IK, blend trees, ragdolls, state machines, and secondary motion.
• Willing to lead projects and coordinate across teams.
• Experience collaborating with animators and engineers.

Responsibilities

• Work with animators and other engineers to research, design, prototype, and implement new features to improve character fidelity and believability.
• Develop and upgrade workflows to build, improve, and debug animation behaviors.
• Support and collaborate with Activision studios worldwide.

Skills

C/C++

Multithreaded programming

Skeletal animation

3D math

Animation systems

Inverse kinematics

Blend trees

Ragdolls

State machines

Leadership

Multitasking

Tools

Maya

Job description

Activision Blizzard’s Central Animation Technology Group is seeking a Principal Animation Engineer to join our team focused on the future of animation in our games. You will help improve how characters move and behave, tackling a wide range of challenges to deliver believability and style across game modes.

This role offers flexibility to be based in the United States or Europe, with remote work eligibility.