Lead Character Tools Engineer

Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE); United States; Remote; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical coverage

Dental coverage

Vision coverage

401(k) match

Paid time off

Wellness program

Product discounts

Travel opportunities

Job summary

Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) leads the development of tools and workflows for character creation, rigging, and animation pipelines. You will collaborate with artists, engineers, studio teams, and researchers to improve production pipelines and connect content creation with real-time game environments.

You will explore practical AI and machine learning applications to streamline workflows, set up production environments, and share your work through internal demonstrations and conferences.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in game development or production experience building artist-facing tools.
• Experience supporting character creation, rigging, simulation, or animation pipelines in a runtime game environment.
• Strong C++ skills, debugging, and extensive Autodesk Maya experience with rigging knowledge.
• Understanding of game editors and the workflow from digital content creation tools to complex real-time environments.
• Experience developing or maintaining production pipeline tools and technical environments, with strong troubleshooting skills.
• Degree in computer science, engineering, graphic art, or a related field, or equivalent experience; familiarity with agentic AI models is also expected.

Responsibilities

• Prototype, build, deploy, and maintain character creation tools for production workflows.
• Collaborate with artists, engineers, and studio stakeholders on tools spanning art creation, animation, data management, and game engine integration.
• Set up and maintain project environments, tools, and automation.
• Adapt tools and workflows to different teams’ assets, pipelines, and working environments.
• Document technical workflows and share work through internal demonstrations and conferences; travel is required.

Skills

C++

Maya

Rigging

Game editors

Education

Degree in computer science / engineering / graphic art or related field

Tools

MotionBuilder

Houdini

HLSL

MaterialX

Job description

Role overview

Lead the development of tools and workflows that help game teams create, rig, and animate characters more efficiently. You’ll work across artists, engineers, technical artists, studio teams, and researchers to improve production pipelines, connect content creation with real-time game environments, and explore practical uses of AI and machine learning.

Responsibilities

• Prototype, build, deploy, and maintain character creation tools for production workflows.


• Collaborate with artists, engineers, and studio stakeholders on tools spanning art creation, animation, data management, and game engine integration.


• Set up and maintain project environments, tools, and automation.


• Adapt tools and workflows to different teams’ assets, pipelines, and working environments.


• Document technical workflows and share work through internal demonstrations and conferences; travel is required.

Requirements

• 10+ years in game development or production experience building artist-facing tools on a technical art or engineering team.


• Experience supporting character creation, rigging, simulation, or animation pipelines in a runtime game environment.


• Strong C++ skills, including debugging, and extensive Autodesk Maya experience with general rigging knowledge.


• Understanding of game editors and the workflow from digital content creation tools to complex real-time environments.


• Experience developing or maintaining production pipeline tools and technical environments, with strong troubleshooting skills.


• Degree in computer science, engineering, graphic art, or a related field, or equivalent experience; familiarity with agentic AI models is also expected.

Nice to have

• Strong Python skills and experience with PyQt or PySide.


• Experience with MotionBuilder or Houdini, HLSL or MaterialX, and other programming languages.


• Knowledge of mesh processing, deformation, and current approaches to character rigging, gameplay and cinematic animation, and simulation.

Benefits and work setup

The role includes medical, dental, and vision coverage, a matching 401(k), paid time off, a wellness program, and product discounts. A bonus may also be available.