Principal Animation Engineer - Central Tech

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

Job Title: Principal Animation Engineer – Central Tech Requisition ID: R028032

Job Description: Your Mission Activision’s Central Animation Technology Group is looking for a dedicated Principal Animation Engineer to join our growing team focused on the future of Animation in our games. Our group’s goal is to make radical improvements to the way our characters move and behave. We are seeking engineers with a passion for realistic human and creature movement. The successful candidate will be ready to tackle the wide variety of engineering challenges vital to deliver believability and style across diverse situations and game modes. This role has flexibility to be based in one of our Studios in the United States or Europe. Work arrangements may change at the company's discretion to meet business needs. (Remote work eligibility included)

Responsibilities

• Work with animators and other engineers to research, design, prototype, and implement new features to continuously improve our character fidelity and believability at ever increasing scale and complexity.
• Develop and upgrade workflows to allow the efficient building, improvement and debugging of animation behaviors by animators and engineers alike.
• Support and proactively collaborate with team members at Activision studios across the world.

Minimum Requirements

• 15+ years of professional programming experience with a focus on skeletal animation.
• Proficiency in C/C++ in multithreaded environments.
• Passion for advancing high-fidelity interactive animation in AAA games.
• Strong 3D math and linear algebra.
• Experience working directly on low-level game animation systems.
• Good knowledge of animation topics such as inverse kinematics, blend trees, ragdolls, state machines and secondary motion techniques.
• Capable and eager to take a leading role on projects.
• Multitasking: ability to work on multiple tech threads with different teams.

Extra Points

• Credited on 3 or more AAA game titles for PC or consoles.
• Familiarity with content creation tools such as Maya.

Rewards

We provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well-being for ‘Every World’ - we’ve got our employees covered!

• Subject to eligibility requirements, the Company offers comprehensive benefits including: Medical, dental, vision, health savings account or health reimbursement account, healthcare spending accounts, dependent care spending accounts, life and AD&D insurance, disability insurance;
• 401(k) with Company match, tuition reimbursement, charitable donation matching;
• Paid holidays and vacation, paid sick time, floating holidays, compassion and bereavement leaves, parental leave;
• Mental health & wellbeing programs, fitness programs, free and discounted games, and a variety of other voluntary benefit programs like supplemental life & disability, legal service, ID protection, rental insurance, and others;
• If the Company requires that you move geographic locations for the job, then you may also be eligible for relocation assistance.

In the U.S., the standard base pay range for this role is $171,100.00 - $316,576.00 Annual. These values reflect the expected base pay range of new hires across all U.S. locations. Ultimately, your specific range and offer will be based on several factors, including relevant experience, performance, and work location. Your Talent Professional can share this role’s range details for your local geography during the hiring process. In addition to a competitive base pay, employees in this role may be eligible for incentive compensation. Incentive compensation is not guaranteed. While we strive to provide competitive offers to successful candidates, new hire compensation is negotiable.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status, among other characteristics.

We are committed to working with and providing reasonable assistance to individuals with physical and mental disabilities. If you are a disabled individual requiring an accommodation to apply for an open position, please email your request to [e-mail]. General employment questions cannot be accepted or processed here. Thank you for your interest.

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