Senior Animator - Unpublished R&D Product

Riot Games; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Open PTO policy

Medical, dental, life insurance

Parental leave

Job summary

Riot Games is seeking a Senior Gameplay Animator to drive the animation feel for an upcoming MMO. You will own locomotion and creature animation from ideation through implementation, collaborating with designers, engineers, and artists to define motion, timing, and personality in the game engine.

You will shape gameplay feel and ensure responsiveness, while contributing to best practices and maintaining high quality across the project.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional experience creating gameplay animation for shipped games.
• Strong portfolio demonstrating responsive, stylized gameplay animation, including action character and creature animation.
• Experience creating gameplay animation for both humanoid characters and creatures.
• Experience implementing gameplay animation in game engines (i.e. Unreal, Unity, etc)
• Strong understanding of animation principles, body mechanics, timing, weight, and appealing stylized motion.
• Strong communication skills and experience collaborating with designers, engineers, technical artists, and fellow animators.

Responsibilities

• Create high-quality gameplay animation for playable characters, creatures, and others with a focus on locomotion and creature behavior.
• Create responsive, stylized animation that delivers satisfying gameplay and memorable character performances.
• Implement, iterate, and polish gameplay animation in the game engine
• Work within state machines and gameplay systems to support responsive gameplay and reliable animation behavior.
• Partner with designers to prototype and iterate on gameplay animation, using playtesting and feedback to improve responsiveness, readability, and feel.
• Collaborate with technical artists and engineers to improve animation workflows and runtime behavior.
• Investigate and research emergent game animation technologies
• Collaborate with character artists to ensure animation supports the visual direction and personality of characters and creatures.
• Help establish animation standards and maintain a high quality bar across gameplay animation.

Skills

Gameplay animation

Animation principles

Team collaboration

Unreal/Unity

Portfolio

Tools

Unreal Engine

Unity

Motion Matching

Animation Blueprints

Sequencer

Job description

As a member of the Animation team, you bring champions to life through classic animation principles and body mechanics. You will create high quality animations for a diverse and rapidly growing universe, including bipeds, quadrupeds, and creatures. A great reel will showcase a variety of walk cycles, a diverse selection of game-related animation, and a strong foundation in the principles of animation, including weight, anticipation, and impact. Also working to expand our current content pipeline, you will collaborate with designers and artists to develop new features and technologies. Your craft expertise will breathe life into iconic and beloved characters for players.

As a Senior Gameplay Animator on our unpublished MMO project, you'll create the animation that defines the gameplay feel, locomotion, and creatures in our upcoming MMO. You'll craft stylized, responsive gameplay animation that brings characters and creatures to life while supporting satisfying gameplay. Working closely with designers, technical artists, engineers, and character artists, you'll own animation from ideation through implementation. You'll create memorable animation, define the feel of player locomotion, bring personality to characters in-game, and implement your work directly in the game engine. As a senior member of the team, you'll help define the visual identity of gameplay animation, contribute to animation best practices, and maintain a high quality bar across the project.

Responsibilities:

• Create high-quality gameplay animation for playable characters, creatures, and others with a focus on locomotion and creature behavior.
• Create responsive, stylized animation that delivers satisfying gameplay and memorable character performances.
• Implement, iterate, and polish gameplay animation in the game engine
• Work within state machines and gameplay systems to support responsive gameplay and reliable animation behavior.
• Partner with designers to prototype and iterate on gameplay animation, using playtesting and feedback to improve responsiveness, readability, and feel.
• Collaborate with technical artists and engineers to improve animation workflows and runtime behavior.
• Investigate and research emergent game animation technologies
• Collaborate with character artists to ensure animation supports the visual direction and personality of characters and creatures.
• Help establish animation standards and maintain a high quality bar across gameplay animation.

Required Qualifications:

• 5+ years of professional experience creating gameplay animation for shipped games.
• Strong portfolio demonstrating responsive, stylized gameplay animation, including action character and creature animation.
• Experience creating gameplay animation for both humanoid characters and creatures.
• Experience implementing gameplay animation in game engines (i.e. Unreal, Unity, etc)
• Strong understanding of animation principles, body mechanics, timing, weight, and appealing stylized motion.
• Strong communication skills and experience collaborating with designers, engineers, technical artists, and fellow animators.

Desired Qualifications:

• Experience with Unreal Control Rig
• Experience maintaining and editing Animation Blueprints and animation state machines.
• Experience working with Motion Matching systems.
• Experience with gameplay animation features such as Motion Warping, runtime IK, or procedural animation.
• Experience creating cinematic or narrative animation using Unreal Sequencer or similar tools.
• Experience developing multiplayer games and/or open world games.

For this role, you'll find success through craft expertise, a collaborative spirit, and decision-making that prioritizes the delight of players. We will be looking at your past studies, experience, and your personal relationship with games. If you embody player empathy and care about players' experiences, this could be your role!

Our Perks:

Riot focuses on work/life balance, shown by our open paid time off policy and other perks such as flexible work schedules. We offer medical, dental, and life insurance, parental leave for you, your spouse/domestic partner, and children, and a 401k with company match. Check out our benefits pages for more information.

At Riot Games, we put players first. That mission drives every decision in our quest to create games and experiences that make it better to be a player. Whether you’re working directly on a new player-facing experience or you’re supporting the company as a whole, everyone at Riot is part of our mission. And just like in our games, we’re better when we work together. Our goal is to create collaborative teams where you are empowered to bring your unique perspective everyday. If that sounds like the kind of place you want to work, we’re looking forward to your application.

It’s our policy to provide equal employment opportunity for all applicants and members of Riot Games, Inc. Riot Games makes reasonable accommodations for handicapped and disabled Rioters and does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, handicap, veteran status, marital status, criminal history, or any other category protected by applicable federal and state law. We consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with applicable federal, state and local law, including the California Fair Chance Act, the City of Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, and the Washington Fair Chance Act.

Per the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, the following core duties may create a basis for disqualifying candidates with relevant criminal histories:

• Safeguarding confidential and sensitive Company data
• Communication with others, including Rioters and third parties such as vendors, and/or players, including minors
• Accessing Company assets, secure digital systems, and networks
• Ensuring a safe interactive environment for players and other Rioters

These duties are directly related to essential operations, safety, trust, and compliance obligations within our organization. Please note that job duties may evolve based on business needs and additional responsibilities may be assigned as necessary to maintain operational efficiency and security.