Senior Character Rigging Artist & Tools Developer

Socket.dev

California (MO)

On-site

USD 74,000 - 103,000

Full time

14 days+

Application generator

Turn this role into an interview — a resume and cover letter built around what this employer wants.

Get past ATS filters

Job summary

Visual Concepts is seeking an expert character rigging artist (temporary) to join the NBA Tech Art team in Novato. You will work closely with the art team to rig characters, create faces and bodies, and automate workflows with Python.

This role reports to the Lead Technical Artist and focuses on high-quality, game-ready assets. The ideal candidate has strong Maya expertise, an understanding of anatomy, and experience creating rigs optimized for real-time games.

Qualifications

Proficient in Maya for character rigging and animation pipelines.
Strong understanding of human anatomy and deformation principles.
Experience with Python/PyMel scripting to automate tasks.
Familiar with Facial Action Coding System (FACS) based rigs.
Knowledge of joint placement and skeleton design for game-ready rigs.

Responsibilities

Update character rigs to improve deformation and realism.
Create math node networks for body and face rigs.
Implement blendshapes and corrective shapes with the team support.
Create clean skinweight and blendweight maps.
Write Python code to automate tasks and improve workflows.
Diagnose and fix rigging-related issues across tools and games.
Collaborate with technical artists and engineers to support art teams.
Address feedback and manage art asset requests with engineers and other departments.
Contribute to documentation, workflows, and scalable pipelines.