Senior Gameplay Animator — Hybrid, Santa Monica (AAA Studio)

PlayStation; Santa Monica (CA); Hybrid; USD 95,000 - 120,000; Part time

Job summary

Naughty Dog, based in Santa Monica, is seeking an experienced Senior Gameplay Animator for a temporary engagement. The role collaborates across Animation, Design, and Engineering to deliver high-quality, systemic animations, including motion capture leadership. You will mentor teammates and contribute to tooling and workflows.

The ideal candidate has shipped AAA titles, strong reel, and extensive experience with Maya and mocap workflows, within a hybrid onsite setting at our Santa Monica studio.

Qualifications

• Minimum 1 shipped AAA game as a Senior Gameplay Animator (or equivalent).
• 5+ years of experience in the video game industry.
• Expertise in systemic gameplay animation.
• Strong animation reel showcasing mocap and keyframe animation.

Responsibilities

• Create high-quality animation content in Maya and ensure proper implementation in our game engine.
• Collaborate with the Animation, Design, and Engineering teams to create new systemic animations.
• Take ownership of challenging projects and mentor team members, creating documentation.
• Direct and participate in motion capture shoots.
• Learn Naughty Dog’s gameplay systems and work with game systems efficiently.
• Utilize engine tools to identify and resolve gameplay issues with designers/programmers.
• Partner with animation leadership to uphold style and quality for in-game animations.
• Provide constructive feedback to improve workflows and internal technologies.

Skills

AAA game exp

Senior Gameplay Animator

Systemic animation

Motion capture

Keyframe animation

Mocap tools

Strong communication

Proactive problem solving

Tools

Maya

MotionBuilder

Job description

Naughty Dog, based in Santa Monica, is seeking an experienced Senior Gameplay Animator for a temporary engagement. The role collaborates across Animation, Design, and Engineering to deliver high-quality, systemic animations, including motion capture leadership. You will mentor teammates and contribute to tooling and workflows.

The ideal candidate has shipped AAA titles, strong reel, and extensive experience with Maya and mocap workflows, within a hybrid onsite setting at our Santa Monica studio.