Senior Gameplay Animator — Lead Combat & Motion Innovation

Activision; Santa Monica (CA); Presencial; USD 137.000 - 253.000; Jornada completa

Ventajas ofrecidas por este puesto de trabajo

Medical, dental, vision benefits

401(k) with company match

Paid holidays and vacation

Relocation assistance

Descripción de la vacante

Activision seeks a Principal Gameplay Animator for Elsewhere Entertainment in Santa Monica to shape animation for a new IP. You will lead gameplay animation quality, collaborate across disciplines and mentor team members to elevate both game and studio performance.

You will own combat readability, refine motion-capture integrations, and drive animation pipelines that balance quality with production needs, contributing to an inclusive and high-performing team culture.

Formación

• Significant gameplay animation experience, including a senior or principal-level contribution to one or more shipped titles.
• Strong combat animation skills, with experience creating impactful, responsive player and enemy combat behaviours.
• A deep understanding of combat readability, timing, anticipation, hit reactions, attack cycles, locomotion and player control.
• Experience working in game engines and contributing to animation systems and implementation.
• Strong knowledge of motion‑capture pipelines, including editing, cleanup and blending mocap with keyframe animation.
• Exceptional animation fundamentals across human and creature movement, including timing, weight, balance and physicality.
• Proven experience collaborating across disciplines and influencing creative decisions at a project level.
• A thoughtful, constructive approach to giving feedback and supporting the growth of other animators.
• Advanced proficiency in Maya and the ability to adapt quickly to new tools and technologies.
• Strong technical and collaborative problem‑solving skills.

Responsabilidades

• Owning and driving the quality bar for gameplay animation, with a particular focus on responsive, readable and satisfying combat.
• Creating and refining high-quality character animations using strong animation fundamentals, gameplay principles and motion‑capture data.
• Shaping animation approaches that support combat design, player expression, enemy behaviours, traversal and moment‑to‑moment gameplay.
• Partnering closely with Design, Engineering, Art, Audio and Narrative to ensure animation enhances the overall player experience.
• Applying deep knowledge of game design mechanics, 3Cs (character, camera and controls), AI behaviour, camera animation and narrative context.
• Contributing to animation systems, state machines, blending, transitions and in‑engine implementation to achieve fluid, responsive gameplay.
• Providing clear creative direction, feedback and mentorship to help raise the craft and capability of the animation team.
• Identifying opportunities to improve tools, workflows and pipelines, helping the team work more effectively at scale.
• Solving complex technical and creative challenges while balancing quality, performance and production needs.

Conocimientos

Gameplay animation

Combat animation

Animation readability

Game engines

Motion capture

Animation fundamentals

Cross-disciplinary collaboration

Feedback & mentoring

Maya

Problem-solving

Herramientas

Maya

Descripción del empleo

Activision seeks a Principal Gameplay Animator for Elsewhere Entertainment in Santa Monica to shape animation for a new IP. You will lead gameplay animation quality, collaborate across disciplines and mentor team members to elevate both game and studio performance.

You will own combat readability, refine motion-capture integrations, and drive animation pipelines that balance quality with production needs, contributing to an inclusive and high-performing team culture.