Senior Real-Time Character Animator (Unreal)

Certain Affinity, Inc.; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 83,000 - 131,000; Part time

Job summary

Certain Affinity, Inc. is seeking an Advanced Technical Animator (Contract) to drive scalable, high-performance character systems in Unreal Engine productions.

You will architect runtime animation systems, build data-driven pipelines, and develop tools across disciplines to deliver AAA-quality characters. You will design, implement, and optimize animation frameworks, facial pipelines, and cross-DCC workflows while mentoring teammates and partnering with vendors.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience in games or real-time production focusing on technical animation or related disciplines.
• Deep experience with Unreal Engine real-time animation systems and performance profiling with Unreal Insights.
• Strong scripting and programming skills (Python required; MEL, C#, or C++ preferred).
• Proven experience building production-ready tools, pipelines, and workflows.
• Solid understanding of real-time character systems, including rigging and IK/FK blending.
• Experience supporting or building animation graphs, simulation workflows, or deformation pipelines.
• Hands-on experience with Maya or another major DCC package.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and maintain scalable runtime animation systems in Unreal Engine, including Animation Blueprint architectures that are performant and thread-safe
• Develop modular, data-driven animation frameworks supporting layered gameplay systems (motion matching, state machines, additive systems, gameplay-driven logic)
• Build, integrate, and optimize character systems such as IK setups, secondary motion, and simulation workflows (e.g., cloth and hair)
• Profile, debug, and optimize animation and character systems for performance across multiplayer, large-scale, or live-service environments
• Own and support the end-to-end facial animation pipeline, including defining model requirements, guiding joint setup and rigging approaches, and ensuring successful integration and performance in-engine
• Design, build, and maintain robust cross-DCC and engine pipelines to support character and animation workflows
• Develop and maintain custom tools (Python, MEL, C#, or C++) in Maya and Unreal to improve iteration speed and content quality
• Identify production bottlenecks, troubleshoot complex pipeline and content issues, and implement scalable solutions across teams
• Partner with external vendors and internal stakeholders to support and scale outsourcing pipelines
• Establish best practices, documentation, and onboarding materials to ensure consistency and efficiency across teams
• Support version control workflows, asset management systems, and studio-wide pipeline standards
• Mentor team members and contribute to evolving technical and pipeline strategies across projects

Skills

Unreal Engine

Python

C++

MEL

C#

Maya

Animation pipelines

Tools

Maya

Unreal Insights

Git

Job description

Certain Affinity, Inc. is seeking an Advanced Technical Animator (Contract) to drive scalable, high-performance character systems in Unreal Engine productions.

You will architect runtime animation systems, build data-driven pipelines, and develop tools across disciplines to deliver AAA-quality characters. You will design, implement, and optimize animation frameworks, facial pipelines, and cross-DCC workflows while mentoring teammates and partnering with vendors.