Senior Technical Animator (UE5) — Systems & Tools Lead

Snailgamesusa; Los Angeles (CA); Remote; USD 100,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical benefits

401k with company match

Paid holidays and vacation

Sick leave

Job summary

Snail Games USA is seeking a Senior Technical Animator to build reliable animation systems and workflows across our fantasy and science-fiction game projects.

In the Central Art Team, you’ll develop rigs, tools, and runtime animation systems in Unreal Engine 5, integrate MetaHuman assets, and own the process from initial development through production handoff while mentoring teammates and documenting workflows.

Qualifications

• Experience on video game projects with animation systems.
• Hands-on Unreal Engine 5 experience.
• Experience with MetaHuman, Control Rig, IK Rig, and retargeting.
• Strong rigging, skinning, deformation knowledge.
• Experience integrating FBX assets into gameplay.
• Proficiency with Maya or Blender.
• Ability to design reusable animation systems.
• Excellent communication and documentation.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain UE5 animation systems.
• Develop and support character rigs and retargeting workflows.
• Own animation integration from FBX to gameplay.
• Troubleshoot rigging, deformation, retargeting, blending, root motion.
• Create reusable tools and workflows.
• Build modular systems for teammates to extend.
• Write documentation on system structure, usage and maintenance.
• Train teammates and demonstrate workflows.
• Collaborate with animators, designers, engineers, and leads.
• Establish technical review criteria and validate assets.
• Profile and optimize animation systems for performance.
• Plan work and track progress in Jira.

Skills

Technical animation

Unreal Engine 5

MetaHuman

Control Rig

IK Rig

Retargeting workflows

Character rigging

Skinning

FBX integration

Maya/Blender

Asset-to-engine pipeline

Documentation

Mentoring

Communication

Self-management

Tools

Unreal Engine 5

Maya

Blender

Job description

Snail Games USA is seeking a Senior Technical Animator to build reliable animation systems and workflows across our fantasy and science-fiction game projects.

In the Central Art Team, you’ll develop rigs, tools, and runtime animation systems in Unreal Engine 5, integrate MetaHuman assets, and own the process from initial development through production handoff while mentoring teammates and documenting workflows.