Hybrid Technical Animator — Rigging & Tools Expert

Placements24; Mossel Bay; Hybrid; ZAR 420,000 - 620,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical aid

Retirement fund

Generous annual leave

Training and development

State-of-the-art animation tech

Team retreats

Job summary

Placements24 in Mossel Bay, Western Cape, seeks a skilled Technical Animator to enhance character animation pipelines by developing rigs, tools, and workflows that empower artists to deliver fluid performances.

You will collaborate with modelers, riggers, and animators to ensure assets are visually stunning and technically robust, optimize the animation process, and contribute to flagship animation projects for features and games in a collaborative studio environment.

Qualifications

• Minimum 4 years of experience as Technical Animator or Rigger in animation or game industry.
• Proficiency in Maya, Blender, or 3ds Max.
• Strong understanding of character rigging principles including facial rigging and muscle systems.
• Experience with scripting languages like Python, MEL, or C# for tool development.
• Knowledge of animation principles and practical application.
• Familiarity with game engines (Unreal Engine, Unity) and their animation systems.
• Excellent problem-solving and debugging skills.
• Strong communication and teamwork abilities.

Responsibilities

• Develop, implement, and maintain animation rigs and tools for characters and props.
• Collaborate with modelers to optimize assets for rigging and animation.
• Troubleshoot and resolve technical issues within the animation pipeline.
• Create scripts and tools to automate repetitive tasks and improve workflow efficiency.
• Ensure rigs are functional, flexible, and meet artistic requirements.
• Test and refine animation systems for stability and performance.
• Provide technical support and training to the animation team.
• Stay current with industry advancements in rigging and related tech.
• Contribute to best practices for character rigging and animation.
• Optimize assets for game engines and rendering pipelines.

Skills

Rigging pipelines

4+ years experience

Animation principles

Scripting

Maya

Blender

3ds Max

Python

MEL

C#

Unreal/Unity

Problem solving

Teamwork

Portfolio

Tools

Maya

Blender

3ds Max

Python

MEL

C#

Unreal Engine

Unity

Job description

Placements24 in Mossel Bay, Western Cape, seeks a skilled Technical Animator to enhance character animation pipelines by developing rigs, tools, and workflows that empower artists to deliver fluid performances.

You will collaborate with modelers, riggers, and animators to ensure assets are visually stunning and technically robust, optimize the animation process, and contribute to flagship animation projects for features and games in a collaborative studio environment.