Senior Technical Animator (Rigging & Unity3D Character Systems)

Senior Technical Animator (Rigging & Unity3D Character Systems)

Position Overview

We are looking for a Senior Technical Animator with strong experience in character rigging and Unity3D animation systems to support our AA and AAA projects, including mobile titles.

This role focuses on building robust, game-ready character rigs and implementing animation systems directly in Unity3D. You will work at the intersection of rigging, animation, and real-time integration, ensuring characters behave reliably and efficiently in gameplay.

This is a hands-on role with real impact on character quality, pipelines, and production standards within a fully remote studio environment.

Key Responsibilities

Character Rigging & Setup

• Design, build, and maintain high-quality, game-ready character rigs

• Ensure clean deformation, efficient skinning, and animator-friendly controls

• Adapt rigs for real-time and mobile constraints (bone count, performance, memory)

• Collaborate closely with character artists to validate topology and deformation quality

Unity3D Character Animation Systems

• Implement and maintain animation systems directly in Unity3D

• Build and iterate on Animator Controllers, blend trees, state machines, and animation layers

• Ensure animations integrate cleanly with gameplay logic and player input

• Debug and optimize animation behavior in-engine

Animation Integration & Gameplay Support

• Work hands-on with gameplay animations to ensure clarity, responsiveness, and consistency

• Support animation-driven gameplay features and transitions

• Collaborate with designers and programmers to align animation with gameplay needs

Pipeline & Workflow Optimization

• Improve DCC-to-Unity workflows for rigging and animation

• Create or support tools that streamline rigging, export, and integration processes

• Ensure consistency in rigging and animation standards across the project

Performance & Platform Awareness

• Optimize rigs and animation systems for real-time and mobile platforms

• Balance visual quality with performance and memory constraints

• Identify and resolve technical issues related to animation and rigging

Collaboration & Ownership

• Act as a technical reference for character setup and animation systems

• Work closely with animators, technical artists, and developers in a remote environment

• Take ownership of character-related technical challenges and solutions

Requirements

Experience

• 5+ years of professional experience in technical animation or character rigging for games

• Proven experience working with Unity3D on shipped projects

Rigging & Technical Animation Skills

• Strong experience building game-ready character rigs for real-time engines

• Solid understanding of skinning, deformation, and rig performance optimization

• Experience adapting rigs for gameplay and engine constraints

Unity3D & Game Implementation

• Hands-on experience implementing animation systems in Unity3D

• Strong understanding of Animator Controllers, state machines, blending, and runtime behavior

• Experience debugging animation issues directly in-engine

Tools

• Proficiency in Maya (preferred) or Blender for rigging and animation

• Experience working across DCC tools and real-time pipelines

Technical & Pipeline Understanding

• Experience improving or maintaining animation and rigging pipelines

• Basic scripting knowledge (Python or similar) for workflow support is a plus

Mindset & Communication

• Strong problem-solving and systems-thinking mindset

• Comfortable taking ownership of technical solutions

• Fluent English and ability to collaborate in a remote, international team

Bonus Skills

• Experience working on mobile games or performance-constrained platforms

• Experience with Unity animation tools such as uMotion

• Experience building custom tools or editor extensions in Unity

• Familiarity with procedural workflows (Houdini or similar)

• Experience supporting scalable character pipelines across multiple projects

What We Offer

• Work on AA and AAA game projects with strong creative and technical ambition

• Stable long-term cooperation with flexible contract options (employment or B2B)

• High impact role with real influence on character pipelines and systems

• Experienced, collaborative, and production-driven studio culture

• Competitive compensation, paid vacation, and annual team retreats