Technical Designer in Animation

ART

What We Do

Push your artistic talent to the limit on a team of world-class environment, character and concept artists who strive to innovate and inspire.

What You'll Do

Epic Games is looking for a Technical Designer in Animation (TDiA) to join our team working across various animation systems. As a TDiA, you will use your animation sense and technical understanding of character animation to design and create gameplay animation systems that facilitate entertaining, high-quality characters. You will be a primary point of contact for animation implementation, any animation-related technical challenges, and will work closely with Animation, Design, and Programming colleagues to ensure the animation pipeline operates smoothly and efficiently. You will also help identify potential issues and deploy correct solutions, using your technical knowledge to help bridge and facilitate communication between the animation team and other departments.

In this role, you will

• Build animation behavior tools, techniques, and frameworks that enable complex systems and entertaining characters
• Design and implement animation state machines, behaviors, and runtime solutions
• Partner with animation leadership to translate creative vision into technical reality, protecting style consistency and pushing the quality bar
• Collaborate with Design and Programming to troubleshoot and resolve in-game animation issues and technical challenges
• Identify opportunities to improve the animation pipeline and workflow, and provide technical solutions for the animation team
• Create documentation and deliver training to level up the animation team's technical fluency
• Collaborate with Technical Designers in Animation (TDiA) across Epic Games to share solutions, align workflows where appropriate and identify opportunities to leverage existing tools and systems rather than duplicating effort

What we're looking for

• A strong animation sense with a clear understanding of realistic and stylized character motion and how to achieve them with state-of-the-art animation methods
• An understanding of generative AI tools and capabilities as it relates to character animation
• Expertise with animation pipelines, including source content creation tools such as Maya, MotionBuilder, and the Unreal Engine using our Control Rig toolset
• Exceptional problem-solving ability with strong written communication and teamwork skills
• Strong familiarity with gameplay animation tools and concepts, such as blend trees, state machines, and Unreal Engine Animation Blueprints
• Experience with AAA game development, preferably on a large team using an established game engine (internal or commercial); experience with Unreal Engine is a plus
• Self-motivation, a strong work ethic, and the ability to work independently
• Experience with C++ is not required

This role is open to multiple locations in North America (including CA & WA).

Pay Transparency Information

The expected annual base pay range(s) for this position are detailed below. Each base pay range is relevant only for individuals who are residents of or will be expected to work within the specified locale. Compensation varies based on a variety of factors, which include (but aren’t limited to) things such as skills and competencies, qualifications, knowledge, and experience. In addition to base pay, most employees are eligible to participate in Epic’s generous benefit plans and discretionary incentive programs (subject to the terms of those plans or programs).