Principal Technical Animator

| Job Title

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Principal Technical Animator (Gameplay)

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Department

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Technical Art

| |

Location(s)

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Brighton, Prague, Brno

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Reports To

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Associate Director Technical Animation

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Job Type (Permanent, fixed term, internship)

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Permanent

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Job Summary

The Principal Technical Animator (Gameplay) will help define the technical vision, architectural framework, and long-term strategy for character animation integration across the studio. In this highly influential role, you will champion innovation, driving the adoption of cutting-edge technologies to ensure our games achieve world-class animation quality and responsiveness. You will serve as a technical authority on gameplay animation, solving the studio’s complex R&D challenges while collaborating with design, animation and engineering to establish future-proof pipelines. While not a people manager, you will inspire, mentor, and elevate the technical capabilities of the entire animation department.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Architect and oversee the high-level design of gameplay animation systems, ensuring scalability, performance, and seamless integration across complex real-time systems.
• Drive R&D initiatives to evaluate and implement cutting-edge animation technologies (e.g., advanced Motion Matching, machine learning/AI animation, next-gen physics).
• Partner with Engineering and Tech Animation leadership to implement project-wide animation roadmaps and toolsets.
• Solve deep, complex runtime bugs and drive animation optimisation efforts to meet strict performance and memory budgets.
• Define and document technical standards, best practices, and pipeline workflows for the wider technical animation team.
• Collaborate closely with Design and Animation leads to heavily iterate on and perfect 3C mechanics (character, camera, controls), maximizing game feel.
• Actively mentor and upskill senior and mid-level technical animators through code/blueprint reviews and hands-on guidance.

Essential Skills, Attributes and Experience

• Extensive proven experience architecting and integrating gameplay animation systems for AAA titles using Unreal Engine.
• Master-level expertise in Unreal Engine’s animation suite (Anim Blueprints, Motion Matching, Control Rig, State Machines, and Sequencer).
• Deep technical understanding of low-level animation concepts, including runtime optimisation, memory management, and threading for animation.
• Exceptional cross-discipline communication skills, with a proven track record of aligning Art, Design, and Engineering directors on complex technical visions.
• Expertise in feature breakdown and scoping, with the ability to translate abstract creative pillars into robust, production-ready plans..
• A profound understanding of gameplay mechanics, game feel, and the mathematical principles behind smooth character movement and physics.
• A portfolio or reel demonstrating a history of solving highly complex, innovative technical animation challenges in shipped titles.

Highly Desirable

• Strong proficiency in C++ for extending Unreal Engine’s animation system, alongside Python for pipeline tool automation.
• Experience contributing to proprietary engine tools or custom modifications to Unreal's core animation code.
• Production experience with advanced DCC tools, including Maya API, MotionBuilder, or Houdini for runtime or pipeline integration.
• Background in traditional animation or motion capture data manipulation to better bridge the gap between art and code.

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