Animator/Rigger

Essential qualifications

• Proven professional experience as an Animator, Rigger, or similar role in the games industry.
• Strong portfolio showing both character rigs and animation, ideally with semi-realistic characters.
• Strong eye for body language, timing, weight, and performance, especially in dialogue-driven scenes.
• Experience building character rigs for real-time projects, including clothing.
• Solid understanding of the full character pipeline: rigging, skinning, animation, retargeting, and engine implementation.
• Some experience animating non-character elements, such as props, vehicles, and doors.
• Professional experience implementing characters and animation in Unity.
• Proficiency with Blender.
• Strong ownership and follow-through; comfortable being the sole owner of a discipline and working proactively.
• Strong organizational skills and comfort working with documentation and task-tracking tools such as Miro, Notion, Codecks, or similar.
• Strong communication and documentation skills in cross-disciplinary teams, including giving and receiving feedback professionally.

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Responsibilities

• Build body rigs for all player and NPC characters, including clothing.
• Create all character animation: dialogue gestures, idles, reactions, cutscenes, interactions, and ambient NPC and crowd behavior.
• Animate non-character elements in the scene, such as props, vehicles, and doors.
• Integrate characters and animations into Unity, including Animator controllers, state machines, blend trees, Timeline sequences, and optimization.
• Work closely with the 3D artists on character models and rig handoff, and with programmers on animation systems such as IK, look-at, and dialogue-driven animation.
• Establish and own the animation and rigging pipeline, including skeleton standards, naming conventions, folder structures, and export presets.
• Document processes, best practices, and workflow guidance for the wider team.
• Report to the Lead Artist, flag production risks early, and help plan scope and tasks.

Requirements

• At least one shipped game or comparable real-time interactive project.
• Real-time VFX experience in Unity (VFX Graph, Particle System, Shader Graph).
• 3D modeling skills.
• Scripting skills for rigging or pipeline tools.
• Experience with crowd or ambient NPC animations.
• Interest in narrative-driven RPGs and/or political games.

Benefits

• Health & Wellbeing: Free Urban Sports Club membership (Berlin employees).
• Transport: Fully covered Deutschland-Ticket (Berlin employees).
• Flexible Hours: Start your day between 8:00 and 10:00 CET, with core working hours from 10:00 to 15:00 CET.
• Hybrid Work: Work 3 days in the office and 2 days remotely (Berlin employees).
• Work from Abroad: Up to 10 remote working days per year outside Germany (employees).
• Team Events: Regular team events and access to the NLND community network.
• Feedback & Growth: Regular feedback and development sessions.
• Annual Bonus: Performance-based bonus.
• Vacation: 24 paid vacation days per year (full-time employees).

The expected annual gross salary range for this role is approximately 40.000 - 45.000 EUR, depending on experience and qualifications.

Proven professional experience as an Animator, Rigger, or similar role in the games industry. Strong portfolio showing character rigs and animation (ideally semi-realistic). Strong eye for body language, timing, weight, and performance, especially in dialogue-driven scenes. Experience building character rigs for real-time projects, including clothing. Solid understanding of the full character pipeline: rigging, skinning, animation, retargeting, and engine implementation. Some experience animating non-character elements (props, vehicles, doors). Professional experience implementing characters and animation in Unity. Proficiency with Blender. Strong ownership and follow-through; comfortable being the sole owner of a discipline and working proactively. Strong organizational skills and comfort working with documentation and task-tracking tools (Miro, Notion, Codecks). Strong communication and documentation skills in cross-disciplinary teams. At least one shipped game or comparable real-time interactive project. Real-time VFX experience in Unity (VFX Graph, Particle System, Shader Graph). 3D modeling skills. Scripting skills for rigging or pipeline tools. Experience with crowd or ambient NPC animations. Interest in narrative-driven RPGs and/or political games.