Senior Technical Animator – Sledgehammer Games

Job Title: Senior Technical Animator – Sledgehammer Games

Requisition ID: R024034

Job Description:
Your Platform

Sledgehammer Games is a part of Activision and is driven by its mission to deliver unrivaled gaming experiences for the world to enjoy, together!

Founded in 2009 and located in Melbourne, Australia – we’re the video game development team behind Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare 3, Call of Duty®: Advanced Warfare and Call of Duty®: WWII. The strength of our team makes us not only excellent at what we do, but also how we do it. We firmly believe in supporting our talented employees to be the best they can be. Here at Sledgehammer Games, everyone is a game maker.

As we head into decade II of development, we’re focused on constantly evolving, innovating and taking risks – which are some of the most rewarding aspects of game development. With world-class audio, design, engineering and art teams, we’ve been able to achieve some of the highest-quality game execution of any studio in the industry. We love what we do and work hard to make sure that each new game we make is even better than the last. Creativity is key, and we’re looking for talented game developers for our exciting next project.

To learn more about our studio, please visit us at www.sledgehammergames.com or search for Sledgehammer Games on your favorite social media platform.

Want to hear what it’s like at the studio directly from current employees? Check out our #LifeatSHG developer profiles: https://youtu.be/12DUBszg-w4

Our animation and technical art team is looking for a Senior Technical Animator in Toronto!

Your Mission

You will be rigging and skinning complex character, vehicle, and prop assets as well as building tooling to support the animation team and animation pipeline. You will help push the runtime quality of hair, dynamics and physics on skinned assets using in-game, real-time tools available in Unreal 5.

What you bring to the table:

• Supporting the production pipeline used by Animators, and ensuring that they have all the relevant tools and workflows they need to work efficiently
• Improving and designing pipeline and workflow

• Writing Maya tooling in Python and PySide to support the character animation process
• Working with 3rd party software for viewing and effecting Maya animations in the game engine
• Dynamics and in-game physics setup, R&D, debugging and optimization
• Rigging and skinning characters, weapons, and vehicles
• Cloth/Hair simulation ability In Maya or Game Is a huge plus

Minimum Requirements:

Experience:

• Degree or Certificate in Computer Science, Graphic Art or a related field
• 5+ years of experience in the games industry with 5+ years of experience on console game development

Knowledge & Skills:

• Developing pipeline and workflow
• Computer programming/scripting experience (e.g., C++, Python, PyQt)
• Solid knowledge of Maya
• Knowledge of at least one major commercial game engine (e.g. Unreal, Unity)

Key Attributes:

• Excellent organizational, communication, and interpersonal skills
• The ability to collaborate effectively in a small, dynamic team

Extra Points:

• Experience working in Unreal
• Experience working on new IP
• Experience shipping AAA titles

Our World

At Activision, we strive to create the most iconic brands in gaming and entertainment. We’re driven by our mission to deliver unrivaled gaming experiences for the world to enjoy, together. We are home to some of the most beloved entertainment franchises including Call of Duty®, Crash Bandicoot™, Tony Hawk’s™ Pro Skater™, and Guitar Hero®. As a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and products, our “press start” is simple: delight hundreds of millions of players around the world with innovative, fun, thrilling, and engaging entertainment experiences.

We’re not just looking back at our decades-long legacy; we’re forging ahead to keep advancing gameplay with some of the most popular titles and sophisticated technology in the world. We have bold ambitions to create the most inclusive company as we know our success comes from the passionate, creative, and diverse teams within our organization.

We’re in the business of delivering fun and unforgettable entertainment for our player community to enjoy. And our future opportunities have never been greater – this could be your opportunity to level up.

Ready to Activate Your Future?