Lead Animator – Netherlands – Permanent – AAA VR Games

Our client is an award winning and industry leader in the development of VR games and experiences. Are you up for the challenge of leading and growing their animation team?

As they kick off development of their most ambitious project to date, they want to recruit a seasoned game animation expert that can aid in their mission to redefine the quality bar of animation in VR.

You are a game industry veteran who has a solid understanding of realistic human animation for both gameplay and cinematics. You excel at creating the highest quality animations, using state of the art mo-cap and facial capture techniques to initiate the creation process, and then hand keying to enhance emotional expression and also meet the timing demands of gameplay.

You are an inspirational leader who mentors the animation team’s growth and effortlessly collaborates with across disciplines in pursuit of the very highest quality.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Drive the growth of the animation team to become an industry leader
• Create benchmark creature, character and object animations
• Collaborate across discipline to ensure our animation pipeline delivers on quality and performance targets
• Define an animation style that hits the right balance between aesthetics and gameplay in VR
• Push the adoption of innovative tools, animation techniques, and workflow optimizations
• Motivate and mentor the animation team to be hungry for growth in artistic and technical ability

DESIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

• Excellent eye for core animation principles (timing, weight etc.)
• In depth knowledge of both hand keyed and motion/facial captured animation
• Capable of different animation styles (realistic and stylized)
• Strong track record of delivering best in class real-time character animations
• Advanced rigging & skinning knowledge
• Demonstrable experience of creative leadership throughout a full dev cycle on a AAA console game

BONUS SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

• Working knowledge of VR development and its unique challenges
• Modeling & texturing knowledge (to advice 3D modelers on deformation)
• Experienced with automated rigging tools in Maya
• An in-depth understanding of the UE4 animation pipeline

ABOUT YOU:

• You are an ambitious and experienced senior, lead or principal 3D game animator
• You are creative, organized, focused on delivering quality
• You’ve experienced at least three full production cycles on a high-quality game project in a similar role
• You’ve recently shipped at least one AAA console title in a similar role
• You’re looking for a great work life balance and a fresh challenge

Tagged as: Lead Animator, Senior Animator