Senior Technical Animator

The Walt Disney Company • Bakersfield, CA

1d • Remote

About The Position

Disney Digital Entertainment, a division of Disney Experiences, is embarking on a mission to create the ‘digital front door’ for The Walt Disney Company, bringing all of the magic of Disney together into a new interactive universe! We are building an expert development team that will be building a groundbreaking game experience that will herald the next generation of Disney to the world. Working with top-class industry talent, this role is perfect for the seasoned Senior Technical Animator looking to create something epic - collaborating with an incredible group of game developers focusing on individual experiences to build a wonderfully rich and cohesive product that is truly “Disney”. We are looking for a uniquely talented Senior Technical Animator with a focus on character rigging to join us on a daring and exciting new project. Are you an experienced game developer with superb animation and tech art skills, and have a love of Disney/Pixar, Star Wars and Marvel properties? If so, you’ll want to check out this opportunity! This is a remote opportunity and will report to our Sr. Manager, Lead Character Animator

Requirements

• 5 years of PC and console game development experience, including holding a position of Technical Animator, Tech Artist or Animator for 3 years.
• Expert knowledge of current AAA animation pipelines, tools and best practices in Maya and UE5/UEFN.
• Experience developing and maintaining modular rigging systems and pipelines in Maya a plus (e.g. Morpheus Rigging System, mGear, etc).
• Strong scripting experience (e.g. Python, etc.) and deep technical understanding of how games work.
• Excellent eye for animation, with deep knowledge of figure and facial anatomy.
• Experience with motion capture workflows and pipelines.
• Strong creative and interpersonal skills, with a genuine passion for collaborative development and problem-solving.
• At least one shipped game or equivalent live service game launch experience.
• Familiarity with early game and/or R&D development.
• A Bachelor’s degree in Art and/or Design or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• The application must include a portfolio that accurately represents your personal and team-based accomplishments.

Responsibilities

• Work with the lead animator to define, create and maintain the animation pipeline and toolsets from Maya/Motionbuilder to multiple UE5 (Unreal Engine 5) and UEFN (Unreal Editor Fortnite) game projects.
• Partner with artists and designers to help create characters, creatures and props that meet technical and animation requirements.
• Assist in the implementation of animations in UE5 and UEFN, including assistance with Blueprints, animation trees, troubleshooting and data organization.
• Create and maintain process and toolset documentation, guides and tutorials for internal and external asset development.
• Champion and evangelize best practices for rigging, skinning, animation, etc.
• Serve as a key member of a growing game development team at Disney, helping to bring our worlds and characters to life.

Benefits

• Disney offers a rewards package to help you live your best life. This includes health and savings benefits, educational opportunities and special extras that only Disney can provide.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior