Animator (Wearables Games) - Contract
Role summary
We’re looking for an experienced real-time Animator to help bring interactive gameplay moments to life on wearable devices. You’ll craft responsive, high-quality character and rigid-body animations that feel great moment-to-moment—supporting an emerging product space where animation directly shapes clarity, delight, and immersion.
What you’ll do
Create real-time gameplay animation for characters, props, and interactable objects (loops, idles, transitions, reactions, context actions).
Build animation sets that support state-driven systems (e.g., locomotion, interaction, hit reacts) with strong readability and snappy responsiveness.
Collaborate with engineers, technical artists, designers, and PM to implement, iterate, and polish animation in-engine.
Support integration workflows by delivering clean exports, naming conventions, and versioned content aligned to the game pipeline.
Troubleshoot and resolve animation/rig issues: skinning quirks, deformation problems, export/import mismatches, rig instability, and playback/retargeting issues.
Contribute to animation direction and quality: propose improvements to motion style, timing, and interactive feedback.
What success looks like
Animations feel responsive and intentional in gameplay (smooth transitions, clear anticipation/follow-through, minimal pops).
Content is delivered on schedule and integrates cleanly into the runtime pipeline.
You proactively identify edge cases (loop seams, blend artifacts, rig constraints) and help solve them with TA/engineering partners.
You help establish or reinforce animation conventions for a new and fast-evolving product space.
Collaboration You’ll partner closely with:
Game Designers on moment-to-moment feel and readability
Engineers on implementation, state logic, and runtime constraints
Technical Artists on rigs, skinning, tooling, and export pipelines
Portfolio requirements - Up to date animation reel/portfolio demonstrating:
Real-time/game animation experience
Examples of loops, transitions, gameplay sets, and at least one clip showing in engine animation
If applicable: rigging/weighting examples or breakdowns
Requirements
Must Haves
5+ years of professional experience animating for games, film, or real-time environments
Demonstrated strength in gameplay-driven animation: loops, transitions, responsiveness, animation sets
Experience animating characters and rigid assets (props, vehicles, scene objects)
Experience working with real-time pipelines (Unity, Unreal, and/or proprietary engines) and iterating based on in-engine feedback
Solid rig literacy (constraints, controls, basic rigging concepts) and practical experience with weight painting
Proficiency in Maya
Ability to troubleshoot animation/rig issues in a production pipeline and communicate clearly with TA/engineering
Nice to Have
Advanced rigging/skin weighting experience for characters or rigid assets
Deep understanding of anatomy/joint placement
Motion capture experience and cleanup (MotionBuilder and/or Unity/Unreal workflows)
Shipped titles or live content support with ongoing iteration and updates
Experience collaborating closely with technical artists and engineers on pipeline/tooling improvements
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