Gameplay Animator - Contingent

This position is for a temporary engagement through our staffing partner DZConneX.

Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States for this position.

Why Naughty Dog?

For nearly 40 years, Naughty Dog has been crafting best-selling, critically acclaimed games that constantly push the boundaries of narrative, gameplay, and technology. We’ve been busy at the Kennel, most recently releasing The Last of Us Part I, a complete and faithful remake of the original game, rebuilt from the ground up and fully optimized for the PlayStation 5 and currently in development for PC. As a part of the Naughty Dog legacy, you’ll be continuing the development of extraordinary and enduring experiences for a broad, global range of audiences.

Naughty Dog games have long been lauded for their evocative, character-driven stories and attention to detail. We are committed to innovation within our games and as such have curated some of the top creative and technically innovative minds in the industry. We welcome diverse candidates and believe that a broad range of cultural and life experiences contribute to the overall well-being and success of the studio and the titles we craft together.

Who we are looking for:

• Ability to create high quality animation content in Maya and implement them correctly in our Naughty Dog engine
• Work with senior animators to create new exciting, mind blowing systemic animations
• Learn and understand how Naughty Dog gameplay systems work
• Able to work with any system using the most efficient practices
• Ability to use the engine debug tools to solve gameplay problems and work with senior animators to find a solution
• Additional responsibilities may be assigned as needed

What skills you'll use:

• Minimum of 2 years working in the video-games industry
• Produce very high-quality animation.
• Passion for opening up the boundaries of interactive character animation
• Basic general technical knowledge of how games work
• Excellent problem solver / fire fighter
• Highly motivated and proactive with a CAN DO attitude
• Finish tasks quickly. Communicates about possible need of change of priorities
• Deep knowledge of Maya: layers, time/trax editor, mocap tools
• Familiar with one of the modern animation systems: Unreal, Morpheme, Unity, etc.

Bonus Skills:

• Comfortable using a script editor
• Python knowledge
• C, C#, or C++ knowledge

Sony is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All persons will receive consideration for employment without regard to gender (including gender identity, gender expression, and gender reassignment), race (including color, nationality, ethnic, national origin), religion or belief, marital or civil partnership status, disability, age, sexual orientation, pregnancy or parental status, trade union membership or membership in any other legally protected category.

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