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Lead Animator

ABOUT SPLASH DAMAGE

We believe that games play better with friends. For more than 20 years, we’ve been creating team-based multiplayer experiences that have entertained tens of millions of players all over the world and forged countless new friendships along the way.

Our studio culture is rooted in our open, friendly, and collaborative environment. Our games are made by people from all over the world, from our entry-level Fresh Talent hires to industry veterans, and we believe that fostering that diverse culture is the best way to build both our games and our studio. We have won numerous awards, including a ‘World-Class’ accreditation by Best Companies and being named one of the UK’s 100 Best Large Companies to work for.

While our offices are based in Bromley, UK, our people have access to progressive working patterns that give them the flexibility to decide how to do their best work.

Benefits:

We offer a comprehensive benefits package for you and your family, including:

• Work your way with access to progressive working patterns including hybrid and fully remote
• Substantial performance-related pay system on top of your basic compensation, along with enhanced pension contributions and our life assurance scheme
• Bespoke VISA and relocation packages for you and your family, with support from our team throughout the whole process
• 25 days of holiday and 8 Bank Holidays a year, plus our annual studio closure between Christmas and New Year’s
• Private Medical and Dental Cover for you and your family, along with a 24/7 digital GP service
• Extensive Mental Health support, with Line Manager Mental Health training, a group of Mental Health First-Aiders, and on-site or remote counselling
• Our bespoke Learning and Development course framework to help you grow as an employee, manager, and leader
• Industry-leading fully paid 30 weeks maternity leave & 10 weeks paternity leave

THE ROLE

We’re looking for a Lead Animator to join a new team at Splash Damage and help bring our characters to life. As Lead Animator at Splash Damage, you will be responsible for working with the team to conceive, prototype, and oversee the implementation of exciting gameplay features, manage the animation team and collaborate with the Art and Creative Directors to drive for high and consistent quality across the game.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with Art and Design Directors to create a technically sound, engaging and memorable game
• Get to grips with our proprietary animation tool and provide regular feedback on how to improve it
• Working with programmers, artists and designers to contribute to the implementation of animations into the game
• Testing, reviewing and iterating upon animations to tune them to the highest quality
• Demonstrate strong keyframe animation ability paying particular attention to making sure animations support the fast-paced nature of the game
• Manage the animation team including holding regular 1-2-1s, setting objectives, looking after the team’s welfare and providing mentoring
• Demonstrate a knowledge of working with and capturing Mocap data, while understanding the full pipeline.

Essential Skills and Experience

• Experience using 3D animation software, such 3DS Max/Character Studio
• Demonstrable ability creating stylised human animations as well as mechanical animations such as weapons
• The desire to collaborate with game designers, programmers and artists
• Good working knowledge of game development workflows, engines (eg. Unreal), processes and tools
• Understanding of character preparation from modelling, rigging and skinning
• A keen motive to be proactive and efficient in work methods whilst maintaining high standards
• A great team player, able to communicate, learn from and teach others in a respectable manner.
• Excellent communication and collaborative problem-solving skills
• Management of an experienced character animation team

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Have extensive professional experience in the video games industry with at least 3 commercially released titles
• Some experience of working on mods or independent game projects
• Experience with technical animation – rigging/skinning and problem solving

Splash Damage is an equal opportunity employer. We believe our teams create better work when they have a range of perspectives to draw from, and we are committed to creating an inclusive working environment that celebrates diversity.