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Senior / Lead Animator
2 years ago
Phoenix Labs is looking to hire a Senior/Lead Character Animator who possesses a passion for combat animation to join our Los Angeles team. As one of our first animators on this project, the successful candidate will help define the animation style and develop core animation content for a new IP title.
This is a full-time, permanent position and we’re seeking applicants who live within commuting distance to Phoenix Labs’ Los Angeles studio, or are open to relocating. Phoenix Labs is following local government guidelines for each of its studios in regards to the COVID-19 pandemic, but we expect the successful candidate to work onsite when we return to normal work conditions.
Responsibilities:
- Work with the Art Director and Design Director to define the animation tone and style for a new IP title.
- Create and implement immersive third-person, hand-keyed animations with a strong focus on melee and close-range combat.
- Support early gameplay prototyping by generating and implementing animation blockouts
- Craft cohesive, polished animations that deliver a strong experiential value to players
- Collaborate with directors to define a high quality bar for animation that balances visual fidelity with gameplay fidelity and technical constraints.
- Contribute in establishing and maintaining the foundational animation systems in Unreal Engine 4.
- Participate in collaborative discussions and reviews to help shape the vision of the project.
Requirements:
- 5+ years experience in video game development.
- Ability to quickly blockout animations for prototyping as well as carry animations through to a final high-quality polish
- Ability to hand-key character and creature animations without a reliance on mocap data.
- Ability to define, communicate, and champion discipline best practices.
- Expert working knowledge of Maya or equivalent animation software.
- Strong grasp of foundational animation principles like weight, timing, staging, and body mechanics.
- The ability and willingness to mentor and support associate and mid-level animators on improving their craft.
- Excellent cross-discipline communication skills and the ability to work well within a highly creative and collaborative team.
- A positive, pragmatic mindset with the ability to identify and communicate potential problem spaces and solutions
- Self-motivated individual who can proactively identify new tasks without supervision.
- The ability to provide and accept constructive feedback.
- An animation reel or portfolio demonstrating realtime 3D combat animations
Preferred:
- Experience using UE4 animation blueprints
- Experience in developing animations across a variety of platforms with differing technical constraints.
- Experience developing a breadth of creature and/or environment animations.
- Knowledge on how to model and/or rig 3D characters.
- Experience collaborating with VFX and audio disciplines as an animator.
- Familiarity with iterative Agile workflow and principles.
Who we are:
Phoenix Labs is a multinational video game company with connection at its core. Dauntless, our flagship title, was the first-ever game to launch with full cross-play and cross-progression, and we’re already working on several new projects and ways to bring people together.
In our studios, the story is the same. Our teamwork, transparency, and optimism keep us focused on doing what matters, and we work hard to live up to our central promise that people are the ends, not the means.
Phoenix Labs is headquartered in Vancouver, BC, with studios in Montreal, Los Angeles, and San Mateo. We are backed by Garena, our long-time partner in Southeast Asia.
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