Animation Lead (Europe - MENA)

We are seeking a talented Animation Lead who will manage the team of animators and collaborate across disciplines, to bring to our characters to life. You have experience working within cross-discipline strike teams on collaborative assignments. You are someone who sets an example for a positive collaborative process. You are self-motivated, have great communication skills, and possess a great team-player attitude! We’re looking for someone who loves animation!

PLEASE APPLY IF ONLY YOU ARE INTERESTED IN A FULL TIME POSITION - NO OUTSOURCE ARTISTS OR STUDIOS.

Responsibilities

The ideal candidate will be responsible for ensuring that animation direction is followed, and has a strong aesthetic eye and a solid understanding of AA+ game production. They can communicate easily with other disciplines and studios and take creative and artistic direction as well as support the Art and Design team in maintaining the animation style and quality on a variety of projects for external or co-development work. 

Leads work closely with the Art Director to establish the vision and document any style guides or pipelines in support of that goal. They will be expected to be hands-on and perform the duties of their specialty when needed while also taking on the lead-specific duties as outlined below.

Qualifications for this role are listed below, but please do not hesitate to apply if you don’t meet 100%.

Skills & Requirements

•  5+ years of professional experience in the gaming or film industry, in a Lead or Senior Animator capacity.
• An updated portfolio and/or reel showcasing your mastery of body mechanics, expression, storytelling and animation principles.
• Shipped multiple AA+ titles, ideally using Unreal or a comparable engine.
• Provide leadership, direction, and line management to the animation team
• Collaborate with Tech Art / Tech animation and engineering to ensure animation pipelines and tools are effective, optimal and capable of delivery.
• Review assets to maintain consistent animation quality and style, and provide feedback and critique where needed.
• Document and communicate technical specifications and visual benchmarks to support the game's artistic vision to both internal and external artists.
• Experience in Maya and Unreal Engine.
• Experience in editing Mocap data and creating 3D keyframe animation. 
• Exceptional knowledge of how to create and maintain gameplay systems in game engines as they pertain to video game animation.
• Excellent problem-solving and debugging skills.
• A very strong understanding of character performance, form, gesture, and silhouette in regard to the player's character.
• Exceptional skill in animating the human bipedal figure, organic forms and mechanical objects. Experience in quadrupedal animation is a bonus.
• Experience working with Motion Capture data and editing it.

• Excellent English communication and writing skills.