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At Zynga, we bring people together through the power of play. As a global leader in interactive entertainment and a proud label of Take-Two Interactive, our games have been downloaded over 6 billion times—connecting players in 175+ countries through fun, strategy, and a little friendly competition.
From thrilling casino spins to epic strategy battles, mind-bending puzzles, and social word challenges, our diverse game portfolio has something for everyone. Fan-favorites and latest hits include FarmVille™, Words With Friends™, Zynga Poker™, Game of Thrones Slots Casino™, Wizard of Oz Slots™, Hit it Rich! Slots™, Wonka Slots™, Top Eleven™, Toon Blast™, Empires & Puzzles™, Merge Dragons!™, CSR Racing™, Harry Potter: Puzzles & Spells™, Match Factory™, and Color Block Jam™—plus many more!
Founded in 2007 and headquartered in California, our teams span North America, Europe, and Asia, working together to craft unforgettable gaming experiences. Whether you're spinning, strategizing, matching, or competing, Zynga is where fun meets innovation—and where you can take your career to the next level.
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At NaturalMotion, we make games that wow people. We innovate to create previously impossible experiences that would not exist without us. We take pride in making titles that reach a large audience and creating communities that last. Our commitment to excellence has earned us recognition as one of the UK's Best Places to Work in games for eight consecutive years by gamesindustry.biz, and we're proud to be part of the Zynga and Take-Two Interactive family
Position Overview:We are looking for a Senior Technical Animator to join our team in supporting our next unannounced project. You will work alongside the Animation Team helping to deliver and bring to life our amazing characters.
We embrace a hybrid work environment. Within this role, you would work 2 days per week in our London office and the remaining days at home.
What You'll Do:- Responsible for creating and maintaining the rigging and technical animation pipeline for the projects.
- As part of the Animation Team, you will play a key role in implementing characters.
- Reporting to the Lead Animator and Art Director.
- Demonstrate expert knowledge of the skeletal pipeline from Rigging to exporting finalised characters into game, with a speciality of understanding mobile limitations (both bipedal and non-bipedal).
- Expert in how animation systems work in Unreal Engine, debug, modify and being able to create them in game engines from scratch.
- Have expert knowledge of retargeting and shared skeleton pipeline, both in and out of engine and can expand into retargeting between non matching skeletons.
- Understand the setup of cloth sim and dynamics in both Engine and 3D software, the application of such and the requirements and limitations of its use on mobile.
- Proficient in 3D software relevant scripting languages; MEL, Python, Max Script, etc.
- Foundational knowledge of rigging; using bones, IK, Splines, Blend Shapes, Skinning, node editing and setting up animation blueprints in Unreal.
- Have advanced knowledge of major third party rigging systems used in the industry; Advanced Skeleton, Rapid Rig, mGear etc.
- Experience in animation systems that are scalable and able to work on a wide range of mobile devices.
- Complete ownership of pipeline with good documentation and communication.
- Premium character presentation pipelines - build and own animation systems for high-value front-end moments, ensuring characters are always presented at a premium quality bar.
- Automated optimization techniques for the creation of LODs.
- Support a fast paced character pipeline in the delivery of characters per season.
- Able to demonstrate knowledge of Facial Rigging processes, game engine compatible solutions and how to implement them.
- Experience with motion capture, cleanup and application to different characters.
- Knowledge of procedural animation systems.
- Experience in other areas of technical art e.g. Shaders, Lighting Tech, VFX.
- Competitive salary and discretionary annual bonus scheme
- 26 days holiday, plus bank holidays & 2 paid personal days
- 6 months fully paid maternity/adoption leave and 16 weeks fully paid paternity leave (eligibility criteria applies)
- Pension plan, with a double matching employer contribution
- Private medical & dental insurance and healthcare cash plan
- Life insurance, personal accident insurance and income protection
- Mental health and neurodiversity support programs
- Company Employee Stock Purchase Plan (eligibility criteria applies)
- Fitness reimbursement plan, worth £600 per annum
- Flexible working hours
- Weekly happy hours, seasonal parties and monthly social events
- Annual rail season ticket advance and cycle to work scheme
We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer, which means we are committed to creating and celebrating diverse thoughts, cultures, and backgrounds throughout our organization. Employment with us is based on substantive ability, objective qualifications, and work ethic – not an individual’s race, creed, color, religion, sex or gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin or ancestry, alienage or citizenship status, physical or mental disability, pregnancy, age, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, status as a victim of domestic violence or sex offenses, reproductive health decision, or any other characteristics protected by applicable law.
As an equal opportunity employer, we are committed to providing the necessary support and accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities, health conditions, or impairments (subject to any local qualifying requirements) to ensure their full participation in the job application or interview process. Please contact us at [email protected] to request any accommodations or for support related to your application for an open position.
Please be aware that Zynga does not conduct job interviews or make job offers over third-party messaging apps such as Telegram, WhatsApp, or others. Zynga also does not engage in any financial exchanges during the recruitment or onboarding process, and will never ask a candidate for their personal or financial information over an app or other unofficial chat channel. Any attempt to do so may be the result of a scamp or phishing attack, and you should not engage. Zynga’s in-house recruitment team will only contact individuals through their official Company email addresses (i.e., via a zynga.com, take2games.com, naturalmotion.com, smallgiantgames.com, themavens.com, gram.gs email domain).
Skills Required
- Expert knowledge of skeletal pipelines from rigging through final character export into games
- Specialized understanding of mobile game limitations for bipedal and non-bipedal characters
- Expert knowledge of animation systems in Unreal Engine, including debugging, modification, and creation from scratch
- Expert knowledge of retargeting and shared skeleton pipelines in and out of game engines
- Understanding of retargeting between non-matching skeletons
- Understanding of cloth simulation and dynamics in game engines and 3D software
- Proficiency in 3D software scripting languages such as MEL, Python, or MAXScript
- Foundational knowledge of bones, IK, splines, blend shapes, skinning, node editing, and Unreal animation blueprints
- Advanced knowledge of industry rigging systems such as Advanced Skeleton, Rapid Rig, or mGear
- Experience creating scalable animation systems for a wide range of mobile devices
- Ability to own technical animation pipelines and provide documentation and communication
- Experience building premium character presentation pipelines
- Experience automating optimization techniques for LOD creation
- Experience supporting fast-paced seasonal character delivery pipelines
- Knowledge of facial rigging processes and game-engine-compatible implementations
- Experience with motion capture cleanup and application to different characters
- Knowledge of procedural animation systems
- Experience with shaders, lighting technology, or VFX
What the Team is Saying
Zynga Compensation & Benefits Highlights
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Healthcare Strength — Health insurance is portrayed as a notable strength, including employer-paid medical coverage for employees and substantial support for eligible dependents alongside disability and life insurance. Coverage breadth and employer contributions are repeatedly emphasized as standout elements.
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Parental & Family Support — Parental leave is consistently described as generous for birth parents, partners, and adoptive families, with infertility/family-planning support and emergency childcare also highlighted. The program’s scope and recent emphasis suggest strong support for various family needs.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time off is presented as flexible, with open/unlimited PTO policies noted in many roles along with strong sick leave and paid holidays. This structure is framed as enabling meaningful flexibility and work-life balance.
Zynga Insights
What We Do
Zynga was founded in 2007 with the vision that play would become one of the core activities on the Internet. We pioneered social games with the belief that if we could make games simple, accessible and social the world would start playing. We are excited that games have grown to become the second most popular activity by time spent, even surpassing email. But we have a lot of hard work, innovation and growth ahead of us to create a future where social gaming is a daily habit for everyone.
Zynga Offices
Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
