We are looking for an experienced and versatile Associate Technical Animator / Rigger with at least 5 years of professional game development experience.
As an Associate, you will work in close partnership with the Lead Technical Animator, helping coordinate the team's day-to-day activities while remaining hands-on in both rigging and technical animation. You will contribute to task planning, work distribution, technical reviews, and production follow-up, helping ensure the team delivers high-quality results on schedule.
Alongside these leadership responsibilities, you will design and maintain production-ready rigs, implement animation systems in the engine, and collaborate closely with Animators, Technical Artists, and Engineers to deliver performing and scalable animation solutions.
Team Support & Coordination
Partner with the Lead Technical Animator to support the day-to-day organization and execution of the team's work.
Assist with task planning, prioritization, and work distribution across rigging and technical animation disciplines.
Help monitor progress, identify production risks, and proactively communicate issues and solutions.
Support the Lead in maintaining technical quality, consistency, and best practices across the team.
Review work, provide constructive feedback, and mentor junior and intermediate team members.
Act as a point of contact for the team when delegated by the Lead Technical Animator.
Technical Animation & Rigging
Design, develop, and maintain high-quality rigs for characters, creatures, and props.
Implement and maintain animation systems in Unreal Engine, including Animation Blueprints, State Machines, Blend Spaces, Control Rig, and related animation logic.
Collaborate closely with Animators, Technical Artists, Gameplay Programmers, and Engineers to develop scalable, production-ready animation solutions.
Develop, maintain, and improve tools and scripts to enhance rigging and technical animation workflows.
Troubleshoot and resolve rigging, deformation, animation, and integration issues throughout production.
Optimize animation systems to meet runtime performance and memory requirements.
Contribute to pipeline improvements, technical innovation, and the adoption of industry best practices.
Minimum 5 years of professional experience in Technical Animation and Rigging within the video game industry.
Previous experience supporting a Lead or coordinating technical work within a team.
Strong expertise in creating production-quality rigs for characters, creatures, and props using Autodesk Maya or equivalent DCC software.
Hands-on experience implementing animation systems in Unreal Engine, including Animation Blueprints, State Machines, Blend Spaces, and Control Rig.
Practical experience with C++ development in Unreal Engine, with the ability to debug, extend, and collaborate on animation-related gameplay systems.
Proficiency in Python, MEL, or equivalent scripting languages for pipeline automation and tool development.
Solid understanding of animation principles, character deformation, and real-time animation workflows.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to debug complex technical issues.
Excellent organizational, communication, and collaboration skills.
Ability to balance hands-on production work with team coordination responsibilities.
Professional proficiency in English.
Nice to Have
Experience leading small feature teams or acting as a technical point of contact.
Experience with facial rigging and facial animation pipelines.
Experience with motion capture processing, cleanup, and integration.
Familiarity with Motion Matching, procedural animation systems, or advanced Unreal Engine animation features.
Experience shipping one or more AAA or large-scale game productions.
Job details are sourced from the employer's original posting.
Open job postingAbout the company
Virtuos is a leading global video game development company.