Lead Gameplay Animator

Job Description

ART

What We Do

Push your artistic talent to the limit on a team of world-class environment, character and concept artists who strive to innovate and inspire.

What You'll Do

The Walt Disney Company and Epic Games are collaborating on an all-new games and entertainment universe. In addition to being a world-class games experience, this new persistent universe will offer a multitude of opportunities for consumers to play, watch, and engage with content, characters, and stories from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar, and more. Players, gamers, and fans of all kinds will be able to create their own stories and experiences, express their fandom in a distinctly Disney way, and share content with each other in ways that they love. Come join us in creating the future of interactive entertainment. Epic Games is searching for a Lead Gameplay Animator to join our team to work on our collaboration with Disney. A successful candidate should have leadership experience and a great understanding of the fundamentals of animation, how they relate to NPC animation in game, and the ability to implement animations in the Unreal Engine. Proficiency in animation blueprints is a plus. The ideal candidate would also be able to communicate with outsource partners, including documenting existing pipelines, collecting or creating quality bar and technical example assets, collecting photo reference, creating asset blockouts, creating simple blockout paint overs, and finally packaging all files to send off to the external artists.

In this role, you will
• Lead a growing team of animators working on gameplay animations for NPC's; mentor and provide technical and creative feedback to animators
• Work closely with the individual Epic Art Leads, Outsource Manager(s), and other artists on the team to ensure assets have all the information they need before being sent out to outsourced partners; clearly communicate feedback to the outsource partner, and ensure those creative notes and goals are met
• Maintain a healthy team by identifying team needs and addressing them by working with other team leads where necessary
• Create character-specific gameplay and cinematic animations from initial concept through implementation in Unreal Engine using our Control Rig toolset
• Help drive technical implementation workflows and find ways to improve the animation pipeline and efficiencies in Unreal
• Drive collaboration across disciplines, including Production, Design, Technical Animation, and Technical Design to help drive the style and feel of animation at Epic

What we're looking for
• 2+ years of experience in a lead animator role, with demonstrated ability to manage or lead a team effectively
• You have an animation reel showing stylized key-framed character and creature animations and/or a reel showing work that you have supervised
• Good instincts for realistic and stylized motions
• Strong communication and leadership skills
• Familiarity with Maya and Unreal Engine 5 animation workflows
• Experience working with mocap data
• Experience having shipped at least one title
• Related skills, such as modeling, skinning, rigging are a plus

This role is open to multiple locations in North America (including CA & WA).

Pay Transparency Information

The expected annual base pay range(s) for this position are detailed below. Each base pay range is relevant only for individuals who are residents of or will be expected to work within the specified locale. Compensation varies based on a variety of factors, which include (but aren't limited to) things such as skills and competencies, qualifications, knowledge, and experience. In addition to base pay, most employees are eligible to participate in Epic's generous benefit plans and discretionary incentive programs (subject to the terms of those plans or programs).

California Base Pay Range

$162,866 — $238,869 USD

Washington Base Pay Range

$148,060 — $217,154 USD

Note to Recruitment Agencies: Epic does not accept any unsolicited resumes or approaches from any unauthorized third party (including recruitment or placement agencies) (i.e., a third party with whom we do not have a negotiated and validly executed agreement). We will not pay any fees to any unauthorized third party. Further details on these matters can be found here.

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-rjkx72-18-119-253-198-42 in your application.