Senior Unreal Animator

As a Senior Unreal Animator at our video game company, your main responsibilities will encompass creating and implementing high-quality animations for characters, creatures, props, and environments using Unreal Engine. You'll refine motion capture data to deliver both realistic and stylized animations, collaborate with designers and programmers to align animations with gameplay, and optimize the animations for performance. Additionally, you'll be tasked with maintaining Animation Blueprints and providing mentorship to junior animators.

To secure the position of Senior Unreal Animator at our company, candidates should possess over five years of professional animation experience in the gaming industry, along with a successful contribution to at least one shipped AA or AAA title. Strong expertise in Unreal Engine's animation systems, proficiency in Maya or similar 3D software, and exceptional keyframe animation skills are also crucial to excel in this role.

Collaboration for a Senior Unreal Animator in our remote setting emphasizes open communication with team members, including designers, artists, and programmers. Utilizing various online tools and software, you'll ensure that your animations fire on all cylinders with the gameplay and technical requirements, while also addressing workflow improvements to elevate the animation pipeline.

As a Senior Unreal Animator, you will provide mentorship by offering constructive feedback to junior animators on their work. You'll help them develop their skills through guidance on animation techniques, best practices, and adherence to the team’s quality standards, fostering a supportive environment that promotes professional growth.

Candidates for the Senior Unreal Animator position should be proficient in Unreal Engine's animation systems, including Animation Blueprints, Sequencer, and State Machines. Familiarity with Maya or similar 3D animation software is essential, as well as a strong understanding of motion capture workflows and cleanup processes to effectively achieve impressive animation results.

When answering this question, focus on specific features of Unreal Engine that you've utilized, such as Animation Blueprints or Sequencer. Provide examples of projects where you've successfully implemented these features, and describe any challenges you encountered and how you overcame them.

Discuss your creative process in animating characters, including your understanding of movement, weight, and timing. Mention how you research character anatomy and action reference to make the animations feel believable. Share a specific example where your animation significantly impacted gameplay.

Explain your experience with motion capture, detailing how you capture, clean up, and retarget that data for use in your animations. Mention a project where motion capture played a key role and how it enhanced the final outcome of the animation sequences.

Focus on your collaboration with designers and programmers to ensure animations work seamlessly with gameplay mechanics. Describe specific instances where you modified animations based on gameplay feedback or technical specifications.

Discuss optimization strategies that you apply to maintain performance without sacrificing quality. This could include simplifying rigging, reducing keyframes, or adjusting animation playback settings. Provide examples where your optimizations resulted in improved game performance.

Describe your mentoring philosophy, emphasizing how you provide constructive feedback while encouraging juniors to develop their unique animation styles. Mention specific strategies such as regular review sessions or collaborative projects to foster their growth.

Reflect on a particular challenge you faced and explain the steps you took to address it, highlighting your problem-solving skills. This could relate to technical issues, project deadlines, or team collaboration.

Share tips on how you stay inspired and organized when working under tight deadlines. This might include scheduling breaks, setting milestones, or drawing inspiration from various forms of media, all while ensuring work is completed on time.

Talk about emerging trends in animation technologies, such as AI-driven animation tools, improvements in motion capture technology, or real-time animation. Explain why these trends excite you and how you see them influencing the future of game development.

Express your genuine interest in the company by mentioning its games, creative direction, or company culture. Link your personal values, passion for storytelling, and excitement for collaboration with your animation expertise as the perfect fit for this position.