Viewmodel Animator (Apex Legends)

Founded in 2010 by the original creators of the Call of Duty Franchise, Respawn was created with the philosophy that when talented people have creative freedom, they'll make extraordinary games that achieve the unexpected. From our roots as an indie studio to joining the expansive roster of studios at Electronic Arts, this remains our guiding principle. We truly love what we do and want to share our passion with players worldwide. Our shipped titles include critically acclaimed multi-platform games Apex Legends, Titanfall, Titanfall 2, Star Wars™ Jedi: Fallen Order and Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond. Join us for the opportunity to create groundbreaking games with some of the best developer talent in the industry.

You can learn more about our studio and values at respawn.com/studio.

We’re looking for a highly skilled Viewmodel Animator who will embrace our philosophy and share his/her hard-earned expertise to create an incredible experience for our players.

Games have evolved to the point that animators must be true storytellers rather than just technicians. We believe that animation breathes life into a game and that animation is a key part of defining the next generation of games, bringing about their most memorable moments: moments that gamers don’t simply sit back and watch, but moments that they live.

We’re picturing someone who will help us tell stories and express emotions through remarkable animations and gameplay. If this sounds like you, we're looking forward to seeing your resume!

What’s it like to be an Animator at Respawn?

• Feel - Our studio puts a big emphasis on fun gameplay and characters! We want responsive, immersive gameplay that just feels right, while injecting as much personality into our characters that populate the Apex universe. Our animators contribute directly to this effort through their high quality, believable animations. They work closely with game designers and narrative teams to help make gameplay and characters look, perform, and FEEL amazing.
• Inspiration - Our animators inspire the rest of the team and each other. We have regular show-and-tells and seeing animators take things to the next level with their great work energizes everyone. The animation team is constantly working to evolve our animations to raise the industry bar.
• Resources - We have our own mocap stage and our animation team members are directly involved in seeing their vision through on the stage. Our animators can throw on the suit themselves and act out their ideas, or they can work with actors to get the data they need. You can see how our team uses mocap in this video (which features some from the animation team collaborating together to bring our characters to life) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0Gm_RgyYJA
• Values - Our animation teams are aligned on their values. They share their inspiration, knowledge, and passion with the others in their department. They aspire to treat everything they work on as a personal masterpiece. They play the game and are encouraged to speak up if they see anything that is not up to our high standards. They put their time and passion into what will have the biggest payoff for players. Our leads also make a lot of effort to ensure that the animators work on assignments they are excited about.
• Ownership - Our teams are small and everyone has a lot of ownership over their work. Our animators take their work from conceptualization to shipping. As part of a small team you will have the opportunity to shine here.

What do we look for in Animator candidates?

• Hand Keyed Animations - We look for highly skilled key frame animators. Although we do use mocap as a powerful tool, our animators will often hand key their work from scratch or use key-frames to improve or add their own personal flair to mocap data.
• Realism/Believability - Our work tends to be realistic as opposed to highly stylized. We love seeing realistic, key-framed human motion in reels. That’s the best way for us to understand how well you could deliver similar work here. If your reel contains mainly stylized animations, we look for the same signs of quality such as believability, polish, and impressive acting.
• Passion - We look for animators who are highly passionate. Our animation team is constantly sharing inspiration and working to raise the quality bar. No one is phoning it in here – our team loves what they do and it shows in their work.
• Potential Over Experience – We value talent over years of experience. Experience counts, but potential is important too. We look for talented, highly motivated people with a keen eye for quality.
• Teamplayer – Positivity and a great attitude help to fuel greatness. The ability to accept feedback and critiques will help you tailor your work towards what’s best for the game. Making games is a group effort and you will work closely with other departments such as design, vfx, audio, engineering, and art. Teamwork is very important to our success.

Ideally, you will have…

• Professional game development experience.
• A strong understanding of video game animation development.
• Very strong keyframing ability. Have a strong eye for the art and craft of animation.
• Self-direction and the ability to work autonomously as well as with a team.
• Must be a strong team contributor. Sounds cliché, but it is very important to our success.
• Mastery of relevant software packages such as Maya.
• Experience with full body character animations and first-person weapon animations.
• Motion Capture cleanup experience.