Senior Gameplay Animation Engineer

- Senior Gameplay Animation Engineer

We are NetEase Games Beta Studio and we are looking for exceptional talent to expand our growing AAA game development team in North America. You will be joining a team of high-performing professionals and close friends, passionate about gaming and driven by technology, on a mission to deliver the best high-fidelity AAA action experiences to our players around the world.

As a Senior Animation Software Engineer, you will be responsible for the implementation of animation frameworks, runtime systems, and tools to support animators, artists, designers and motion capture staff in producing high-quality character animation in our AAA action games.

Do you love to challenge yourself to solve complex animation problems with elegant and expandable solutions? Are you happy to collaborate with a diverse team of experts and empower the production of high-fidelity animation content? Are you excited about raising the quality bar of animation technology and precision in the AAA games industry? Then this opportunity is definitely for you!

Responsibilities

• Solve complex animation problems involving high-precision IK, sliding steps, dynamic scaling, multiple body types and physics-based animation
• Collaborate with animators, artists, designers and motion capture technicians to understand their game animation requirements, workflow limitations and future vision
• Research and develop novel animation techniques and share your knowledge with partnering game teams and the whole company
• Analyze existing animation systems, content workflows, and engine capabilities, understand technological limitations and develop solutions to push the boundaries of what the team can achieve
• Onboard, mentor and support your fellow software engineering teammates
• Build animation frameworks, runtime systems, and tools to support the delivery and execution of high-fidelity character animation content
• Apply cutting-edge technology such as AIGC to improve, automate and optimize the animation pipelines and workflows
• Optimize the real-time execution of animation solutions while maintaining a high level of quality and character fidelity

Requirements

• Minimum 5 years of experience as a software engineer in the games industry with multiple published titles
• Strong communication, proactivity, conflict resolution and collaboration skills
• Excellent knowledge of modern video game character animation solutions, systems and tools
• Experience developing animation technology such as rigging, IK, physics-based animation, compression, facial animation, and others
• Minimum 2 years of experience in a dedicated/senior/lead animation engineering position
• Ability to write clear and well-structured code, review and maintain high standards of code quality
• Strong knowledge of 3D math, physics, memory management, multi-threading and cross-platform development
• Excellent C++ knowledge with demonstrated experience
• Strong knowledge of high-end PC and console game development, deployment, and debugging

Differentiating Factors

• Experience writing content tools and plugins for animation software such as Maya and Motion Builder is a major plus
• Unreal Engine experience is a major plus
• Team management and leadership experience is a plus
• Degree in Computer Science or Engineering is a plus
• Passion for action games and related genres (sports, action RPGs, fighting) is a plus

Benefits:

• Insurance & Protection: 401(k), long term disability and basic life insurance.
• Healthcare Benefits: Medical, vision and dental coverage.
• Other Benefits: Meal allowance, transportation allowance, and a holiday gift card.
• Paid Time Off: Annual leave, parental leave and pregnancy-related medical leave after the completion of one year of employment.