Technical Animator Jobs

Blackbird Interactive is a creative-fueled, future-driven, independent game studio where the best talent in the industry can find long-term careers to help grow their abilities while working on a wide range of projects, which encompass world-class IPs as well as our own creations across multiple genres.

In 2022, we announced that our studio is implementing a four-day work week as well as supporting in-studio, remote within Canada, and hybrid work arrangements as permanent options to our employees.

Blackbird Interactive is seeking a Technical Animator to help oversee the creation of a brand new character focused IP. This is a rare opportunity to start a project from the seed of an idea, grow the team, work within our incredibly talented internal IP division, and craft something truly special.

You will be part of a small, high-performing team who can implement ideas quickly and come up with innovative solutions to challenging problems. You will have a collaborative approach and be directly involved in the day-to-day decision making that helps push our animation systems and deliver a polished high quality game.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate to ensure compliance of animation features with technical, aesthetic and gameplay constraints
• Participate in and supervise integration of the animation assets into Unreal Engine
• Design and maintain Animation Blueprints and State Machines
• Design and implement processes that support and improve all applicable areas of the animation pipelin
• Work closely with engineers, animators and character artists to create animator-friendly rigs, tools and scripts
• Identify opportunities and risks and propose solutions, both within and outside your domain

Requirements

• Enthusiastic, methodical and organized approach to work with high quality standards
• Good knowledge of Autodesk Maya and Unreal Engine
• Strong practical understanding of animation logic: node graphs, animation trees and similar engine editors and technologies
• Good interpersonal and communication skills and ability to work as part of a multi- disciplinary team
• Experience building tools that support animation in Maya
• Ability to work flexibly, accept and give feedback and adapt to change
• Able to document and explain their work clearly and concisely
• Strong understanding of rigging, skinning and related character technologies
• An understanding of animation techniques

Pluses

• Ability to write scripts and code
• Experience with auto rigging tools (mGear, Advanced Skeleton, etc)
• Experience on character focused games preferred with at least one shipped title

Vacation & Extras

• Profit-sharing bonus program
• Mentorship program
• Comprehensive health/dental benefits from day 1
• 11 paid stat holidays
• $300 Healthcare Spending Account per annum
• 4 weeks paid vacation per year
• Life insurance
• RRSP matching
• December holiday studio closure (extra paid time off!)
• 4-day, 32-hour work week for all full-time staff
• Skunkworks internal game jam program
• 3 paid days per year for professional development

If applying for an artistic role, please provide a link to your portfolio and/or demo reel.

Any questions about the role and/or accessibility requests can be sent to: [email protected]

Unfortunately, we cannot reply to everyone. Only successful applicants will be contacted about the next steps. Thank you for your understanding.

If you are interested in the role, please apply even if your experience and skills don’t perfectly match our ideal credentials. We are committed to inclusion and especially encourage members of historically marginalized communities to apply. As an equal opportunity employer we encourage applications from all qualified individuals. BBI does not discriminate against applicants based on gender, race, national and ethnic origin, religion, age, sexual orientation, marital and family status, and/or mental or physical disabilities.

Blackbird Interactive is privileged to be developing our projects on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ /Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.

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