[Remote] Senior Technical Animator

Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. Eleventh Hour Games is a fast growing studio, focused on a passion for top-down action RPGs. As a Senior Technical Animator, you will own the pipelines, rigs, tools, and runtime systems that enable high-quality character animation, working closely with various teams to solve technical challenges and improve workflows.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain animation pipelines and workflows from DCC tools through in engine implementation
• Develop tools and systems that improve animator efficiency, iteration speed, and consistency
• Create and maintain high quality character rigs, including deformation systems and control rigs
• Implement and own animation systems in engine, including state machines, blending systems, and runtime behaviors
• Build and support automation systems for NPC animation, including scalable and reusable solutions
• Collaborate with engineering to develop performant animation systems and tools
• Optimize animation systems for runtime performance, memory usage, and scalability across large numbers of characters
• Support motion capture pipelines, including ingestion, cleanup workflows, and integration into the game
• Research and implement modern animation techniques such as motion matching, procedural animation, and runtime IK systems
• Debug and troubleshoot animation issues across the pipeline, from rigging to runtime
• Define and enforce best practices for animation setup, naming conventions, data structures, and workflows
• Partner closely with animators, designers, and engineers to ensure animation systems meet gameplay and visual goals
• Identify risks in animation systems and pipelines, and proactively propose solutions
• Contribute to pushing the visual and technical boundaries of character animation within the project

Skills

• 5+ years of experience as a Technical Animator or similar role in game development
• Strong experience building and maintaining animation pipelines and tools
• Deep understanding of rigging, skinning, and deformation systems for characters
• Proven experience implementing animation systems in real time game engines
• Strong understanding of runtime animation systems such as state machines, blending, IK, and procedural techniques
• Experience optimizing animation for performance and scalability
• Proficiency in scripting or programming (Python or similar) for tool and pipeline development
• Experience working with motion capture pipelines and data integration
• Strong debugging and problem solving skills across both DCC tools and engine environments
• Ability to collaborate effectively with engineering, animation, and design teams
• Self driven with strong ownership over systems and long term pipeline health
• Experience with advanced animation techniques such as motion matching or machine learning-driven animation systems
• Experience building tools for large teams or live projects
• Familiarity with facial rigging and animation systems
• Experience supporting large numbers of NPCs or crowd systems
• Understanding of physics driven animation or simulation systems
• ARPG game development experience

Company Overview

• Eleventh Hour Games is a gaming company and serves in the entertainment industry that offers a video game named Last Epoch. It was founded in 2017, and is headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, USA, with a workforce of 51-200 employees. Its website is https://eleventhhour.games.