Blackbird Interactive
Summary
Blackbird Interactive is seeking a Technical Animator to work on a brand new character-focused IP. The successful candidate will work closely with engineers, animators, and character artists to create animator-friendly rigs, tools, and scripts, and will be responsible for designing and maintaining Animation Blueprints and State Machines. The role requires a strong practical understanding of animation logic, good knowledge of Autodesk Maya and Unreal Engine, and experience building tools that support animation in Maya. The company offers a 4-day work week, mentorship program, comprehensive health/dental benefits, life insurance, RRSP matching, and a profit-sharing bonus program. The company encourages applications from all qualified individuals and is committed to inclusion.
Job description
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
- Work closely with engineers, animators and character artists to create animator-friendly rigs, tools and scripts
- Participate in and supervise integration of the animation assets into Unreal Engine
- Design and maintain Animation Blueprints and State Machines
- Collaborate to ensure compliance of animation features with technical, aesthetic and gameplay constraints
- Identify opportunities and risks and propose solutions, both within and outside your domain
- Design and implement processes that support and improve all applicable areas of the animation pipelin
Requirements
- Strong practical understanding of animation logic: node graphs, animation trees and similar engine editors and technologies
- Enthusiastic, methodical and organized approach to work with high quality standards
- Able to document and explain their work clearly and concisely
- Good knowledge of Autodesk Maya and Unreal Engine
- Strong understanding of rigging, skinning and related character technologies
- Ability to work flexibly, accept and give feedback and adapt to change
- Good interpersonal and communication skills and ability to work as part of a multi- disciplinary team
- Experience building tools that support animation in Maya
- 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
+ 4-day, 32-hour work week for all full-time staff
+ Mentorship program
+ Skunkworks internal game jam program
+ 4 weeks paid vacation per year
+ 11 paid stat holidays
+ 3 paid days per year for professional development
+ December holiday studio closure (extra paid time off!)
+ Comprehensive health/dental benefits from day 1
+ Life insurance
+ $300 Healthcare Spending Account per annum
+ RRSP matching
+ Profit-sharing bonus program
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: recruitment@blackbirdinteractive.com
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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Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Country: Canada
Date found: 2023-05-05