The Senior Animation Programmer is responsible for designing and implementing large scale animation systems with minimal guidance and providing technical support and mentoring to more junior members of staff. The Senior Animation Programmer position will report to either a Lead or Director in the programming team.
The position is also expected to be proactive in dealing with other disciplines to resolve problems quickly, elicit clear requirements and translate them into flexible reusable solutions. As well as solving challenging new technical problems, a Senior Animation Programmer will have an excellent understanding of best-practice and standard techniques within game animation (including experience with animation graphs) with a focus on character animation and will keep up-to-date on innovations within the industry.
Responsibilities
- Deliver high quality game animation systems using appropriate levels of abstraction.
- Support other teams in the use of animation systems and work closely with technical animators and animators to deliver features.
- Identify and debug technical problems quickly and efficiently.
- Prioritise, plan and manage the time of assigned tasks with minimal oversight.
- Collaborate on technical direction and develop innovative solutions for difficult animation problems.
- Mentor junior members of the Animation Programming team and communicate clearly with other team members with minimal external help.
- Help educate and support other teams to correctly and efficiently use animation systems.
- Use appropriate data structures and algorithms to maximize efficiency (for both development time and runtime performance).
- Be vigilant for and report new problems, delays and risks to the appropriate Lead/Director.
- Seek support from higher level management when required.
Requirements
- Strong C++ programming and debugging skills.
- Excellent practical understanding of animation concepts.
- Understanding of the performance trade-offs for animation systems.
- Experience with graph-based animation systems.
- Able to tune animation systems based on high level design input with minimal assistance.
- Strong communication skills, comfortable working across teams and mentoring staff.
- Extensive algorithm and data structure skills (including time & space complexity and real-world vs theoretical performance).
- Able to understand and utilize multi-threading primitives & high-level networking concepts.
- Capable of reading and quickly understanding complex code.
- Self-motivated and driven to creatively solve problems
- Able to plan an entire sub-system including external dependencies with minimal input.
- Videogame programming experience on animation systems, including having shipped at least one AAA PC/console title.
- Bachelor’s degree with a Computer Science/Software Engineering focus or equivalent
Our Global Benefits & Perks
- Unlimited coaching & therapy — with Oliva, to support your mental health
- Stock Options — everyone owns a piece of our success
- Compassionate Leave — regardless of who it is, whether you’ve miscarried, or a lost a pet, you don’t need to tell us why
- Caregiver Leave — up to 5 days each year to support your loved ones
- Pension scheme — to finance those golden years
- Socials — office & remote events, play sessions and company-wide parties
- And even more benefits based on your location!
If you’re based in the UK
- 29 Annual Leave + 3 bank holidays - we’re flexible with most bank holidays so you can use the time to celebrate what’s important to you
- Long Service Days - 2 extra days added on your 2nd & 4th anniversaries with us.
- Private Medical Insurance - full cover with AXA
- Healthcare Cash Plan - Level 3 cover with Medicash
- Enhanced Family Leave - Primary caregivers; 13 weeks full pay, 13 weeks half pay, Secondary caregivers; 2 weeks full pay
- Cycle2Work Scheme - lease a bike through us and save on tax too!
- Electric Car Charging - electric car charging at our Port office in Edinburgh, Scotland.
About us
Build A Rocket Boy is developing EVERYWHERE; an experience with a breadth of unimaginable gameplay adventure.
We are a mix of industry leading veterans whose credits include some of the best selling and most loved games of all time. We’re a creative digital entertainment studio with an open and progressive methodology, dedicated to delivering games of the highest calibre possible.
If you want to feel comfortable, inspired, and appreciated in your work pursuits then come join us. We have offices in Edinburgh, Budapest and can consider WFH candidates for specific roles.
