Technical Animator (Contract)

Come join Nightdive Studios, the developer behind classic games including System Shock Remake, Turok, and The Thing: Remastered. We are looking for talented individuals to grow our team.

Our team of talented developers is growing. Our backgrounds are diverse, but we share a real passion for all things retro gaming. We believe that if you’re looking for a tight-knit crew that celebrates self-expression and embraces collaboration, we might be a phenomenal fit for you. We offer flexible work arrangements and are open to full-time employees based in the U.S., as well as contract opportunities for individuals located internationally.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Create general animation for characters and props such as locomotion, attacks, and interactions.
• Input in the conception phase to ideate and brainstorm how different characters and elements will move.
• Understanding of technical animation systems and how to effectively optimize animation systems.
• Ownership of individual animation systems to bring a character from cradle to grave
• Experience with physical animation systems such as IK, ragdolls, and physics assets.
• Knowledge of control rig, Unreal animation systems, and motion matching/warping.
• Creating first person animations and rigs, character animations, animated scripted events and other animations to support the narrative and gameplay needs.
• Setting up and maintaining first person melee combat systems.
• Implementation of animations in Unreal Engine 5.
• Applying robust rigs to character models for handoff to other animators.
• Highly collaborative with other team members and willing to provide timely and constructive criticism to submissions from colleagues.
• Responds well to feedback and constructive criticism to their submissions and workflows and willingness to iterate on assets.
• Self-motivated and highly adaptable to new workflows and processes while willing to learn new skills and insert themselves into gaps within the team structure. We are looking for that “Indie dev” mindset.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Ego-free, highly motivated, action-oriented, curious learn-it-all with a growth mindset
• Comfort operating in ambiguous and unregimented environments
• 3-5+ Years of experience directly related to the role using Unreal Engine or similar engines.
• Shipped at least 1 AA+ 
• Familiarity with animation workflows in Maya.
• Experience with auxiliary animation systems, such as lipsyncing.
• Experience with audio synchronization for in-engine sequenced events.
• Strong understanding of animation, effects, or other aspects of the art production pipeline.
• Have experience animating from the First-Person perspective.
• Eager to take ownership over features and systems and see them through to completion.
• Likes Sci-Fi and Horror media.

We are on the lookout for people who are highly self-accountable. As this is a smaller team, there won’t be a lot of hand-holding as production begins to ramp up. If this kind of challenge excites you, we invite you to apply!