About the role
Company Overview
Mob Entertainment is a startup multimedia studio known for the hit indie horror game Poppy Playtime. The studio is a mid-sized game studio focused on crafting memorable, atmospheric, and emotionally impactful gameplay experiences, specializing in immersive worlds where tension, storytelling, and player agency come together. The team develops primarily in Unreal Engine and collaborates using Jira and Confluence.
Role Overview
The studio is seeking a Contract Technical Animator to bridge the gap between animation and engineering. The role involves designing and maintaining animation systems, developing tools and pipelines, and working closely with animators, designers, and engineers to ensure high-quality character movement and performance in-game. Responsibilities include defining animation workflows and technical standards while ensuring seamless integration of animation assets.
Key Responsibilities
- Develop and maintain animation systems, rigs, automated lip sync systems, and runtime solutions within the game engine.
- Build tools and pipelines that improve the efficiency of animation workflows.
- Collaborate with animators to ensure rigs, skeletons, and animation assets perform optimally in-game.
- Work with gameplay engineers to integrate animation features and systems.
- Optimize animation assets for performance, memory, and runtime stability.
- Troubleshoot and resolve animation and rigging issues across the pipeline.
- Support motion capture integration, retargeting, and procedural animation systems when needed.
- Establish and document best practices for animation pipelines and technical workflows.
- Mentor junior technical animators and support the broader animation team with technical challenges.
Qualifications
- 3+ years of experience in technical animation and rigging within the video game industry.
- Strong experience with Unreal Engine and using control rig and animation inside Unreal.
- Proficiency with Maya or similar DCC tools, including rigging and scripting workflows.
- Experience working with animation state machines, blend trees, and runtime animation systems.
- Understanding of character rigging, skinning, and deformation systems.
- Familiarity with Python, MEL, C++, or Blueprint scripting for tool and pipeline development.
- Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to debug complex animation issues.
- Excellent communication skills and experience working cross-discipline with art, design, and engineering teams.
Nice to Have
- Experience with motion capture pipelines and retargeting systems.
- Knowledge of rigging with unreal tooling, procedural animation with control rig, physics-based animation, or IK systems.
- Experience optimizing animation for console or PC performance constraints.
- Animation experience doing animations.
- Shipped at least one AAA or mid-sized studio game title.
- Experience developing animation tools or plugins.
Salary
Final compensation is determined based on experience, qualifications, and work location.
- San Francisco, CA; New York City, NY; Los Angeles, CA; Seattle, WA; Boston, MA; & Seattle, WA DC Metropolitan Areas: $125,000 - $149,000 USD annually.
- Austin, TX; Denver, CO; Nashville, TN; Atlanta, GA; Chicago, IL; Dallas, TX; & Miami, FL Metropolitan Areas: $100,000 - $130,000 USD annually.
- All Other U.S. Locations: $92,000 - $118,000 USD annually.
Benefits
Eligible U.S.-based full-time employees receive:
- Profit sharing
- Medical, dental, and vision insurance
- 401(k) matching
- FSA/HSA
- Paid time off
- Sick time
- Holidays
- Parental leave
Fraud Alert
Mob Entertainment does not extend offers via text, social media DM, or without a completed application and interview. Official emails originate from @mobentertainment.com.