Electronic Arts

Senior Technical Animator - A-Team

Electronic Arts Inc. is a leading global interactive entertainment software company. EA delivers games, content and online services for Internet-connected consoles, personal computers, mobile phones and tablets.

Team Overview:

Meet the A-Team: an innovative Character Animation Research Team based in Vancouver, British Columbia, with talented remote members spread across North America.

We are a cross-functional, applied R&D team, strategically positioned in EA to drive and disrupt the future of character animation technology. We are a self-motivated, collaborative team, empowered to constantly explore and leverage the latest innovations across the fields of animation, rigging, physics, and machine learning. Our technology has been used to create next-generation gameplay realism across EA titles including FC, Madden, NHL, UFC, Battlefield, and many others.

Join us in shaping the future of how games are made!

We are searching for a talented and experienced Senior Technical Animator to join the A-Team. Our ideal candidate is, like us, passionate about advancing games in a collaborative environment with a team of veteran developers. The ideal candidate will possess a strong problem-solving mentality and be fearless in the face of new technologies and tools. You will be responsible for driving the design and development of animator-first DCC tools and Machine Learning initiatives. This includes providing guidance & imagining the future of industry leading animation tools & workflows, crafting high quality animations, and building prototypes to showcase the awesome innovations we develop. This is not a rigging position.

Location:

Vancouver or remote in North America

You will...

• Curate, edit, and implement motion capture data into animation sets to push the limits of our new technologies in Motion Matching and Machine Learning.
• Work side-by-side with engineers to develop new animation solutions across DCC and Machine Learning.
• Design cutting edge animation tools/pipelines for animators and designers in the digital content creation space.
• Work side-by-side with UX designers to guide the UX of these tools, in service of the broader animation community.
• Provide feedback on R&D projects in other focus areas, including procedural runtime systems and rigging.
• Review the animation results generated by AI models, and provide feedback for areas of improvement.
• Collaborate with partner game teams to solve unique animation challenges.
• Design and create high quality technical demos utilizing our team’s technology.
• Be a leader in the animation community at EA by working with partner game teams to teach our new animation systems and tools, and communicate feedback.
• Coordinate with QA to validate and maintain the high quality of our animation systems.
• Create and maintain documentation and tutorials to educate others about our team’s unique technologies.
• Report directly to the A-Team Animation Director to take advantage of any opportunities you find.

Ideally you will have…

• Proven experience as a Technical Animation expert showcased with state machines and procedural solutions in released products.
• A strong understanding of animation principles and anatomy.
• Experience with managing animation pipelines and workflows.
• Experience with motion capture and retargeting.
• Proficient in standard industry tools such as Autodesk Maya.
• Experience working closely with other domains - especially Designers, Engineers and Artists.
• Excellent problem-solving skills. Must be able to quickly identify issues and resolve them.

Supplemental Skills:

• Experience troubleshooting and debugging runtime animation systems.
• Experience in Cinematics/Presentation
• MotionBuilder experience is an asset.

Portfolio:

• All submissions must include a portfolio showing personal and professional artwork.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS 

The ranges listed below are what EA in good faith expects to pay applicants for this role in these locations at the time of this posting. If you reside in a different location, a recruiter will advise on the applicable range and benefits. Pay offered will be determined based on a number of relevant business and candidate factors (e.g. education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, or business needs). 

PAY RANGES

• British Columbia (depending on location e.g. Vancouver vs. Victoria)
  • $111,600 - $152,800 CAD

In British Columbia, we offer a package of benefits including vacation (3 weeks per year to start), 10 days per year of sick time, paid top-up to EI/QPIP benefits up to 100% of base salary when you welcome a new child (12 weeks for maternity, and 4 weeks for parental/adoption leave), extended health/dental/vision coverage, life insurance, disability insurance, retirement plan to regular full-time employees. Certain roles may also be eligible for bonus and equity.