Senior 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!

Senior Animator 

We are searching for a talented and experienced Senior 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...

• Work side-by-side with engineers to develop new animation solutions across DCC and Machine Learning.

• Design and implement 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 visual 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…

• 5+ years of experience in AAA game development.

• Experience creating high-quality character animation for gameplay and cinematic sequences.

• Experience implementing animation systems directly in-engine, such as state machines, motion matching, and procedural solutions in shipped titles.

• Experience in building animation tools and scripts in DCC applications.

• Strong understanding of animation principles and anatomy.

• Experience developing and maintaining animation pipelines and workflows.

• Experience with motion capture and retargeting workflows.

• Proficiency with industry-standard tools such as Autodesk Maya, MotionBuilder, or equivalent.

• Experience collaborating closely with designers, engineers, and artists.

• Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to quickly identify and resolve issues.

Bonus:

• Experience in Motion Matching  and/or Interaction systems. 

• Experience troubleshooting and debugging runtime animation systems.

• Experience with web technologies in tool creation or pipeline development;

• A strong drive to create high-quality tools and workflows that empower others and improve productivity.

• Thrive in a team environment, pushing boundaries and driving innovation together.

• Committed to expanding knowledge and skills, constantly bringing fresh ideas and inspiration to your work.

• Passion for making games look and play great.

Portfolio:

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