Senior Animator

Department: Animation

Employment Type: Full Time

Location: United States

Compensation: $90,000 - $125,000 / year

Description

We're looking for a Senior Animator with at least 5 years experience in game development and one shipped title. You will collaborate with designers, artists, and developers to ensure animations integrate seamlessly with gameplay systems. You will be creating high-quality animations for characters, creatures, and objects in alignment with the artistic vision and gameplay mechanics. Our ideal candidate demonstrates both the artistic and technical sides of the animation pipeline, values teamwork, is autonomous, shows initiative and wants to work in a well-funded startup environment.

Ruckus Games is a fully distributed studio, which is our way of saying everyone is working from home. We log in to Discord every working day and roll up our sleeves to make the best game possible. Please visit our website to find out more about us.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with the artists, designers and programmers to integrate assets in the engine
• Experience in rigging characters and objects, including creating custom rigs and skinning
• Troubleshoot and solve animation-related technical challenges during production
• Maintain and organize animation assets within the game engine
• Iterate on animations based on feedback from team leads and playtesting results

Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional animation experience in the video game industry
• Proficiency in Autodesk Maya for creating keyframe animations
• Strong understanding of animation principles, such as timing, weight, and pose-to-pose dynamics
• Experience creating animations for humanoid and non-humanoid characters, as well as props and environmental elements
• Familiarity with Unreal Engine
• Strong communication and collaboration skills within a multidisciplinary team
• A portfolio showcasing high-quality animation work in video games

Benefits

• Work from home (anywhere in the US)!
• Flexible hours - 32 hour a week minimum / 50 hour maximum
• 3 weeks vacation each year, in addition to paid holidays and sick days
• Competitive healthcare plans including medical, dental, and vision
• Available Flexible Spending / Health Savings Accounts
• 401K with 100% matching up to 4% of your salary
• Employee stock options