Lead Technical Designer in Animation

WHAT MAKES US EPIC?

At the core of Epic's success are talented, passionate people. Epic prides itself on creating a collaborative, welcoming, and creative environment.

Whether it's building award-winning games or crafting engine technology that enables others to make visually stunning interactive experiences, we're always innovating.

Being Epic means being a part of a team that continually strives to do right by our community and users. We're constantly innovating to raise the bar of engine and game development.

What We Do

Push your artistic talent to the limit on a team of world-class environment, character, and concept artists who strive to innovate and inspire.

What You'll Do

Epic Games is looking for a Lead Technical Designer in Animation (TDiA) to join our team working on Fortnite. As a TDiA, you will use your animation sense and technical understanding of character animation to design and create gameplay animation systems that facilitate appealing, high-quality character motion.

You will be a primary point of contact for animation implementation issues and any animation-related technical challenges and will work closely with Animation, Design, and Programming colleagues to ensure the animation pipeline operates smoothly and efficiently.

You will also help identify potential issues and deploy correct solutions, using your technical knowledge to help bridge and facilitate communication between the animation team and other departments.

As a Lead, you will help to set the technical roadmap and direction for future animation technologies in Fortnite and will manage a team of other TDiAs working on a variety of systems.

In this role, you will

• Lead a team of TDiAs working on Fortnite seasonal features, cosmetic animation support, and character locomotion technologies, working closely with the Fortnite Animation Programming team to help determine and schedule the technical roadmap for the product
• Help create animation behavior tools / techniques / philosophies that allow the building of complex movement systems
• Design and implement animation state machines / behaviors and runtime solutions
• Work closely with the Animation, Design, and Programming departments to analyze, troubleshoot, and solve in-game animation implementation issues and animation-related technical challenges
• Closely collaborate with the animation leadership to maintain the style and quality bar for animations in the game
• Look for opportunities to improve the animation pipeline / workflow and help provide solutions for technical animation problems, including performing training and creating documentation for the animation team

What we're looking for

• Strong verbal communication skills, as well as both experience with and interest in team management and mentoring
• A strong animation sense with a clear understanding of realistic and stylized character motion and how to achieve them with modern animation methods
• Expertise with animation pipelines, including source content creation tools such as Maya, MotionBuilder, and the Unreal Engine using our Control Rig toolset
• Exceptional problem-solving ability with strong written communication and teamwork skills
• Familiarity with gameplay animation tools and concepts, such as blend trees and state machines; experience with Unreal Engine Animation Blueprints is a plus
• Experience with AAA game development, preferably on a large team using an established game engine (internal or commercial);

experience with Unreal Engine is a plus

Self-motivation, a strong work ethic, and the ability to work independently

EPIC JOB + EPIC BENEFITS EPIC LIFE

We pay 100% for benefits for both employees and dependents and offer coverage for supplemental medical, dental, vision, critical illness, telemedicine, Life and AD&D, long-term disability insurance as well as weekly indemnity (short-term disability), and a retirement savings plan with a competitive employer match.

In addition to the EAP (employee assistance program), we also offer a robust mental well-being program through Modern Health, which provides free therapy and coaching for employees & dependents.

ABOUT US

Epic Games spans across 19 countries with 55 studios and 4,500+ employees globally. For over 25 years, we've been making award-winning games and engine technology that empowers others to make visually stunning games and 3D content that bring environments to life like never before.

Epic's award-winning Unreal Engine technology not only provides game developers the ability to build high-fidelity, interactive experiences for PC, console, mobile, and VR, it is also a tool being embraced by content creators across a variety of industries such as media and entertainment, automotive, and architectural design.

As we continue to build our Engine technology and develop remarkable games, we strive to build teams of world-class talent.

Like what you hear? Come be a part of something Epic!

Epic Games deeply values diverse teams and an inclusive work culture, and we are proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer.

Learn more about our Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Policy here.

Note to Recruitment Agencies : Epic does not accept any unsolicited resumes or approaches from any unauthorized third party (including recruitment or placement agencies) (i.

e., a third party with whom we do not have a negotiated and validly executed agreement). We will not pay any fees to any unauthorized third party.

Further details on these matters can be found here.