Senior Animator - Unpublished R&D Product

As a member of the Animation team, you bring characters to life through classic animation principles and body mechanics. You will create high quality animations for a diverse and rapidly growing universe, including bipeds, quadrupeds, and creatures. A great reel will showcase a variety of walk cycles, a diverse selection of game-related animation, and a strong foundation in the principles of animation, including weight, anticipation, and impact. Also working to expand our current content pipeline, you will collaborate with designers and artists to develop new features and technologies. Your craft expertise will breathe life into iconic and beloved characters for players.

As an Senior Animator on an unpublished R&D product, you'll create the animation that defines the gameplay feel. You'll craft stylized, responsive gameplay animation that brings characters to life while supporting satisfying gameplay. Working closely with designers, technical artists, engineers, and character artists, you'll own animation from ideation through implementation. You'll create memorable animation, define the feel of player locomotion, bring personality to characters in-game, and implement your work directly in the game engine. As a senior member of the team, you'll help define the visual identity of gameplay animation, contribute to animation best practices, and maintain a high quality bar across the project. You will report to the Animation Manager.

Responsibilities:

• Create high-quality, gameplay-driven animation assets that define a high bar for responsiveness, clarity, and visual polish that delivers satisfying gameplay
• Collaborate with design, engineering, and technical art to ensure animations integrate effectively into the game 
• Identify and troubleshoot animation bugs, edge cases, and pipeline issues, contributing to solutions
• Partner with designers to prototype and iterate on gameplay animation, using playtesting and feedback to improve responsiveness, readability, and feel.
• Contribute to team animation quality through feedback, critiques, and collaboration
• Support improvements to animation workflows, tools, and pipelines
• Help establish animation standards and maintain a high quality bar across gameplay animation

Required Qualifications: 

• 5+ years of professional experience in game animation
• 3+ years of direct experience making hand-crafted gameplay animation
• 3+ years of experience working in game engines (i.e. Unreal, Unity, etc.)
• Ability to seamlessly integrate into and build upon a well-established animation vision and team with diverse levelling 
• Ability to work autonomously and able to take initiative with little supervision 
• Strong problem-solving skills in both artistic and technical contexts
• Strong understanding of animation principles, body mechanics, timing, weight, and appealing stylized motion

Desired Qualifications:

• Professional experience shipping at least one AAA game title
• Strong gameplay animation implementation experience 
• Experience improving pipelines or workflows 

As a part of the application process, you will be expected to provide a portfolio or demo reel of your work.

For this role, you'll find success through craft expertise, a collaborative spirit, and decision-making that prioritizes the delight of players. We will be looking at your past studies, experience, and your personal relationship with games. If you embody player empathy and care about players' experiences, this could be your role!

Our Perks:

Riot focuses on work/life balance, shown by our open paid time off policy and other perks such as flexible work schedules. We offer medical, dental, and life insurance, parental leave for you, your spouse/domestic partner, and children, and a 401k with company match. Check out our benefits pages for more information.

At Riot Games, we put players first. That mission drives every decision in our quest to create games and experiences that make it better to be a player. Whether you’re working directly on a new player-facing experience or you’re supporting the company as a whole, everyone at Riot is part of our mission. And just like in our games, we’re better when we work together. Our goal is to create collaborative teams where you are empowered to bring your unique perspective everyday. If that sounds like the kind of place you want to work, we’re looking forward to your application.

It’s our policy to provide equal employment opportunity for all applicants and members of Riot Games, Inc. Riot Games makes reasonable accommodations for handicapped and disabled Rioters and does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, handicap, veteran status, marital status, criminal history, or any other category protected by applicable federal and state law. We consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with applicable federal, state and local law, including the California Fair Chance Act, the City of Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, and the Washington Fair Chance Act.

Per the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, the following core duties may create a basis for disqualifying candidates with relevant criminal histories:

• Safeguarding confidential and sensitive Company data
• Communication with others, including Rioters and third parties such as vendors, and/or players, including minors
• Accessing Company assets, secure digital systems, and networks
• Ensuring a safe interactive environment for players and other Rioters

These duties are directly related to essential operations, safety, trust, and compliance obligations within our organization. Please note that job duties may evolve based on business needs and additional responsibilities may be assigned as necessary to maintain operational efficiency and security.