Lead Animation Developer

• Coordinate closely with Technical Directors to align on project progress and objectives.

• Establish strategy, milestones, and staffing plans for Animation Developers across assigned projects.

• Manage, mentor, and support Animation Developers throughout their assignments.

• Monitor Animation Developers' deliveries and ensure results meet expected quality and timelines.

• Assess related upcoming risks and anticipate mitigations for production safety.

• Help your team develop their full potential through training and personal growth initiatives.

• Act as a role model in management, demonstrating strong leadership, empathy, clear communication, and accountability.

• Foster a positive and inclusive team culture built on trust, collaboration, and respect.

$Development

• Continuously assess our animation workforce against actual and future opportunities and make recommendations.

• Collaborate with stakeholders in the design of comprehensive and coherent technical strategies for in-game rig setup and animation graphs to serve project deliveries and imperatives.

• Drive the implementation of tools and engine features for systems like animation blending, state machines, motion matching, IK, and runtime retargeting.

• Ensure smooth integration between gameplay and physics feedback and the animation systems.

• Collaborate with other teams (gameplay, art, design, production) to ensure high-quality integration and responsiveness.

• Provide technical support to Tech Animators and Artists, including debugging, review, and optimization assistance.

• When necessary, write documentation explaining the studied or developed systems.

• Be proactive in the elaboration of recommendations to improve how we are doing things.

• Lead animation project strategies (conventions, unification, sharing, performance) to maintain a coherent technical vision across projects.

• 5+ years in a Lead position (mandatory).

• 3+ years in runtime animation development for gameplay or equivalent.

• Strong programming knowledge, especially in C++ and OOP logic.

• Good understanding of the code impact on performance and memory utilization.

• Familiar with modern game engine architectures.

• Experienced in managing and delivering features in an Agile environment, leveraging and supporting team self-organization, promoting lean processes, and cross-functional collaboration.

• Familiar with Unreal Engine and its animation features.

• Autonomous, efficient, and proactive attitude.

• Strong interpersonal and communication skills.

• Fluent in French and English, both written and spoken.

$Nice to have qualifications

• Familiar with Unreal Engine 5 and Control Rig.

• Previous work on Gen9 AAA projects.

• Credited on at least one released game.

• Software Engineering background.

• Comfortable in optimization field.

• Passion for animation systems and the future of character fidelity.