Principal Animation Programmer
Animation Programming focuses on building and maintaining the technical systems that drive character animation within a game engine. This role develops scalable animation systems and features such as state machines, root motion, inverse kinematics, and motion matching to ensure animations are believable and responsive in both gameplay and cinematics. It supports and improves animation workflows and pipelines by creating tools and utilities that streamline content creation and integration. Core responsibilities include debugging and optimizing animation systems for performance, implementing efficient and maintainable code, and collaborating closely with animators, AI designers, gameplay programmers, and other technical teams to ensure animations meet design and gameplay requirements within complex game environments.
Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure seamless integration of animation with gameplay and narrative Drive innovation in procedural animation, IK systems, and runtime rigging Solve complex animation challenges and guide architectural decisions Champion code quality, maintainability, and robust documentation Partner with QA and production to ensure animation features meet quality and delivery goals Act as technical owner and primary point of contact for the project’s animation engineering needs Collaborate with your team to plan, estimate and author high-quality performant animation code Ensure animation features are delivered on time and meet quality expectations
Technical Areas
Scalable animation tech (state machines, root motion, IK, motion matching)
pipeline/tools for content
debugging & performance
cross-discipline collaboration
Interpersonal Skills
Collaboration
Communication
Cross-functional teamwork
Technical communication
Problem-solving
Organisation
Mentoring
Leadership