Senior Creature Animator - New IP

About the role

4A Games is looking for a Senior Creature Animator to create high-quality creature animations for new IP games. The work brings believable movement, combat and behaviour to life for titles targeting current-generation hardware with a proprietary multiplatform engine.

Key responsibilities

• Create gameplay and cinematic animations for creatures, monsters, animals and other non-humanoid characters.
• Work directly with designers, technical animators, character artists and programmers to deliver believable creature movement and behaviour.
• Develop locomotion, combat, idle, traversal and special ability animation sets.
• Collaborate with design so animations support gameplay responsiveness and readability.
• Refine animations based on gameplay feedback and playtesting.
• Help set and maintain animation quality standards and workflows.
• Troubleshoot animation issues and mentor junior animators.
• Document workflows and share knowledge across the animation team.

Required profile

• 5+ years as a Creature or Character Animator in AAA game development.
• Proven experience creating high-quality keyframe animations for creatures and non-humanoid characters.
• Exceptional understanding of animal anatomy, body mechanics, weight, timing and believable movement.
• Ability to create unique movement styles for a wide variety of creatures.
• Good communication skills with strong verbal and written English.
• Ability to work under strict schedules and time pressure.

Required skills

• Expert-level Maya or equivalent 3D animation software.
• Game engines such as Unreal Engine, Unity or similar.
• Animation state machines, blend spaces and gameplay animation pipelines.
• Preferred: motion capture cleanup, quadruped/flying/reptile/fantasy creature animation, procedural animation, IK systems, animation layering, Unreal Engine Animation Blueprints.