Senior Technical Artist, Animation - Unannounced Game | Irvine, CA

Team Name:

Unannounced Project

Job Title:

Senior Technical Artist, Animation - Unannounced Game | Irvine, CA

Requisition ID:

R025565

Job Description:

Your mission

At Blizzard, we craft genre-defining games and legendary worlds for all to share. Through unparalleled creativity and storytelling, we create immersive universes and iconic characters that are beloved across platforms, borders, backgrounds, and generations -- only made possible by building a work environment that cultivates the artistry of game development and unleashes the aspirations of our people.

 

We are looking for a Senior Technical Artist focused on animation to help craft a new, unannounced game for Blizzard. As an essential part of the development team, you will work at the intersection of art and technology—helping develop, integrate, and support the systems and pipelines that bring character performances to life. This role demands deep understanding of in-game animation workflows, strong technical expertise, and the ability to work closely with animators, designers, and engineers to create smooth, responsive, and high-quality animation systems.

This role is anticipated to be a hybrid work position, with some work on-site and some work from home. The potential home studio for this role is Irvine, CA.

 

Responsibilities

Priorities can often change in a fast-paced environment like ours, so this role includes, but is not limited to, the following responsibilities:

• Collaborate closely with the animation, design, and engineering teams to analyze, troubleshoot, and resolve in-game animation implementation issues and animation-related technical challenges, especially in Unreal Engine.

• Collaborate closely with animators, modelers, and technical artists to set standards and enhance rigging tools and animation workflows, with a focus on integration into Unreal’s animation system.

• Optimize and refine content creation pipelines, identifying and addressing workflow bottlenecks to enhance efficiency for both yourself and the broader art team.

• Support the integration of animation assets into game engines, working with systems like Unreal Engine’s Animation Blueprints, State Machines, Control Rig, IK solvers, and Live Link.

• Build, test, and maintain rigs, including skinning for characters, weapons, and vehicles.

• Develop and maintain Python/MEL scripts to streamline animation workflows and improve pipeline efficiency.

• Contribute to the ongoing evolution of internal technologies and animation workflows in partnership with engineering and technical art leadership.
  
   

Minimum Requirements

Experience

• 8+ years of experience in the game industry as a technical artist (rigging/animation), technical animator, or similar role.

• Expertise in Unreal Engine, including a strong understanding of Animation Blueprints, State Machines, Control Rig, Sequencer, and real-time animation workflows.

• Deep understanding of character pipelines and game animation systems.

• Experience developing custom rigging and animation tools.

• Strong scripting skills in languages such as Python or MEL; knowledge of C++ or C# is a plus.

• Familiarity with motion capture pipelines and data processing.

 

Key Attributes

• A team-oriented approach to your work, understanding the importance of collaboration and partnering with all departments.

• The ability to solve complex problems proactively and with technical precision.

• Self-driven work ethic with a focus on quality, performance, and innovation.
    

Extra Points

• Experience working through early development and R&D phases of a project.

• Solid understanding of game development beyond technical art (e.g., lighting, VFX, animation, audio, rendering, systems).

• Advanced experience with Unreal Engine, including Blueprint scripting, physics-based animation setups, and Control Rig authoring.

• Experience with motion capture pipelines.

• A passion for video games and a deep understanding of game animation and interactivity.

• A strong demo ree