Senior Technical Animator

Why PlayStation?

PlayStation isn’t just the Best Place to Play — it’s also the Best Place to Work. Today, we’re recognized as a global leader in entertainment producing The PlayStation family of products and services including PlayStation®5, PlayStation®4, PlayStation®VR, PlayStation®Plus, acclaimed PlayStation software titles from PlayStation Studios, and more.

PlayStation also strives to create an inclusive environment that empowers employees and embraces diversity. We welcome and encourage everyone who has a passion and curiosity for innovation, technology, and play to explore our open positions and join our growing global team.

The PlayStation brand falls under Sony Interactive Entertainment, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation.

About Firewalk Studios

Firewalk Studios is dedicated to creating unforgettable multiplayer experiences that capture the joy of playing together. We believe in the power of multiplayer and want to delight players with worlds that spark imagination and forge connection through immersive gameplay, artistry, and heartfelt characters. We are currently working on an original multiplayer game as part of Sony Interactive Entertainment.

Creating worlds that ignite imagination and connection takes a collaborative team. Firewalk is building a world-class, next-generation game studio with a focus on a more sustainable approach to game development. For us, setting a high-quality bar, creating something extraordinary, and treating each other with trust and respect go hand-in-hand.

The role

Our studio is looking for a Senior Technical Animator who is incredibly passionate about games and bringing exceptional entertainment to millions of players. Our Senior Technical Animator is responsible for supporting the Gameplay Animators by being the "catalyst" that fuses together multiple disciplines and technologies to help achieve world-class character animation.

Who you are

• Blending together animation, gameplay, and code to build the best animating characters possible is your jam.
• You have a background in animation and have taken a more technical route with an emphasis on runtime animation systems.
• You have a good understanding of state machines and blend tree architecture.
• You are very literate in animation goals. You are excited about pushing the boundaries of what game animation can achieve.
• You enjoy diving deep into animation, code, and other discipline’s workflows to solve technical problems and create excellent content.
• You are technical and enjoy learning new tools, technologies, and aspects of game development.
• You find time to play video games & empathize deeply with our players because you are a gamer at heart.
• You are persistent in finding or proposing creative solutions even if that means challenging the status quo.

What your day might look like

• Finding a creative solution to get a game mechanic working with animation that the engineers and designers couldn't think of.
• Watching a GDC talk about technical animation and thinking about how we could integrate its features.
• Building out the movement and animation system of a new character and thinking about how to improve the process next time.
• Automating a pipeline process to further speed up iteration time.
• Working with the Senior TDIA to help develop a plan for your career goals.

Qualifications

• A background in animation or the ability to demonstrate a strong knowledge of animation fundamentals.
• Three years of experience in a professional game production environment.
• Three years experience with a modern game engine that demonstrates state machine and blends tree architecture.
• Three years experience with C++ and an ability to demonstrate foundational programming skills.
• Can demonstrate basic problem solving with 3D math.
• Experience with the Unreal 4 or 5 Engine is a big plus.
• Experience on a networked game (preferably FPS) is a big plus.

 

Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At Firewalk we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

At SIE, we consider several factors when setting each role’s base pay range, including the competitive benchmarking data for the market and geographic location.

Plea