The Walt Disney Company · 4 hours ago
Creature (Rigging/Tech Anim) Supervisor
San Francisco, CA
Full-time
Hybrid
Senior Level, Lead/Staff
$143K/yr - $188K/yr
10+ years expThe Walt Disney Company is seeking a real-time Creature Supervisor to lead a team of artists in creating and supporting a character pipeline for interactive experiences. This role involves setting artistic and technical standards, collaborating with various departments, and overseeing the optimization of animated assets.
Amusement Park and ArcadeAnimationConsumer GoodsDigital MediaE-CommerceMedia and EntertainmentMulti-level MarketingPerforming ArtsResorts
Responsibilities
Lead a team of real-time Creature Technical Directors (“Creature TDs”) in creating and supporting a complete character pipeline to accomplish ILM’s mission
Develop and hone the team’s skills to continuously raise the quality bar
Set the discipline’s standard for artistic and technical excellence, efficiency and performance by creating exemplary work that meets project requirements, and providing training and guidance to direct reports
Work closely with artistic directors, cross-functional peers and product owners to achieve the artistic vision of the director(s) and deliver the highest quality characters possible
Oversee the optimization of animated assets to achieve optimal scene performance in the 3D engine
Collaborate with tools engineers to develop appropriate art pipelines, scripts, and plug-ins necessary to ensure the high productivity of the animators and artists
When the development of systems is required, contribute to the visual prototyping of tools, as well as R&D with systems programmers
Work with Producers in the planning stages of proposed projects to advise on the scope of the work and resource requirements, and make recommendations accordingly
Work with production to provide task estimates, track progress, and solve production issues that arise
Establish best practices and workflow for the discipline, and partner with other discipline supervisors to establish cross-functional workflow with other disciplines
Through continuing hands-on work on projects, maintain deep knowledge and user experience on workflow and tools
Innovate discipline workflow and keep up to date on new tools/applications/trends in the industry
Collaborate with Talent Managers to inform talent planning, provide guidance on casting assignments, and offer feedback to support artist growth, skill development, and career goals
Partner with Talent Management and Recruiting on staffing needs and contribute to the evaluation of potential third-party production partners, working with new vendors to define and implement effective workflows
Set the cultural tone & reinforce positive behavior within your group
Work with studio leadership to define and continually refine and shape the team culture
Define the discipline’s ‘Lead Artist’ project role per project
Help project leads solve scope, workflow, etc. issues throughout the project as needed
Speak on behalf of the discipline in technology development discussions to ensure that new development aligns with the discipline’s strategy and workflow
Qualification
Required
Undergraduate or graduate degree in game development, digital art, computer graphics, game design, or related field or equivalent experience
Minimum of 10 years experience in game development as a Character Technical Artist (or equivalent) and a minimum of 3 shipped/released AAA titles as a Lead artist
Expertise in Maya rigging techniques and experience with being responsible for supporting animation workflows and developing character pipelines and tools on a AAA product
Experience leading and mentoring artists and helping them develop and grow their skills
Artistic eye with advanced understanding of the creation & integration of 3D art & animation
Advanced working knowledge of all the DCC standard software (Maya, 3Ds Max, ZBrush, Photoshop, Substance Tools) and end-to-end content creation pipeline
Excellent technical knowledge and familiarity with AAA game engines, particularly Unreal Engine
Experience in tools and pipeline engineering utilizing Python, PySide/PyQt, and Maya API/Mel scripting
Experience with source control via Perforce or equivalent
Collaborative, team-player attitude: open & receptive to new ideas, constructive criticism, artistic direction and changes
Experience leading artists to meet deadlines and mentoring artists to help them develop and grow their skills
Strategic and analytical thinker with exceptional execution and problem-solving capabilities
Excellent communication skills, especially with regards to illustrating technical processes
Experience in and passion for real-time graphics and content creation for emerging platforms (XR, etc.)
Portfolio that demonstrates professional tech art experience in the following areas: programming, tools and pipeline building, content management and optimization, character modeling, rigging, and animation
Preferred
Computer Science Degree or equivalent experience programming in C# or C++
People-management experience
Experience managing outsourced work
A portfolio / reel submission - including a detailed breakdown of your work in each section - is required with all applications
Benefits
A bonus and/or long-term incentive units may be provided as part of the compensation package
Full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits
Company
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company started as a cartoon studio and evolves into sports coverage and television shows.
10001+ employees
H1B Sponsorship
The Walt Disney Company has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (83)
2024 (63)
2023 (96)
2022 (130)
2021 (30)
2020 (40)
Funding
Current Stage
Public CompanyTotal Funding
$11BKey Investors
Citibank
2020-04-13Post Ipo Debt· $5B
2020-03-20Post Ipo Debt· $6B
1978-01-06IPO
Leadership Team
Robert Iger
CEO
Christine M. McCarthy
Senior Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
Recent News
2025-12-24
Company data provided by crunchbase