Nightdive Studios · 17 hours ago
Lead Animator (Contract)
United States
Contract
Remote
Lead/StaffNight Dive Studios is staffing up their development team for a brand new sci-fi remake project using Unreal Engine 5. They are seeking a Lead Animator responsible for defining animation direction, managing a small animation group, and ensuring the integration of features across disciplines to fulfill the project's vision.
Digital EntertainmentGamingPC GamesVideo Games
Responsibilities
Own the animation vision and direction for the project, ensuring consistency of animation style, weight, and responsiveness across all characters
Define animation principles, style guides, and quality benchmarks for player characters, enemies, and interactive elements
Lead the implementation of animation systems in-engine, including state machines, blend trees, animation graphs, IK, root motion, and procedural techniques
Make final creative decisions related to animation, balancing expressive motion with gameplay clarity and technical constraints
Review animation work from team members, providing clear, actionable feedback
Create high quality, player-critical animations for locomotion, combat, traversal, and interaction, in both first-person and third-person as applicable
Collaborate with artists to storyboard all cutscenes and cinematic sequences and animate the necessary characters to effectively convey critical story beats
Work closely with Design to ensure animation supports gameplay intent, timing, and player feedback
Partner closely with Engineering and Technical Design to develop scalable, maintainable animation systems and troubleshoot animation-related issues such as blending artifacts, deformation problems, timing issues, and performance concerns
Manage and mentor an Animator and Technical Animator, providing guidance, feedback, and growth opportunities
Coordinate animation priorities with Production, ensuring work is scoped, scheduled, and aligned with project milestones
Serve as the primary animation contact for Design, Engineering, Art, and QA
Be highly collaborative with other team members and willing to provide timely and constructive criticism to submissions from colleagues
Respond well to feedback and constructive criticism to their submissions and workflows and be willing to quickly iterate on assets and systems
Be self-motivated and highly adaptable to new workflows and processes while willing to learn new skills and insert into gaps within the team structure. We are looking for that 'Indie dev' mindset
Qualification
Required
Own the animation vision and direction for the project, ensuring consistency of animation style, weight, and responsiveness across all characters
Define animation principles, style guides, and quality benchmarks for player characters, enemies, and interactive elements
Lead the implementation of animation systems in-engine, including state machines, blend trees, animation graphs, IK, root motion, and procedural techniques
Make final creative decisions related to animation, balancing expressive motion with gameplay clarity and technical constraints
Review animation work from team members, providing clear, actionable feedback
Create high quality, player-critical animations for locomotion, combat, traversal, and interaction, in both first-person and third-person as applicable
Collaborate with artists to storyboard all cutscenes and cinematic sequences and animate the necessary characters to effectively convey critical story beats
Work closely with Design to ensure animation supports gameplay intent, timing, and player feedback
Partner closely with Engineering and Technical Design to develop scalable, maintainable animation systems and troubleshoot animation-related issues such as blending artifacts, deformation problems, timing issues, and performance concerns
Manage and mentor an Animator and Technical Animator, providing guidance, feedback, and growth opportunities
Coordinate animation priorities with Production, ensuring work is scoped, scheduled, and aligned with project milestones
Serve as the primary animation contact for Design, Engineering, Art, and QA
Be highly collaborative with other team members and willing to provide timely and constructive criticism to submissions from colleagues
Respond well to feedback and constructive criticism to their submissions and workflows and be willing to quickly iterate on assets and systems
Be self-motivated and highly adaptable to new workflows and processes while willing to learn new skills and insert into gaps within the team structure. We are looking for that 'Indie dev' mindset
Preferred
Ego-free, highly motivated, action-oriented, curious learn-it-all with a growth mindset
Comfort operating in ambiguous and unregimented environments
Expert-level experience animating in Maya or Blender for games, with a strong grasp of character movement, timing, weight, and expressiveness
Deep understanding of technical animation systems, including state machines, blend trees, IK, animation layers, rigging fundamentals, skinning and deformation, and runtime constraints
Proven experience implementing and debugging animation systems in a game engine (Unreal, Unity, proprietary)
Strong leadership and communication skills, with experience mentoring or leading other animators
Ability to balance creative ambition with technical feasibility and performance needs
Experience with first-person animation or immersive sim–style player movement
Shipped at least one AA+ title
Likes Sci-Fi and Horror media
Company
Nightdive Studios
Nightdive Studios is a classic game publisher that develops original games and performs restorations and enhancements of sunsetted games.
Founded in 2012
11-50 employees
Funding
Current Stage
Early StageTotal Funding
$1M2023-03-23Acquired
2019-07-22Series Unknown· $1M
Leadership Team
Stephen Kick
Founder and CEO
Alix Kick
CFO
Recent News
2025-12-16
2025-12-09
2025-10-24
Company data provided by crunchbase