Senior Technical Animator (12-month Maternity Cover)

Based at our well-established studio in the heart of Sussex in the UK, you will be working as a key member of the team on our upcoming Total War titles. In this role, you will be able to make a real impact on our games. You will bring your knowledge and experience to help push the boundaries of the strategy genre by collaborating with the wider development team - striving to make our titles better than ever before. 
This opportunity is for a Senior Technical Animator to provide maternity cover over a 12 month period. This will include working on multiple titles in the Total War series as part of a technical animation team.  Key Responsibilities
The role involves working proactively with the animation and character art departments to provide support and implement content into the game. Technical Animation on Total War involves a broad skill set and a strong understanding of game asset pipelines.  
On a day-to-day basis, you will: 

Rigging / Skinning:

• Expand and improve an existing in-house rigging system.
• Build rigs using existing in-house rigging system effectively and efficiently.
• Skin characters to existing skeletons quickly and effectively. 

Engine:

• Set up animation assets and characters in our proprietary game engine. 
• Build and maintain animation graphs for a variety of assets. 

Tools:

• Maintain and improve an existing animation tool base.
• Develop pipeline and workflow tools to improve workflows.

Additional:

• Support animation users with expert technical assistance in both Maya and game engine.
• Communicate and interpret between teams of varying disciplines (programmers, designers, artists, animators, etc)
• Collaborate with other TA’s across multiple projects. 

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

Essential 
•    Previously shipped AAA titles in an equivalent role. 
•    Experience creating and managing animation pipelines. 
•    Expert in Autodesk Maya rigging and animation tools. 
•    Working experience of Animation Graphs. 
•    Experience with game engines (Unreal, Unity, etc). 
•    Extensive experience designing and maintaining tools in a production environment. 
•    Experience writing tools in Python.
•    Experience with automated rigging solutions. 
•    Excellent problem solving and communication skills. 
•    Passion for development and problem solving. 
Desirable 
•    Strong understanding of 3D math (linear algebra, vector and matrix math). 
•    Working experience with version control software. 
•    Experience with face rigging. 
•    Experience with C++ 
•    Experience with Motion capture pipelines. About Creative Assembly
Creative Assembly crafts deep and detailed games that last, entertaining millions of players across the globe for decades.
 
We are all game makers and we care deeply about the experiences we create. We empower our teams to make significant contributions to our games, supported by skills development and growth opportunities.
 
We are located in Horsham, UK in Newcastle, UK and Sofia, Bulgaria.

We offer many benefits to support you and your family including:

• Work from Anywhere for a temporary period each year (restrictions apply such as VISAs)
• Enhanced holiday allowance, maternity and paternity breaks, flexibility with our core hours, and no-notice holidays
• Bespoke relocation package for you and your dependents
• Private medical and dental insurance, life insurance, permanent health insurance, critical illness cover and free health care screening
• Generous holiday allowance plus full studio closure over the Christmas and New Year period, and all Bank holidays
• Join our Diversity and Inclusion Network – an employee-led group
• Season ticket travel loans and cycle to work scheme with free bike servicing and discounted car valet service on site
• Wellbeing support and virtual confidential counselling
• Community activities including parties, football and more.

Our studio sites have disabled access.
 
We are an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates regardless of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, religion or belief.
 
Note to Recruitment Agencies: SEGA Europe Limited and our studios do not accept unsolicited candidate introductions from unauthorised third parties. For the avoidance of doubt, SEGA Europe is not liable for any fees, compensation or any other costs associated with the introduction of a candidate or recruitment services unless and until an agreement has been duly executed. Further details can be found here.