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Kinetic Games is a new video game development studio based in Southampton. We are a passionate team of developers using Unity to improve and expand the horror experience of Phasmophobia, available on Steam, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
About the Role:
We are seeking an experienced Senior Technical Animator to join our team. You will be responsible for bringing characters, creatures, and environment elements to life with high-quality, efficient animation systems. Collaborating with artists, designers, and programmers, you will develop rigs, create fluid animation workflows, and implement animations within Unity. Your expertise will ensure animations are visually appealing, responsive, and performant across platforms.
Responsibilities:
* Design, create, and maintain complex rigs for characters, creatures, cameras, and objects that are efficient, flexible, and user-friendly.
* Implement and maintain animation systems and state machines within Unity to ensure smooth in-game animations.
* Develop tools to optimize animation pipelines and workflows.
* Collaborate with artists and programmers to troubleshoot rigging, skinning, and implementation issues.
* Work with the programming team to improve animation pipeline and runtime systems.
* Optimize animations for performance on PC, VR, PSVR2, and consoles.
* Ensure animations meet standards for responsiveness and visual fidelity.
Requirements:
* Experience as a Technical Animator or similar role on at least one shipped Unity project.
* Proficiency with rigging, skinning, and creating animation control systems in 3D software (e.g., Blender, Maya).
* Experience implementing animation systems in Unity, including Animator Controllers, State Machines, and Blend Trees.
* Proficiency in C# and tool development.
* Understanding of real-time animation principles, constraints, IK systems, and retargeting.
* Strong problem-solving skills balancing visual quality and performance.
* Excellent communication and collaboration skills.
* Ability to work independently in a fast-paced environment.
* Passion for horror games and familiarity with Phasmophobia.
* Eligibility to work in the UK.
Nice to Have:
* Experience with VR animation challenges, especially hand and body tracking.
* Knowledge of motion matching, procedural, or physics-based animation systems.
* Experience with Unity DOTS or animation optimization techniques.
* Familiarity with facial animation and lip-sync pipelines.
* Experience with version control systems like Git, Perforce, and Plastic.
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