Technical Animator

3 months ago

Leamington Spa United Kingdom Third Kind Games Full time

As a Technical Animator you will work on all areas of game animation across our new projects, working as the bridge between the animators and programmers to inspire animation that sets new benchmarks.

Third Kind Games is one of the largest independently owned game development studios in the UK, based in Royal Leamington Spa. We also have remote studios in Poland and Spain. Our three studios have been built on the same original spirit and values since our beginning.

Founded in 2016 by nine leaders in the industry, with extensive experience in the development of critically acclaimed titles such as Guitar Hero Live and DiRT, we've been growing ever since. Today we work with some of the biggest names in the games industry such as Blizzard, Amazon, Microsoft and Mythical Games.

Alongside several new high-profile, unannounced projects, our team is also working on our own IP, so TKG is an incredibly exciting place to be right now. We are also setting new benchmarks for creativity in the games industry, driving technical expertise in programming alongside creative innovation.

What is it like to be a Third Kinder?

We are a diverse team of people. We are collaborative, open-minded creatives who embrace ideas and knowledge from everyone in our team, with the aim of developing and inspiring ourselves, our projects and our games.

Work life balance and flexibility are very important to us and our team. At TKG we offer a place where our team can be their most creative, imaginative and confident selves. We want all of our team to feel valued, appreciated, and free to be who they are at work. TKG recently received a GOLD Award in Mind Charity's Workplace Wellbeing Index, recognising our dedication to our team's mental health and wellbeing.

Role Overview

You enjoy:

  • Working with our team on the technical animation of an innovative variety of characters and props.
  • Creating, maintaining, testing, and debugging animation tools and pipelines.
  • Liaising closely with colleagues and customers to develop and deliver the desired visual targets for the game.
  • Strong artistic skills combined with a problem solving attitude.

What we are looking for from a Third Kinder

You would:
  • Demonstrate good mechanics and the fundamentals of animation, this is also evidenced in your portfolio.
  • Build creative gameplay animation systems and be the go to person for all technical animation questions.
  • Be proficient in key frame and motion capture workflows.
  • Have knowledge of the implementation of core game systems and mechanics.
  • Prefer a creative, open-thinking environment rather than being guided by specs and detailed requirements.
  • Be naturally inquisitive and keep up to date with emerging technologies and industry trends and developments.
  • Share knowledge and recommend best practices across the team and business.
  • Be highly adaptable and a great problem solver.
  • Work in a "full stack" manner, seeing your animations through from DCC to implementation in-engine with responsibility for end-to-end quality.
  • Assist with or own in-engine setup of animation blueprints/state machines/procedural layers/etc.
  • Liaise with programmers to ensure the animation/programming requirements are well specified and implemented from both sides.

Skills you need
  • 2+ years' industry experience working in gaming environments.
  • Experience with 3D software such as Maya, 3DS Max and Motionbuilder.
  • Experience using game engines including Unity or Unreal.
  • Experience setting up state machines, animation layers, and other fundamentals of character animation in Unreal or Unity
  • Understanding of fundamental animation and rigging principles.
  • Good communication skills and an eye for detail.

Skills it would be great to have

Experience with:
  • Programming skills in C# or C++


If you think this is the role for you please send us your CV and an introductory email, which helps us to get to know you better. We aim to respond to your application within 2 working days.

Usually we will conduct a telephone interview, prior to any face to face or virtual interviews.

If you experience an error submitting your application, please email us at recruitment@thirdkindgames.com.

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