Senior Character Animator

With League of Legends, one of the most played and critically acclaimed PC games today, Riot Games is a leading innovator in its mission to be the most player-focused game company in the world. At Riot you will work among the most gifted and passionate people in the industry as we hire only the most talented and collaborative people in their discipline. We believe the core reason for Riot's success is people and we are committed to helping employees grow their abilities and careers, as we all continually focus on improvement.  We are serious professionals who don't take ourselves too seriously. Named a Top 30 Developer by Game Developer Magazine, Riot Games is aggressively expanding, growing the company five-fold over the past two years, and still continuing the search for top talent.

This person will be a veteran game developer and have a thorough understanding of body mechanics and the classic animation principles. Additionally, they must be able to have a strong grasp of animation pipelines. The ideal candidate is both an outstanding animator and can work from high-level direction, possessing strong leadership skills, production-sensibilities, and the talent to produce and implement the highest quality work. One’s demo reel should highlight a variety of walk cycles, a diverse selection of game-related animation, as well as show a strong foundation in the principles of animation (weight, anticipation, impact).

Responsibilities:

  • Create high quality animations for over 90 diverse champions in the ever expanding LoL-universe, including bipeds, quadrupeds, and monsters
  • Help the team develop new features and technologies to expand our content pipeline
  • Collaborate with designers and artists to create animation assets that fulfill the requirements of the project’s game design and visual design
  • Be able to recognize areas of opportunity and help push other animators’ work up to AAA-title-standards
  • Perform in a team-oriented environment and use organizational and interpersonal skills on a daily basis
  • Consistently meet project deadlines in a timely manner without compromising artistic integrity

Requirements:

  • 4+ years of professional animation experience; focus on games a plus
  • Has worked on one or more AAA-titles
  • Exceptional skills regarding timing, exaggerated posing, and animation texture
  • Specialized in keyframe animation
  • Extensive knowledge of Maya (preferred) or any other 3D package
  • Self-motivated and strong team player
  • Knowledge of game specific animation limitations
  • Excellent communication, time-management and organizational skills are a must
  • Plays and enjoys League of Legends

Preferred:

  • Knowledge of modeling, rigging and MEL scripting
  • Understanding of interaction between game animation, game design and AI
  • Broad background animating different character types and/or creatures
  • Passion for video games
  • Reel showing off stylized animations (please leave out any mocap animations)
  • Knowledge of the video games industry
  • Acting experience/willingness to act out animation reference
  • Strong ability to prioritize effectively
  • Experience directing and/or giving feedback to other animators
  • Positive, team-oriented attitude

To apply, please send your resume, cover letter and demo reel/portfolio link with Senior Character Animator | Name  in the subject line to: art_recruiting@riotgames.com.