Senior Animation Programmer

ARCANAUT STUDIOS

Senior Animation Programmer

FULL-TIME | BC OR ALBERTA

(REMOTE FRIENDLY)

OUR ARC

Arcanaut Studios isa team of seasoned developers founded on the axiom that creative freedom and independence lead to better, more innovative games. We believe in the power of small, agile teams. We are decision makers with consistent collaboration across disciplines that drive the project vision and create a seamless player experience.

Arcanaut Studios is a Canadian company with offices in Edmonton, AB and Kelowna, BC. We offer a flexible work environment combining from-home, in-office, and remote work as well as competitive industry compensation and benefits. By joining us, you will be welcomed into a diverse team of talented developers creating an immersive universe of story, character, and discovery.

YOUR ARC

As a Senior Animation Programmer you will design, extend, and optimize the low level runtime systems, toolchains, and procedural technologies that power hyper-realistic character movement, combat mechanics and fluid physics in a AAA sci-fi action RPG title. You will be the technical anchor for our character systems pushing the boundaries of Unreal Engine 5’s animation framework and work closely with technical animators, gameplay and cinematics to deliver industry leading character visuals and performance.

Responsibilities

• Architect, extend, and optimize custom runtime animation systems by deeply overriding and extending UE5’s native framework.
• Research, implement, and fine-tune advanced animation techniques in UE5 including motion matching, Pose Search Databases, and machine learning driven locomotion.
• Author and maintain advanced runtime procedural systems.
• Ensure all gameplay animation systems and state machines function flawlessly in a high-performance environment.
• Optimization of animation graph logic to ensure thread safe animation blueprints.
• Provide appropriate variables to the tech animation team so there is connective tissue between animation systems.
• Assist in the investigation and debugging efforts for locomotion and anim system related bugs.
• Profile and optimize animation performance using Unreal Insights and low-level C++ profiling tools, focusing on multi-threading, worker thread utilization and memory optimization.
• Collaborate with Technical Animators to bridge the gap between DCC tools and UE5, ensuring a seamless, automated skeletal mesh and asset ingest pipeline.
• Conduct C++ code reviews, establish architectural best practices with in UE5, and mentor tech animation.

Qualifications and Experience

• 5+ years of professional game development experience with a proven track record of shipping or supporting a AAA title using UE, preferably an RPG.
• C++ Mastery within the UE ecosystem.
• Exceptional understanding of 3D math, including linear algebra, quaternions, matrices, transforms and spatial operations.
• UE5 Toolset hands on experience with using and extending features like Live Link, Sequencer, and standard Blendspaces/AnimMontages.
• Strong interpersonal skills to effectively collaborate across other departments including design and gameplay for behavior and performance.

BENEFITS

• We offer a rewards package to help you live your best life while doing your best work, including medical and dental coverage, retirement savings contributions and a Flex Benefit program that has a wide array of coverage to best fit your personal situation.
• We offer 3 weeks of vacation per year in addition to summer and winter studio breaks that are each two weeks long.
• The hiring range for this position is $140,000 - $200,000 – in addition to a bi-yearly performance-based bonus. The base pay may vary depending on the candidate’s region, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.

To apply, please include your CV with a link to your demo reel if applicable.