Principal Animator

Principal Animator, Electronic Arts, Inc., Chatsworth, CA. Innovate new animation systems and concepts to fulfill pre-vis objectives. Serve as principal point of contact for level design, encounter design, and the narrative department to find appropriate places for complex cinematic gameplay. Oversee writers, designers, and artists to conceive and animate previsualization for the experience by defining the overall pacing, camera language, staging, mood and interaction moments in an animated video. Collaborate with level, combat, and narrative designers to realize the experience in game. Push evolution in engine and tools/technologies that will simplify the cinematic integration process and increase efficiency across their group. Ensure stability by maintaining the cinematic experience throughout production. Implement the animation into the game engine so that the correct animations play at the correct times in game. Work with the cinematic director to ensure cohesion between interactive and non-interactive portions of the game. Provide feedback to animation team members regarding the quality and performance of their animations. Architect systems to mitigate bugs and issues before they are created. Provide suggestions for opportunities to increase the animation fidelity across the game. Telecommuting permitted. (PANI-S-103-LACA)

40 hrs/week, Mon-Fri, 8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Salary: $161,907 - $219,000/yr. 

EA offers benefits incl. PTO, medical/dental/vision insurance & 401(k) to eligible E’ees. Certain roles eligible for bonus & equity.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:

Bachelor’s degree (or foreign equivalent) in Game Development, Animation, Art, or in a related field and six (6) years of experience in an animation, artist or computer-related occupation.

In lieu of a Bachelor’s degree, employer will accept an additional two (2) years of experience in an animation, artist or computer-related occupation.

Qualifying experience must include six (6) years in each of the following skills:

-        Creating animation specifically for AAA video game development;

-        3D animation, including hand-keyed animation and motion capture;

-        Creating camera languages for interactive media;

-        Visualizing complex environmental interactions and communicating them to the viewer without audio;

-        Producing entire previsualization sequences combining the disparate needs of various departments;

-        Autodesk Maya software; and

-        Working with a game engine and moving assets between the game engine and 3D graphics application.

Qualifying experience must include two (2) years in at least two (2) of the following skills:

-        Working in film (non-interactive) storytelling and media;

-        Unreal Engine software; and

-   Teaching abstract camera language to team members from various disciplines. 

To apply, please send resumes to eajobs@ea.com. Must reference job code PANI-S-103-LACA to be considered.