Lead Animator – Contract

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November 5

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Side

WebsiteLinkedInAll Job Openings

eCommerce • Marketplace • Retail

Side is

1 - 10 employees

Founded 2019

🛍️ eCommerce

🏪 Marketplace

🛒 Retail

📋 Description

• Drive the animation quality, direction, and workflows across a range of high-end game projects. • Lead a team of animators delivering fluid, expressive, and technically sound character, creature, and gameplay animations. • Lead key co-development (co-dev) projects and help establish scalable animation pipelines, documentation, and quality standards. • Collaborate with Design, Tech Art, Rigging, and Engineering to integrate animation smoothly into gameplay and narrative systems. • Review internal and outsourced animation work, providing clear, constructive feedback to maintain AAA quality benchmarks. • Troubleshoot animation, rigging, and implementation issues, and partner with Tech Art to drive continuous pipeline improvements. • Mentor and guide a team of animators, supporting their development and onboarding. • Partner with production to accurately scope animation deliverables, identify dependencies, and mitigate risks. • Maintain project documentation, style guides, and communication with client-side animation leads or directors. • Attend internal and external meetings, occasionally outside standard business hours, as needed to support project and business goals.

🎯 Requirements

• 5+ years of professional animation experience in game development, with at least 2 years in a lead or senior role. • Proven experience delivering AAA-quality gameplay and cinematic animation. • Advanced proficiency in Maya or MotionBuilder, with a strong grasp of animation principles, body mechanics, timing, and weight. • Hands-on experience with Unreal Engine (4/5) and/or Unity, including animation blueprints, state machines, and real-time implementation. • Experience with both keyframe and mocap cleanup and retargeting workflows. • Strong collaboration skills working with Tech Art, Rigging, and Design teams. • Excellent communication and leadership skills in English, with experience mentoring and directing distributed teams. • Prior experience with outsourcing or co-development projects preferred.

🏖️ Benefits

• This role is contract to start with the potential to convert to full time with benefits. • Side is a global video game development and services provider, offering technical and creative solutions to many of the largest developers and studios around the world. • Founded in Japan in 1994, Side has grown to become a global force in the video game industry, with over 40 studios in 15 countries worldwide and offices across North America, Europe, South America, and Asia. • Our industry-leading services include codev, art production, localization, audio production, quality assurance, localization QA, player support, community management, and datasets. • Help us bring stories to the world. Join Side's global team of passionate gamers and contribute to top-notch game development. Discover opportunities in Asia, North America, South America, Europe, and beyond. • Experience our side of life! For more information, visit www.side.inc