CD PROJEKT RED is looking for a Senior Gameplay Animator with a focus on locomotion to join our Boston hub and the team working on Cyberpunk 2, the next mainline Cyberpunk 2077 game.
Daily Responsibilities:
- Drive locomotion animation quality for player and NPC movement across gameplay states and contexts.
- Partner with the Animation Lead and key stakeholders to align animation quality, style, and execution with the project’s aesthetic goals, gameplay pillars, and overall player experience.
- Collaborate daily within a cross-disciplinary team to define gameplay experiential goals and deliver features from concept through final implementation.
- Create pre-visualizations and prototypes to assist in communication and development.
- Create high-quality finished animation using hand-keyed, procedurally generated animation, and motion capture techniques to achieve seamless, expressive, reactive movement.
- Implement and iterate within Unreal Engine to ensure locomotion animation feels responsive, readable, and polished in real-time gameplay.
- Research, explore and advocate new techniques, systems, and workflows to improve animation quality, efficiency, and support evolving gameplay and previsualization needs.
- Curate motion capture shot list and provide performance direction, preparing locomotion patterns and reference videos, and assisting on-stage as necessary.
- Provide clear feedback and animation insight during reviews and collaborations, helping raise quality.
- Provide mentorship, inspiration, and support to early-career animators through feedback, collaboration, and example.
Qualifications:
- 5+ years of professional experience in gameplay animation development with major contributions to player locomotion.
- Experience on a shipped title with extensive 3Cs mechanics.
- Professional experience developing animation for locomotion in Unreal Engine (or comparable engines), including Animation Blueprints, state machines, animation montages, blend spaces, motion matching, Control Rig, and runtime animation behaviors.
- Proficient in 3D animation skills using Maya, MotionBuilder, or equivalent DCC tools.
- Solid animation fundamentals, including weight, timing, posing, and clarity.
- Ability to author hand-keyed animation and motion capture into compelling performances, refining motion capture to support gameplay dynamics while maintaining the integrity of the source.
- Deep understanding of body mechanics and physics as they relate to believable character movement and locomotion.
- Ability to deliver work in accordance with the artistic direction of the project.
