Technical Artist - Animation/Rigging Pipeline

About Us

AEXLAB is a virtual reality technology studio. We create meaningful technologies that make people feel present and connected in virtual worlds for gaming, training, simulation and more. Our mission is to apply our technologies to further virtual reality as a first-class social experience.

In active development, we are building the ultimate VR first person shooter experience, VAIL VR. Our flagship title emphasizes tactical gunplay, high-caliber combat, and collaborative teamwork. Featuring social and matchmaking systems, players can find games for casual or competitive play. Forge lasting friendships and work together with your teammates to achieve victory.

The Role

AEXLAB currently has an opening for a talented Technical Artist - Animation/Rigging Pipeline. Character animation is a complex technical space that needs a deft hand to ensure that it does not become unmanageable. Your job is to make the complex intuitive, remove tedium with automation, and write tools to unlock new avenues for work efficiency. You will empower the animators to unleash their full creative potential by removing hurdles with creative and efficient technical solutions. You will work closely with the Technical Art team to grow and maintain a robust library of code and tools in order to create a world class development environment. You should be excited about changes in technology, and be brimming with ideas of how to integrate those into our animation pipeline. 

Responsibilities:

• Develop tools and underlying systems for guiding the content pipeline of animation assets from conception through implementation

  • Focus on designing systems with shared functionality and unified architecture

  • Support features like content validation, import/export tooling, and source control automation

• Accountable for making sure animation content flows successfully from source, to final implementation

• Be an active communicator and collaborator with all the stakeholders involved with animation

• Discover and investigate technologies and techniques for keeping our animation pipeline modern, relevant, and feature rich

• Investigate task needs with empathy and pragmatism

  • Able to critically evaluate tasks and mitigate or expand scope

• Responsible for ensuring that we maintain a robust animation review pipeline

• Write and maintain documentation for tools, procedures, and best practices in the animation space

• Be a willing and able mentor for both the consumers of your work and the peers working within your systems

• Maintain and grow our culture of collaboration, trust, and inclusiveness that is key to our studio

 Qualifications:

• Experience shipping projects with a focus on pipeline, tooling, and workflow enhancements in the animation space for modern real time applications

• Experience in rigging for real time engines

• Experience in Unreal Engine and an understanding of its workflows

• Excellent communication, interpersonal, and documentation skills

• A passion for promoting a positive team culture that champions new ideas, empowers coworkers to achieve their vision, while growing and maintaining a positive collaborative environment

• Ability to work well under pressure and with deadlines

• Creative problem solving skills that lead to innovative solutions on challenging technical problems

Bonus, but not required:

• Expert Knowledge of Unreal, areas of interest include but not limited to:

  • Authoring Tools

  • Blueprint

  • Control Rig

  • IK

  • Hair and Fur

  • Character Centric Materials

  • Physics Assets

  • Animation State Machines

  • C++

• C++ Experience

• Experience in simulation systems and tools in Maya

• Strong Foundation in 3d math

• Previous experience working with VR

• Passion for making and playing great games, with an awareness of current titles and industry trends

AEXLAB is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace that seeks to hire, develop and retain the most talented people from a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. If you are passionate about the future of gaming, VR, and community, we’d love for you to join us.