Senior Animator

<p>We are looking for an experienced, highly motivated and passionate <strong>Senior Animator</strong> who will create stunning visuals and shape the narrative of our games through their animations. She/He possesses a strong balance of creative and technical skills, with a generalist profile capable of moving fluidly between 2D and 3D animation, and additional expertise in animation pipeline development and rigging collaboration with other teams.</p> <p>Our team of Animators are responsible for bringing characters, objects and environments to life in gameplay and cinematics for several projects in the company, where they find opportunities to move among diverse animation styles and animation challenges — from stylized to realistic, from 3D character work to 2D skeletal animation in Spine. The primary responsibility is to create immersive game experiences to achieve the best player experience possible, aligned with the game's overall vision.</p> <p>This role is unique in scope: the Senior Animator will work both on established productions with mature pipelines and on new projects and prototypes, where they will partner closely with engineering to help define how the animation pipeline should be structured from the ground up. They collaborate effectively with art, design, audio and engineering teams to identify and implement the animation needs of each project, establish efficient riggings, and continuously improve our animation processes.</p> <h1> </h1> <h1><strong>What you'll do</strong></h1> <ul> <li>Craft: Develop animations across several projects and different styles — 3D and 2D, stylized and realistic — with a keen eye for quality while maintaining consistency across each project.</li> <li>Collaboration: Work directly with art directors, other animators and game engineers to set up animation for games, deliver both keyframed animation and 2D skeletal work in Spine, and be the point of contact ensuring delivery of the animation direction on each project — efficient, technically optimized, and fun to play and watch.</li> <li>Pipeline (Established Projects): Contribute to the refinement of existing animation pipelines, providing direct feedback and collaborating closely with Tech Art and Engineering teams to implement improvements in rigging, tooling and runtime systems.</li> <li>Pipeline (New Projects / Prototypes): Partner with engineering from day one to define how the animation pipeline will be structured, making early calls on rigging approach, tool choices, data formats and runtime integration that will shape the project's animation foundation.</li> <li>AI Exploration: Stay on top of advances in AI tooling for animation and content creation, continuously evaluating how AI can support asset production, accelerate iteration, and improve workflows and pipelines. Bring concrete proposals to the team and partner with Tech Art and Engineering to pilot what's promising.</li> <li>Problem Solving: As the first point of contact on animation matters, translate ideas and feelings into movement and delight the players, ensuring the animation in the game is of the highest quality and emotionally impactful. Aligned with the creative vision, your technical skills will guide and support rigging systems and tooling development with the Tech Art team.</li> <li>Adaptability: Move between projects, animation styles (2D and 3D), and tools, connecting teams and tooling to drive solutions to technical challenges.</li> </ul> <h1> </h1> <h1><strong>What you'll need</strong></h1> <ul> <li>Experience working as a Senior Animator in the games industry;</li> <li><strong>Strong foundation in traditional animation principles</strong> applied across both 2D and 3D;</li> <li>Master the fundamentals of animation to craft game motions that range from stylized to realistic;</li> <li>Experience with <strong>2D skeletal animation in Spine</strong> and Unity's native animation tools (Animator, Animation window, state machines);</li> <li>Experience with <strong>3D animation</strong> integrated into Unity;</li> <li>Technical knowledge about animation pipeline development and animation trees;</li> <li>Experience working with Unity;</li> <li>Understanding of the technical constraints of mobile games;</li> <li><strong>Strong awareness of current AI tooling</strong> for content creation and a genuine interest in applying it to animation production, workflows and pipelines;</li> <li>Intermediate oral and written communication skills in English;</li> <li>A resume and an online portfolio showcasing your work across both 2D and 3D animation.</li> </ul> <h1> </h1> <h1><strong>Nice to Have</strong></h1> <ul> <li>Experience with rigging, animation pipeline development and animation data;</li> <li>Experience contributing to pipeline definition on new projects or prototypes alongside engineering;</li> <li>Hands-on experience integrating AI tools into animation or art production workflows;</li> <li>Experience with asset implementation;</li> <li>Experience with performance optimization for mobile;</li> <li>A desire to grow into a leadership role.</li> </ul> <h1> </h1> <h1><strong>More about you</strong></h1> <ul> <li><strong>Craft: </strong>You have a strong foundation in traditional animation principles and apply them fluently across both 3D and 2D (Spine, Unity's native animation tools). You're a generalist at heart — comfortable jumping between styles, dimensions, and tools — with a solid technical mind that understands the importance of a well-established animation pipeline and an optimal rigging setup.</li> <li><strong>Pipeline Builder: </strong>You're equally comfortable executing within a structured pipeline and helping shape one from scratch. On new projects and prototypes, you partner with engineering to define how the animation pipeline should work — from rigging conventions to runtime integration.</li> <li><strong>AI-Forward: </strong>You stay deeply up to date with the latest AI advances and are constantly exploring how AI can accelerate asset production and improve animation processes, workflows and pipelines. You see AI as a creative and technical multiplier and actively bring those opportunities into the team.</li> <li><strong>Documentation: </strong>You are good at structuring and organizing content, documenting everything and making it accessible for everyone. You are a great communicator of changes, tools and processes.</li> <li><strong>Team Player: </strong>You are a self-motivated team player who proactively seeks feedback and shares knowledge. You're good at interacting with a wide range of people from very distinct backgrounds and specialties.</li> <li><strong>Pipeline Awareness: </strong>You stay on top of the latest tools and techniques to help shape our animation pipelines.</li> </ul> <h1> </h1> <h1><strong>About Wildlife</strong></h1> <p>Wildlife is one of the leading mobile game developers and publishers in the world. We have released more than 60 titles, reaching billions of people around the globe. Today, we have offices in Brazil and the United States. Here, we create games that will excite, intrigue, and engage our players for years to come!</p> <h1> </h1> <h1><strong>Equal Opportunity</strong></h1> <p>Wildlife is proud to be an Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, colour, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, protected veteran status, disability, age, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state, and local law.</p> <p>We're committed to providing accommodations for candidates with disabilities in our recruiting process. </p>