Jar of Sparks | Principal Technical Character Artist (Rigging)

Jar of Sparks is a new first party game development studio as a part of NetEase games. Founded by award-winning game developers. We have a clear goal to make games that we love and create the next generation of narrative driven action games. We are building a team first studio to bring back the fun in world class game development.

Principal Technical Character Artist

Who We Are

Jar of Sparks is a new first party studio with NetEase Games. Founded by veterans of the Halo and Grand Theft Auto franchises, Jar of Sparks aims to capture the creative spark that comes from small, passionate teams working closely together to create amazing gameplay experiences.

While we are headquartered in Redmond, Washington, we support full remote and hybrid development roles. We want the most talented teammates wherever they call home. We believe a diverse team with varied perspectives makes us a better studio and will help us make even better games.

If you believe you can bring a new spark to our studio and expand our point of view, we would love to hear from you.

About The Job

As a Principal Technical Character Artist (Rigging) at Jar of Sparks you will leverage your technical and creative expertise to build and support world class rigging and animation technology. You will be the tip of the spear researching new techniques to push the boundaries of what is possible in an Unreal 5 driven character animation pipeline. This candidate is expected to work with the Technical Art Director to understand emerging trends and technologies in video game content and make strategic recommendations as to how they may benefit and/or impact our organization.

Responsibilities

• You will contribute to the design, implementation and maintenance of the animation and rigging pipeline.
• Work closely with engineers to assess existing NetEase Python based animation and rigging tools and help research and implement new systems to support Unreal pipelines such as Control Rig, and MetaHuman Animator.
• Support animators, game designers, and riggers with their technical needs, and informatively and constructively explain the root causes of risks, blockers, etc.
• Set the standard and help to author the highest quality characters and enemy rigs, facial animation systems, and animation pipelines.
• Works to set the Python coding standards for the studio and be the thought leader when it comes to using Python in the future for new tools and pipelines.
• Sets up technical animation / simulation setups for things such as hair and cloth for real-time in-engine or for animation within Maya and/or Unreal.
• Guide and train team members on tools and techniques and bring expert level knowledge for best practices for rigging, animation blending, and animation state machine authoring.
• Participate in recruitment to build the animation and rigging team & foster their professional development.

Requirements

• Extensive game industry experience, specifically in a character technical artist role.
• Strong Unreal 5 foundation; integration and optimization of character/creature content, UE control rigs, chaos cloth, blueprints and MetaHuman pipelines.
• Solid experience with creating and supporting high end character rigs in Maya
• Extensive experience in a principal or leadership technical art role.
• Expert working relationship in Python and/or C++ – specifically as it applies to programming in Maya and Unreal.
• Enthusiastic about animation pipelines and takes initiative to succeed.
• Excellent communication, documentation, and organizational skills.
• Able and motivated to work with team leaders in other disciplines.

Nice To Have

• Experience with motion capture data and processing a plus.
• Experience with the following software; FaceFX, Faceware, MotionBuilder, Houdini, ZBrush.
• Current experience working with Unreal 5 cinematic pipelines.

About NetEase Games

NetEase Games is one of the largest game developers worldwide by size and revenue. Over the years, NetEase Games has been focusing on developing high quality content and providing the best experience for gamers all around the world. So far, the company has more than 100 games in operation. Its recent games include Naraka: Bladepoint, Knives Out, Onmyoji, Identity V, Harry Potter: Magic Awakened, etc.

Along with its many creative partnerships, NetEase is expanding its portfolio of studios, including Bad Brain Game Studios, Jackalyptic Games, Jar of Sparks, and Quantic Dream.

We are an equal opportunity employer that embraces diversity, equity and inclusion. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, genetic information, religion, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, marital status, family status, veteran status, or any other protected status as required as by law.

We are an equal opportunity employer that embraces diversity, equity and inclusion. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, genetic information, religion, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, marital status, family status, veteran status, or any other protected status as required as by law.