Senior Technical Artist, Animation - Unannounced Game | Irvine, CA or Albany, NY

Team Name:

Job Title:Senior Technical Artist, Animation - Unannounced Game | Irvine, CA or Albany, NY

Requisition ID:R025232

Job Description:

Your mission

At Blizzard, we craft genre-defining games and legendary worlds for all to share. Through unparalleled creativity and storytelling, we create immersive universes and iconic characters that are beloved across platforms, borders, backgrounds, and generations -- only made possible by building a work environment that cultivates the artistry of game development and unleashes the aspirations of our people.

We are looking for a Senior Technical Artist focused on animation to help craft a new, unannounced game for Blizzard. As an essential part of the development team, you will work at the intersection of art and technology—helping develop, integrate, and support the systems and pipelines that bring character performances to life. This role demands deep understanding of in-game animation workflows, strong technical expertise, and the ability to work closely with animators, designers, and engineers to create smooth, responsive, and high-quality animation systems.

This role is anticipated to be a hybrid work position, with some work on-site and some work from home. The potential home studio for this role is Irvine, CA or Albany, NY.

Responsibilities

Priorities can often change in a fast-paced environment like ours, so this role includes, but is not limited to, the following responsibilities:

• Collaborate closely with the animation, design, and engineering teams to analyze, troubleshoot, and resolve in-game animation implementation issues and animation-related technical challenges, especially in Unreal Engine.

• Collaborate closely with animators, modelers, and technical artists to set standards and enhance rigging tools and animation workflows, with a focus on integration into Unreal’s animation system.

• Optimize and refine content creation pipelines, identifying and addressing workflow bottlenecks to enhance efficiency for both yourself and the broader art team.

• Support the integration of animation assets into game engines, working with systems like Unreal Engine’s Animation Blueprints, State Machines, Control Rig, IK solvers, and Live Link.

• Build, test, and maintain rigs, including skinning for characters, weapons, and vehicles.

• Develop and maintain Python/MEL scripts to streamline animation workflows and improve pipeline efficiency.

• Contribute to the ongoing evolution of internal technologies and animation workflows in partnership with engineering and technical art leadership.
   

Minimum Requirements

Experience

• 5+ years of experience in the game industry as a technical artist (rigging/animation), technical animator, or similar role.

• Expertise in Unreal Engine, including a strong understanding of Animation Blueprints, State Machines, Control Rig, Sequencer, and real-time animation workflows.

• Deep understanding of character pipelines and game animation systems.

• Experience developing custom rigging and animation tools.

• Strong scripting skills in languages such as Python or MEL; knowledge of C++ or C# is a plus.

• Familiarity with motion capture pipelines and data processing.

Key Attributes

• A team-oriented approach to your work, understanding the importance of collaboration and partnering with all departments.

• The ability to solve complex problems proactively and with technical precision.

• Self-driven work ethic with a focus on quality, performance, and innovation.
    

Extra Points

• Experience working through early development and R&D phases of a project.

• Solid understanding of game development beyond technical art (e.g., lighting, VFX, animation, audio, rendering, systems).

• Advanced experience with Unreal Engine, including Blueprint scripting, physics-based animation setups, and Control Rig authoring.

• Experience with motion capture pipelines.

• A passion for video games and a deep understanding of game animation and interactivity.

• A strong demo reel and online portfolio demonstrating experience supporting game animation systems and pipelines, rigging, motion controls, and facial animation in characters and creatures.

Your Platform

Best known for iconic video game universes including Warcraft®, Overwatch®, Diablo®, and StarCraft®, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (www.blizzard.com), a division of Activision Blizzard, which was acquired by Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment experiences. Blizzard Entertainment has created some of the industry’s most critically acclaimed and genre-defining games over the last 30 years, with a track record that includes multiple Game of the Year awards. Blizzard Entertainment engages tens of millions of players around the world with titles available on PC via Battle.net®, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android.

Our World

Activision Blizzard, Inc., is one of the world's largest and most successful interactive entertainment companies and is at the intersection of media, technology and entertainment. We are home to some of the most beloved entertainment franchises including Call of Duty®, World of Warcraft®, Overwatch®, Diablo®, Candy Crush™ and Bubble Witch™. Our combined entertainment network delights hundreds of millions of monthly active users in 196 countries, making us the largest gaming network on the planet!

Our ability to build immersive and innovate worlds is only enhanced by diverse teams working in an inclusive environment.  We aspire to have a culture where everyone can thrive in order to connect and engage the world through epic entertainment. We provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well-being for ‘Every World’ - we’ve got our employees covered!

The videogame industry and therefore our business is fast-paced and will continue to evolve. As such, the duties and responsibilities of this role may be changed as directed by the Company at any time to promote and support our business and relationships with industry partners.

We love hearing from anyone who is enthusiastic about changing the games industry. Not sure you meet all qualifications? Let us decide! Research shows that women and members of other under-represented groups tend to not apply to jobs when they think they may not meet every qualification, when, in fact, they often do! We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment and strongly encourage you to apply.

We are committed to working with and providing reasonable assistance to individuals with physical and mental disabilities. If you are a disabled individual requiring an accommodation to apply for an open position, please email your request to [email protected]. General employment questions cannot be accepted or processed here. Thank you for your interest.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status, among other characteristics.

Rewards

We provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well-being for ‘Every World’ - we’ve got our employees covered!  Subject to eligibility requirements, the Company offers comprehensive benefits including:

• Medical, dental, vision, health savings account or health reimbursement account, healthcare spending accounts, dependent care spending accounts, life and AD&D insurance, disability insurance;
• 401(k) with Company match, tuition reimbursement, charitable donation matching;
• Paid holidays and vacation, paid sick time, floating holidays, compassion and bereavement leaves, parental leave;
• Mental health & wellbeing programs, fitness programs, free and discounted games, and a variety of other voluntary benefit programs like supplemental life & disability, legal service, ID protection, rental insurance, and others;
• If the Company requires that you move geographic locations for the job, then you may also be eligible for relocation assistance.

Eligibility to participate in these benefits may vary for part time and temporary full-time employees and interns with the Company.  You can learn more by visiting https://www.benefitsforeveryworld.com/.

In the U.S., the standard base pay range for this role is $80,800.00 - $149,400.00 Annual. These values reflect the expected base pay range of new hires across all U.S. locations. Ultimately, your specific range and offer will be based on several factors, including relevant experience, performance, and work location. Your Talent Professional can share this role’s range details for your local geography during the hiring process. In addition to a competitive base pay, employees in this role may be eligible for incentive compensation. Incentive compensation is not guaranteed. While we strive to provide competitive offers to successful candidates, new hire compensation is negotiable.