Stonekite
Overview Stone Kite is a world building studio that thoughtfully develops heroic universes across games, film, TV, comics, audio, and more. Built by veterans from game and entertainment studios such as Marvel, Disney, Pixar, Bungie, and Riot, our team leverages expertise and passion to build worlds that matter.
We’re looking for a Technical Animator to take ownership of our Unreal Engine 5 gameplay animation systems. This foundational role will help bring our flagship world to life, by meticulously building, debugging, and polishing the pipelines that make characters responsive and alive in play. This includes designing state machines, implementing procedural features like IK and physics-driven reactions, sourcing and prototyping new animation content, and refining skinning and rigging workflows. You’ll also establish best practices, standards, and tooling to ensure the pipeline is clear, reliable, and scalable as the project and studio grows.
This is a high-impact role at the intersection of art, design, and engineering, combining technical precision with creative initiative. Success will require clear communication, adaptability, curiosity, and the confidence to guide animation decisions that carry through the full production pipeline.
This role is a remote based position.
What You’ll Do: Build, maintain, debug, and polish gameplay animation systems, including character animation blueprints
Source and prototype animation content by creating new assets or adapting existing ones
Implement procedural systems such as physics-driven reactions, inverse kinematics, and runtime adjustments
Establish, document, and evangelize best practices, content standards, and tooling for the gameplay animation pipeline
Collaborate with artists and engineers to implement and maintain a mesh skinning pipeline prototype in Blender
Contribute to brainstorming, playtests, and feedback sessions to ensure animation elevates the moment-to-moment player experience
What You’ll Bring: 4+ years experience in animation, art, or tech art in games, with at least one shipped title is required
2+ years experience with Unreal Engine is required
Proven experience in Unreal’s animation systems and features (including animation blueprints, IK, retargeting, and control rig)
Solid understanding of end-to-end game animation pipelines, from content creation to runtime integration
Proficiency in skinning meshes, creating rigs, and building animations in Blender (preferred) or Maya
Ability to establish workflows and standards, balancing technical precision with creative needs
Effective communication and collaboration skills, with the initiative to drive solutions independently
Strong collaboration skills and ability to work both autonomously and in a small creative group
Excellent communication and feedback skills with a passion for quality and excellence
Ability to adapt and problem solve in a fast-paced startup environment
What You’ll Get: Competitive medical, vision, and dental benefits
Generous PTO
Winter holiday break
401k Options
Monthly meals stipend
Opportunities for learning and development across multiple areas of media and forms of storytelling
Be a part of a fun, innovative team
Experience the ground-floor start up culture
The expected salary range for this position is $135,000 - $185,000 annually. The compensation package will also include a range of generous medical, dental, vision and other perks & benefits. Compensation decisions are determined using a variety of job-related factors such as skill set, geographic location, market demands, experience, and education / certifications. If we extend an offer for employment, we will consider all individual qualifications.
Stone Kite provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.
Apply for this job through our official application process. This includes submitting your resume and any required information via the dedicated portal used by Stone Kite.
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