SENIOR CHARACTER RIGGER

Giant Squid is looking for a Senior Character Rigger who can create complex Maya character rigs and implement advanced Maya UI tooling for our unannounced next project. This is a fully remote position and does not require relocation.

Your biggest responsibility will be to support our animators and 3D artists by creating character rigs and custom tools in Maya. We have an advanced python-based Maya pipeline/toolset in place that handles everything our animators and 3D artists need, and we will ask you to maintain this deep codebase, improve it, debug it, and work within its design. Some examples of its functionality and the kinds of things you will work on are auto rigging tools for common limb setups, FBX animation export with options for multi-character scenes and cameras, advanced model export with a convex hull generation tool, vertex color, normal, and AO baking tools, advanced UV operations, custom per-character animation UIs, tools for attaching prop rigs to character rigs with specialized export, and many more.

Giant Squid is a small studio, and you will be working on everything from main characters to props and special skeletal meshes for effects. You will be working directly with our animator, creative director and gameplay programmers to improve rig controls and add functionality. We will also ask you to dive into UE5 to bring our characters to life with things like real-time cloth simulations and other engine- side rigging related tasks.

Beyond character and Maya tools related tasks, there will be ample opportunity for you to explore other aspects of technical art development that may interest you, such as puzzle design, graphical effects with materials and particles, fluid simulations, etc.

We are looking for a team player who shares our excitement for learning, researching new techniques, wearing multiple hats and stepping outside of regular workflows to innovate and make things happen. You will be working closely with game designers, programmers, and artists to create all manner of characters and effects. Our ideal candidate is an empathetic listener who will strive to make the development processes that our team members employ efficient and sane. We are looking for someone with an innate passion for improving existing workflows and investigating and inventing new ones. A collaborative mindset will be crucial as you help us find solutions to unforeseen challenges requiring cross disciplinary teamwork that we discover as we bring our next project to life.


Responsibilities

- Support our animators and 3D artists by creating advanced character rigs and tools in Maya
- Make sure our characters work and look great, from Maya all the way to in-game with UE5 realtime rig setups
- Rig an assortment of complex 3D characters and effects in Maya
- Maintain and improve our Python-based Maya asset export pipeline and toolset


Requirements

- Advanced rigging skill in Maya
- Mastery of Python scripting for Maya
- Experience interfacing with the Maya sdk in native code
- Solid understanding of math for technical art (algebra, trigonometry, etc)
- Experience with UE4/UE5
- Have shipped at least one title as a character rigger, technical artist, or equivalent experience


Bonus

- Understanding of the principles of animation
- Interest in related aspects of development, like materials, particles, fluid sims
- Interest in puzzle design and game design
- Experience with other common artist tools such as Photoshop