Senior Technical Animator (Unreal Engine)

Location: Remote within Europe or West Midlands-based. Fully remote working is available in Europe. Visa sponsorship is not available.

Company

hirify.global is an independent game developer studio based just outside Birmingham, working on games, market-leading titles, and IP with studio and publisher partners.

What you will do

• Refine, edit, and adapt character animation assets, including motion capture, for gameplay and character performance.
• Implement and maintain Unreal Engine character animation systems, including Animation Blueprints, state machines, blend spaces, layered blending, montages, slots, notifies, and notify states.
• Use motion matching, Pose Search, motion warping, root motion, IK, and Control Rig to support responsive movement and melee combat.
• Collaborate with the Lead Combat Designer on attacks, combos, dodges, parries, hit reactions, and transitions between locomotion and combat.
• Diagnose animation issues involving blending, foot sliding, alignment, retargeting, and interruptions; profile and optimise systems for performance and maintainability.
• Manage workload, communicate progress and risks, propose solutions, and document systems and workflows for other team members.

Requirements

• 7 years of professional experience at a senior level in technical animation, or equivalent experience demonstrating independent ownership of complex character animation work.
• Experience working on melee combat games and understanding of combat timing, anticipation, impact, recovery, and transitions.
• Strong character animation skills, including assessing and improving motion capture and existing animation data.
• Thorough practical understanding of Unreal Engine character and animation systems, including Blueprints, Animation Blueprints, state machines, blend spaces, layered animation blending, montages, sections, slots, notifies, notify states, motion matching, Pose Search, motion warping, root motion, IK, Control Rig, animation retargeting, and the interaction between movement, gameplay logic, and animation.
• Experience with animation debugging, profiling, and optimisation.
• Proficiency in Blender or Maya, with Blender preferred, and ability to move animation assets reliably between content creation tools and Unreal Engine.
• Ability to work independently, identify problems, and deliver practical solutions with minimal supervision.
• Clear communication skills and confidence collaborating with design and other development disciplines in a distributed team.

Nice to have

• Character rigging and skinning experience.
• Experience developing or maintaining animation pipelines and tools.
• Experience with motion capture cleanup, retargeting, and adaptation across different character proportions.
• Experience with procedural animation and runtime animation adjustments.
• Familiarity with fluid, multi-enemy melee combat in the style of Shadow of Mordor and God of War.
• Scripting experience in Python or other tools used to improve animation workflows.

Culture & Benefits

• Private health and dental care.
• 20 days of annual leave plus additional leave over the Christmas period.
• Fully remote working in Europe, flexible core hours, and an Employee Assistance Programme.
• Team social events, including board game nights and charity fundraisers, plus two company-wide parties with expenses paid.
• Gamepass or PS Plus subscription.
• Friendly, supportive working environment with opportunities to learn across a range of internal and external projects.

Hiring process

• Submit a portfolio and cover letter; online portfolio links are preferred, with showreels accepted through secure file-sharing services.
• Provide examples demonstrating relevant character animation and technical implementation, ideally including melee combat running in-engine.
• For each example, explain personal contribution, systems or tools used, and how the work supported gameplay; portfolio materials from previous studios must be cleared for release.