Animation Director (Game Development)

Location: San Mateo, California, United States; based on-site with a combination of in-studio and remote workdays.

Salary: $136,880–$253,260 annual base pay in the U.S.

Company

hirify.global is a major video game developer and publisher whose Sledgehammer Games studio creates AAA titles, including games in the Call of Duty franchise.

What you will do

• Define and champion the animation vision, quality standards, and creative direction for the project.
• Lead, mentor, and develop Animation Leads, Principal Animators, and other animation team members.
• Set animation strategy, priorities, staffing plans, workflows, and production goals with studio leadership.
• Collaborate with Art, Design, Narrative, Engineering, and Production to support gameplay, storytelling, and player immersion.
• Direct the creation and integration of character, gameplay, cinematic, and AI animation content, systems, and pipelines.
• Guide performance capture, review animation work, provide feedback, and maintain quality across internal, outsourcing, and co-development partners.

Requirements

• 12+ years of professional animation experience in game development, including significant leadership experience.
• Experience leading animation teams through the development and delivery of AAA titles.
• Deep knowledge of animation principles, character performance, gameplay animation, cinematics, and motion capture pipelines.
• Strong expertise with Maya, game engines, animation systems, state machines, blending, and technical animation pipelines.
• Experience establishing creative vision, developing high-performing teams, and collaborating across multiple disciplines.
• Excellent communication, presentation, collaboration, and stakeholder management skills, with a passion for games.

Nice to have

• Experience shipping multiple AAA first-person action titles.
• Experience directing performance capture and cinematic animation pipelines.
• Experience with globally distributed development teams and external partners.
• Understanding of player-centered design and animation’s role in gameplay feel and immersion.

Culture & Benefits

• Work with distributed studio teams in Canada, Australia, and the UK.
• Medical, dental, vision, healthcare spending, life, disability, and related insurance programs.
• 401(k) with company match, tuition reimbursement, and charitable donation matching.
• Paid holidays, vacation, sick time, floating holidays, parental leave, and bereavement leave.
• Mental health, wellbeing, fitness, game discount, and other voluntary benefit programs.
• Relocation assistance may be available if the company requires a geographic move for the role.