Principal Gameplay Animation Engineer

Who We Are

Founded in 2023, 2K Sports Lab is the newest stand alone studio at 2K looking to push game development boundaries to bring 2K's next groundbreaking sports franchise to life. We're building a world-class team at our new Vancouver, BC location where our goal is to deliver an exceptional experience through bold ideas, technical excellence, and creative collaboration. We're seeking passionate and driven professionals across all areas of game development to help shape this ambitious vision. If you’re interested in tackling unique challenges and think you have what it takes to level up our team, we encourage you to apply!

What We Need

We are looking for a Principal Software Engineer to contribute to the development of core runtime animation technology and features at our new studio. In this role, you will be working closely with Animators, Design and Production to develop nuanced and sophisticated animation behaviors that authentically replicate sport. You will help build the foundation, then iterate and innovate upon it and polish world class gameplay for what will be the next massive sports franchise in our industry.

What You’ll Do

• Research, develop and implement new industry leading animation technologies
• Collaborate closely with gameplay engineers/designers to identify and develop new animation features
• Support requests and features for content creation tools, and animation review/analysis
• Keep up to date with the latest industry/academic work for consideration for our Animation toolset
• Mentor engineers on programming techniques and robust engineering practices
• Partner with studio leadership to define engineering standards and direction for animation technology development
• May assume a tech lead role for game components, including system responsibility and technical leadership of other specialists
• Write and maintain robust and performant code
• Optimize code and debug animation issues as they arise

What Will Make You A Great Fit

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related field (or equivalent work experience)
• Excellent 3D math and linear algebra skills
• Advanced expertise with C++
• 7+ years of proven experience working on computer animation
• Implementation experience in one or more of the following areas, inverse kinematics techniques, ragdoll and physics-based character animation, procedural animation techniques, cloth/hair animation, keyframe animation and forward kinematics, motion matching, machine learning driven animation techniques
• Ability to explain technical topics to people of varying levels of expertise
• Dedicated and self motivated with an ability to identify areas for research/development
• An eye for detail in creating dynamic, authentic, and responsive character animation
• Love for video games (not just ours!)

Beneficial Qualifications

• Experience developing and shipping AAA games on Unreal Engine 4 and 5
• Master’s/PhD in a related field with a focus on animation related topics
• Familiarity with Python and/or C#

The pay range for this position in British Columbia at the start of employment is expected to be between CAD $139,300 and CAD $222,900 per year. However, actual pay offered is based on market location and may vary further depending on individualized factors for job candidates, such as job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and other objective business considerations. If hired, the company reserves the right to modify base pay (as well as any other discretionary payment or compensation or benefit program) at any time, including for reasons related to individual performance, company or individual department/team performance, and market factors.

As an equal opportunity employer, we are committed to ensuring that individuals with disabilities are provided  suitable accommodations to enjoy equal employment opportunities, including the ability to participate in the job application or interview process,. Please contact us if you need an accommodation as part of your application process or otherwise have questions about the Company’s accommodation policy and review process.

Please note that 2K Games and its studios never uses instant messaging apps or personal email accounts to contact prospective employees or conduct interviews and when emailing, only use 2K.com accounts. 

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