Lead Animation Programmer

Permanent Position

Rare is an Xbox Game Studio creating the kind of games the world doesn’t have. Our values – explorers, evolving, together – are fundamental to the games we make and how we make them. Rare offers rewarding and fulfilling careers for exceptional people, supporting you to learn and grow. Our studio is a welcoming campus in the heart of the Midlands, where the majority of our team work in a flexible hybrid work pattern.

We have an exciting opportunity for a Lead Animation Programmer to work with the central technology group, focusing on enabling the Animation and Technical Animation teams. We’re looking for someone with experience in animation engineering who can help define the direction for animation technology at Rare, and provide mentoring and coaching for our earlier-in-career programmers.

We are seeking an individual who can take up a key role in character and creature creation, working closely with animators, gameplay and core tech teams, to help bring our unique and iconic creatures to life.

You would be working with big believers in high-quality engineering, who aim for fast iteration with robust methods. We embrace modern development practices such as continuous delivery, automated testing, code reviews, pair programming and agile methods.

As part of our team, we will encourage you to explore and grow your skills, whether through engineering discussions, hosting one of our in-house workshops or engaging with other Xbox Games Studios.

If the above sounds like something you are interested in, keep reading...

• Define the direction of animation technology at Rare to support our current and future game designs in collaboration with Animation, Technical Animation and Art teams.
• Support the development of earlier-in-career animation engineers through managing taskings, identifying growth opportunities, mentoring and coaching.
• Handle a full range of animation technology such as character movement, player interaction, multi-character interactions, tools and multiplayer gameplay.
• Own collaboration between the animation and AI teams, influencing the direction of both teams to achieve Everwild’s visual and experiential targets.
• Profile, optimise and maintain new and existing animation systems to deliver a living and breathing world at scale.
• Be keen to push the boundaries of what has been achieved in animation to bring our characters to life.
• Be part of Rare's culture; be inquisitive, try things out and help people be even better.

• Proven experience of professional games development or equivalent.
• Excellent communication skills and keenness for empowering others.
• Recent professional experience of developing in C++.
• Practical experience in an animation engineering role, familiarity with standard approaches in real-time animation and an enthusiasm for the subject.

• Experience of working with Unreal Engine.
• A solid grounding in Computer Science theory.
• Experience of working with multiplayer architectures.
• Experience working in, or with, the AI engineering domain.