Advanced Animation Programmer

Rocksteady Studios (Warner Bros. Discovery) is an award-winning, critically acclaimed video game developer. Founded in 2004, we are home to the widely celebrated Batman: Arkham series of games. Our philosophy for game development is all about treating people well to create quality entertainment that stands the test of time. We're a one-project studio that built our success by combining genre-defining gameplay and character-driven cinematic narrative with AAA production values. Born in the heart of London, our multicultural team takes inspiration from the culture and history of our home in one of the most diverse cities in the world.We're looking for a proactive and collaborative Advanced Animation Programmer to lead the vision for animation technology across current and future Rocksteady projects.Working with stakeholders at all levels and across the studio you will ensure that animators and other disciplines are empowered to deliver world class animations, supported by world class technology.Embedded in the Gameplay Systems team, this is a hands-on programming role, which will include architecture and implementation, technology and workflows, people and processes, planning and strategy, R&D and game making.

Your Role Accountabilities 

• Writing and maintaining code, you will be responsible for the animation related code base as well as creating and supporting relevant tools and workflows, ensuring they function to a high level of quality and performance.
• With a customer service mindset and a deep empathy for animators, you will be responsible for requirements gathering for all things animation technology. 
• You will be responsible for mentoring other coders and being an approachable authority on animation programming.
• You will scope and prioritise effectively, working with production and other stakeholders to provide efficient and pragmatic solutions that meet the project goals.
• Proactively identifying stakeholders and collaborators, you will work effectively across feature teams consisting of gameplay code animation, technical animation, tech art and rendering, as well as other animation programmers.
• You will be supporting a wide range of features including Playable Characters, NPCs and Enemies, Weapons, Cinematics, Outfits, and Vehicles.

Qualifications & Experience

• Experience supporting and collaborating with animators
• Advanced understanding of C++, low-level animation code and 3D mathematics
• Familiarity with state-of-the-art animation technologies and techniques
• Experience with animation tools and pipelines such as Maya, 3DS Max or MotionBuilder
• Experience implementing animation features, tools and pipelines for gameplay or cinematics (bonus points for both) 
• An excellent communicator, able to explain complex concepts in simple terms, and able to thrive in a hybrid working environment 
• Proven experience at being self-directed, organised, proactive, delivery oriented and able to prioritise, including negotiating with different stakeholders 
• Bonus points for interest or experience as an animator or 'dog-fooding' your own technologies

How We Get Things Done

This last bit is probably the most important! Here at WBD, our guiding principles are the core values by which we operate and are central to how we get things done.

You can find them at www.wbd.com/guiding-principles/ along with some insights from the team on what they mean and how they show up in their day to day. We hope they resonate with you and look forward to discussing them during your interview.