Technical Animator

• Location: Remote - Europe

  Applicants must be based within the CEST time zone (±1 hour). Applications outside this range will not be considered.

• Start date: ASAP
• Contract Type: Freelance (IČO)

Overview

Grip Studios is looking for a Technical Animator / Rigger with professional game development experience to support character rigging and animation workflows across our projects. The role is primarily focused on rigging and skinning in Maya, supporting animators, and bringing characters reliably into the game engine. We're looking for someone who can own the rigging side of production and bridge Maya, animation, and the game engine.

Requirements

• Professional game development experience, with strong Maya character rigging and skinning skills.
• Experience with production-ready humanoid rigs; creature rigging is a strong plus.
• Solid understanding of deformation, skeletons, and animation requirements, with the ability to troubleshoot rigging, retargeting, and animation pipeline issues.
• Experience supporting animators, solving technical animation problems, and bringing characters and animation assets into Unreal Engine.
• Ability to work independently and across Animation, Character Art, Tech Art, and Engineering.
• Expertise in Unreal Engine 5, including Control Rig, animation Blueprints, and state machines. Unreal Engine is our primary engine, but depending on the project, you may also work with proprietary or legacy engines.
• Portfolio demonstrating strong rigging and deformation/skinning quality, ideally with in-engine results in Unreal Engine.

Responsibilities

• Own the rigging and skinning of characters in Maya, including production-ready humanoid and creature rigs.
• Build and maintain deformation systems, skeletons, and rig setups that meet animation requirements.
• Support animators by troubleshooting rigging, retargeting, and animation pipeline issues.
• Bring characters and animation assets into Unreal Engine, and proprietary or legacy engines where required.
• Collaborate closely with Animation, Character Art, Tech Art, and Engineering to bridge Maya, animation, and the game engine.
• Work with animators to streamline workflows and improve animation pipelines.
• Provide technical support and documentation for animation systems and best practices.
• Work independently to own the rigging side of production.

Nice to Have

• MotionBuilder experience.
• Pipeline scripting: Python / MEL.
• Unreal-side rigging: Control Rig, Epic RBF Solver, MetaHumans.
• Additional rigging specialties: facial rigs, cloth / secondary motion, prop or mechanical rigging, mocap and retargeting.

What We Offer

• Flexible working hours – because great games need great work-life balance.
• Access to cutting-edge tech and tools for testing.
• A chance to work with gaming industry veterans and passionate teams.
• Opportunities for growth – we support learning, upskilling, and career progression.