Animation R&D Programmer

Become part of a team working on some of the most rewarding, large-scale creative projects to be found in any entertainment medium - all within an inclusive, highly-motivated environment where you can learn and collaborate with some of the most talented people in the industry. 

Rockstar is on the lookout for a talented engineer to join our Animation R&D team, with a background in animation retargeting or related techniques.

This position will help us develop advanced animation systems for our large open world character-based games. The successful applicant will have strong C++ programming skills, good knowledge of and interest in character animation systems, and passion for realistic, high quality character motion.

This is a full-time, in-office position based out of Rockstar’s NYC headquarters in Downtown Manhattan. 

WHAT WE DO

• We develop animation technology, from performance capture to a sophisticated runtime engine, for massive open world games.

• We are a global team of programmers and researchers who collaborate on pushing the boundaries of character animation on next generation hardware.

• We support and work closely with animation, gameplay, physics, tools, graphics, performance capture, and technical art teams across multiple Rockstar studios.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Help invent, develop, expand, maintain, and support an extensive runtime animation system, pipeline, and tools.

• Develop robust and performant technology to adjust animation to different characters, situations, and environments.

• Collaborate and contribute to the research and development of features related to procedural animation, motion adaptation, and character motion synthesis.

• Keep up to date with the latest academic and industry breakthroughs, independently research and develop improvements to continuously push our technology forward.

QUALIFICATIONS

• A degree in Computer Science or a related discipline, or equivalent industry experience.

• Proven development of solutions in animation retargeting, motion adaptation, or related subjects.

• Experience creating, extending or working directly with an animation system within a game engine.

SKILLS

• Good communication skills, ability to clearly share complex technical information with other programmers, animators and technical artists.

• Strong C/C++ programming skills.

• Strong 3D math skills.

• Knowledge of character animation technology, particularly retargeting and IK systems.

• Familiarity with common optimization and multi-threading techniques.

PLUSES

Please note that these are desirable skills and are not required to apply for the position.

• Industry experience working on AAA character based games, or character based VFX animation.

• C# or python programming skills.

• Experience developing within a large existing codebase, collaborating, or working independently within a large team.

• Experience with motion synthesis or style transfer.

• Practical success optimizing or debugging large/complex multithreaded C+