About the Role
We are seeking a hands-on, production-proven Senior Character Rigger to join our team as an individual contributor. This is a rigging-focused role, centered on building high-quality, animator-friendly rigs in Autodesk Maya for real-time 3D and AR/VR experiences. This position is intended for a specialist rigger who actively builds, debugs, and ships rigs in production. It is not a hybrid Tech Artist or animation systems role. We are open to strong mid-level or senior candidates, provided they are deeply hands-on today.
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Responsibilities
- Design, build, and deliver production-ready character and creature rigs in Autodesk Maya
- Own skeleton setup, skinning, deformation systems, constraints, and corrective solutions
- Create clean, stable, and animator-friendly control rigs focused on performance and usability
- Collaborate closely with animators to support expressive and efficient animation workflows
- Ensure rigs meet real-time engine constraints (Unity / Unreal) in collaboration with technical teams
- Debug, iterate, and improve rigs based on animation and runtime feedback
- Maintain and improve existing rigs without compromising quality or consistency
This Role Is Not
- A Tech Artist or tools-focused role
- A lead-only or supervisory position with limited hands-on rigging
- An animation-first position
- A Blender- or 3ds Max–centric rigging role
Qualifications
- Expert-level rigging experience in Autodesk Maya (non-negotiable)
- 5+ years of professional experience as a character or creature rigger
- Proven experience shipping real-time 3D projects (AAA games, AR/VR, or high-end interactive experiences)
- Strong understanding of anatomy, deformation, skinning, and corrective techniques
- Solid grasp of animation fundamentals (timing, weight, staging) to support animator needs
- Experience working with Unity or Unreal pipelines from a rigging perspective
- Ability to work independently, take ownership, and deliver production-ready work
- Strong communication skills and ability to clearly explain rigging decisions
Nice to Have
- Cloth, hair, or secondary motion setups in Maya or real-time environments
- Motion capture familiarity and basic mocap cleanup workflows
- Understanding of character modeling and texturing pipelines
Portfolio Requirement
Applicants must provide a portfolio that clearly demonstrates:
- Multiple fully built character or creature rigs
- Clear evidence of personal, hands-on contribution
- Deformation quality, control design, and animator usability
Candidates should be comfortable walking through their rigs and explaining how and why they were built.
