Technical Animator (Unreal Engine 5) in Woking

About the Job

We’re looking for a Technical Animator to join our development team and help build the animation systems that bring our characters to life, especially in fast-paced, expressive combat contexts. This role sits at the intersection of art, engineering, and design, and is ideal for someone who thrives on solving complex animation problems with elegant, scalable solutions.

You’ll design and implement the underlying architecture of our animation systems in Unreal Engine 5: from Control Rigs and state machines to real-time procedural tools and Motion Matching systems. You’ll also collaborate closely with animators, technical artists, combat designers, and gameplay programmers to ensure character movement feels fluid, responsive, and grounded in the world of Project Agora.

You’ll be part of Engineering department and work closely with our Design, Art, and Development teams.

Your Role

Animation Systems Development

• Design, implement, and maintain animation systems and pipelines in Unreal Engine 5 to support traversal, combat, cinematics, and character interactions.
• Build and optimize Control Rigs, deformers, constraints, and real-time rigging solutions for characters, creatures, and NPCs.
• Develop procedural animation solutions, including IK-based foot placement, additive pose layering, aim/look-at systems, and pose correction.
• Integrate Unreal Motion Matching (UMM) to power responsive, next-gen locomotion blending systems.
• Create and maintain animation graphs, blend spaces, and state machines to support seamless transitions between movement and combat.

Technical Collaboration & Support

• Work hand-in-hand with animators, combat designers, and engineers to ensure animations are game-ready and performance-optimized.
• Debug and profile animation systems across platforms to maintain frame rate and responsiveness.
• Provide documentation, visual guides, and mentorship on animation pipelines and Motion Matching workflows.
• Contribute to the implementation of animation-driven interactions in gameplay, combat, and environment systems.

Must-Haves

• 2+ years of experience working with Unreal Engine 5 animation systems (Animation Blueprints, State Machines, Control Rig).
• Strong experience with layered animation systems and partial-body blending.
• Familiarity with Unreal Motion Matching or similar locomotion systems.
• At least 2 years of rigging experience in a major DCC tool (e.g., Maya, Blender).
• Working knowledge of C++ or Python for building animation tools or runtime systems.

Nice-to-Haves

• Experience with Git and Perforce for source control.
• Exposure to Niagara VFX systems and their interaction with animation.
• Experience with facial rigging and/or facial animation systems.
• Experience working on a shipped game with real-time combat animation systems.

About You

• You have strong problem-solving skills and can debug even the most chaotic blend space.
• You’re a clear communicator and collaborate well with animators, designers, and programmers alike.
• You care about animation quality and technical performance.
• You’re proactive, curious, and love owning systems end-to-end.
• You balance technical depth with a keen visual eye and high standards for animation feel.

About Couch Heroes

Couch Heroes is a growing, international game studio building a modular, social-first MMO world designed for creativity, expression, and deep player connection. We’re crafting a platform where players shape stories, collaborate on content, and explore a constantly evolving universe together.

We’re remote-first, legally based in the UK, and scaling operations to support our multi-year roadmap. We value autonomy, curiosity, and collaborative ownership—and we’re always looking for people who love games and building great systems.

🧭 Location: Remote

📄 Type: Full-time

🕹️ Start: As soon as possible