Principal Software Engineer (Animation)

Title: Principal Software Engineer (Animation)
Line Manager: Senior Producer (Match)

Hybrid Working Status: Fully remote available.

We are Sports Interactive

The gaming studio behind: Football Manager.

Founded in 1994, Sports Interactive (‘SI’) became a wholly owned subsidiary of SEGA Europe in 2006. Based at the Here East technology hub in Stratford, East London, the SI team continues to expand as we bring our titles to an ever growing audience across an increasing variety of platforms.
To support our growth, we welcome the opportunity to connect with passionate people with the drive to match our ambitions and initiative to realise your individual potential.
Position Overview:

We are looking for a Principal Animation Engineer, to join our London based studio to enhance our animation engine and help us take our football match simulation to the next level. The match engine team are responsible for the technological advancements of our state-of-the-art in-house engine which simulates and visualises football matches.

You will join a passionate and flourishing team who care deeply about the realism and visual quality of the match simulation in our games.

As part of this team, you will be working on our animation engine, which is used across multiple projects and products for visualising matches in 3D. Your focus will be on improving the visuals of our match engine by improving motion and animation and you will lead the team with researching and implementing the required technologies to achieve this goal. You will also support the development of our physics system and develop our internal animation tooling. You will be collaborating closely with our animators, artists, quality assurance and match AI engineers.

You will be an important part in leading and driving the direction and realism of our animation and the visual experiences within the match experience that our users have in our products, and you have full input into the team specifically as well as the studio generally with the opportunity to voice your ideas and suggestions.

Our match simulation and animation engine are shared across multiple products and is a critical part of the games we make, and you will consider challenges involving the match experience across several platforms, including on mobile devices.

We are looking for self-motivated people with great communication skills who can complete work independently as well as part of a team.

Responsibilities:

• Drive the architectural development and the technical direction of the codebase and software systems, consulting with the technical directors to steer the technology for the wider studio.
• Solve the most complex software problems and lead on creation of technical standards for our technology and products.
• Define the architecture of multiple projects at SI, while driving initiatives to improve the engineering quality at SI. Define and epitomise the development principles and coding standards at SI for all other software engineers to adhere to.
• Develop, extend, improve, and maintain our robust code base, workflows, and tools that support our match simulation systems.
• Work closely and iterate with our animation, match engine AI, graphics, and internal tools, to continuously improve the look and human feel of our match simulation.
• Contribute to a wide range of technical areas including, Full Body Inverse Kinematics, Motion Matching, Skeleton Retargeting, Data Pipeline and Compression, Events Editor, Real-Life Match Data 3D Viewer, Statistics and Generative AI.
• Collaborate with cross-disciplinary teams, including animators, artists, QA, producers, and other engineering teams, on current development and future long-term planning.
• Work closely with senior engineers, leads and production to define new features and set long term technical goals and roadmaps.
• Research, prototype and implement new animation and simulation technologies to keep our systems at the forefront of innovation.
• Lead by example with exceptional development knowledge and code reviews.
• Foster a culture of growth, collaboration, and technical excellence, being a role model to engineers across the studio.
• Communicate technical decisions and progress effectively to senior stakeholders, ensuring transparency and shared understanding. Communicate your programming knowledge to the development teams and developing technical talent within the team.

Requirements:

• Strong academic background with a 2:1 degree or higher (or equivalent) in a relevant technical field, such as computer science, software engineering, mathematics or physics.
• Excellent knowledge of C++, design patterns and software engineering.
• Minimum five years of professional experience using C++ as the main language.
• Experience designing and developing animation systems within the games industry.
• Very strong mathematical, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
• Great communication skills for effective collaboration with software engineers, artists, animators, QA, and production staff.
• Proactive and self-motivated with a drive to improve yourself and others continuously.
• Keen interest and understanding in Football would be beneficial. Football Manager fan a bonus.

Benefits of Working at Sports Interactive:
– A flexible working policy to best suit you and your team.
– Subsidised mental health, therapy and coaching sessions are available.
– Contributory Pension Scheme (up to 7% of annual salary).
– Free onsite evening bar in the Sports Interactive London HQ.
– A well-stocked breakfast bar with cereals, fruits, teas, and coffees.
– Regular events in collaboration with our partnered football clubs.
– Access to our on-site physical and massage therapist services.
– Multiple clubs and societies to join e.g., book club and art workshops. ????
– Free access to games released under the SEGA Europe umbrella.
– A range of Gym Membership options through our Benefits partners.
– Fully Subsidised Healthcare and Dental Plans.
– Free Travel Insurance for yourself and your family.
– A personalized football shirt upon passing probation.

What is it like to work here?
We approach everything with passion, whether that is making our mark on the gaming and football industries or doing our bit for the world around us. We want to share that outlook with everyone who shows up to work here each day. For us, talent wins games, but teamwork wins titles. Collaboration is the key to constantly topping our best.

We believe everyone matters, no matter which part of the business you are in, so we encourage and support our people in driving your own growth and realising your full potential. But, more than anything else, we are a team. A team with a down-to-earth dynamic, that has a lot of fun doing
what we do. And whether that’s technical tweaks or fine-tuning our creative process,
everything is geared at producing the best game possible for our players. To do
that, we need to be tenacious and move quickly, and not be afraid of switching
things up. It is these principles that have enabled us to produce a game that has
defined year after year, and that will continue to push us for many more to
come.

Our flexible working culture gives you the opportunity to optimise your workload, with in-office, hybrid, and remote working options dependent on role. So, if you want a work/life balance, we are behind you. Because while we live to create extraordinary games, we know that is not all you have got going on. You can trust that we always keep things in perspective, fostering an environment where work can be more than just a job.

We’re also a London Living Wage employer, boast one of the lowest staff turnover rates in the industry and are proud to have won the ‘Best Places to Work’ award by Gamesindustry.biz in their Environmental category in 2022. We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from any relevant candidate irrespective of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, religion, or belief.
SI is proudly a Disability Confident Committed employer, and we are dedicated to ensuring our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible. Our studio has disabled access and facilities but please ensure you advise us if you require any other reasonable adjustments to be made to support you during the recruitment process.
Our Values:
· Keep collaborating: We know that talent wins games, but teamwork wins titles. We encourage a level playing field, where no matter the department, title or niche, ideas belong to everyone. And because we have each other\’s backs, no-one needs to look over their shoulder. It\’s what brings us success, without the stuffiness.
· Be agile: The football world never stands still and neither does the entertainment industry. We have to stay ahead as the beautiful game changes and keeps innovating. We can\’t be afraid to switch things up. To pitch \’out-there\’ thinking and put ourselves out there. Think fast and adapt faster.
· Stay Tenacious: We don\’t overlook the details. Think dog. Think bone. Whether it\’s technical tweaks or fine-tuning our creative process, everything we do is about producing the best game possible. In other words, never settle. It took tenacious spirits to create a game that defined decade after decade. It\’ll take tenacious people to push us for decades to come.
· Show Ambition: We\’re not lone wolves, we know a pack mentality makes magic happen. But it doesn’t hurt to let your own drive lead the way. That energy is infectious… show up and share it with your team. Make the studio\’s purpose personal. Your individual outlook can give everyone the edge.
· Bring the Passion: Don\’t be fooled, what we do is not a game. We have the power to make our players\’ passion come to life and make their lives better. And with great power comes great… you guessed it. We take that responsibility seriously, even if we have fun doing it. We want people to love our games, so we need to feel the passion too.
· Consider the Bigger Picture: There\’s more at play than just selling games. We want our impact to be a positive one. From the flexibility that brings our team members a better work/life balance, to initiatives that make our studio kind to the planet whilst fighting against discrimination and trying to help make the world a better place, we keep things in perspective. And we give a damn about giving back. It makes our wins mean even more when we pay it forward.

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