Massive Entertainment, a Ubisoft studio, is seeking a visionary and technically accomplished Animation Director to lead the animation vision for one of our premier AAA intellectual properties, including highly anticipated projects like Tom Clancy’s The Division 3. This permanent, full-time position is based on-site at our state-of-the-art studio in Malmö, Sweden.

As the Animation Director, you will be the ultimate guardian of visual quality, character performance, and mechanical responsiveness. You will bridge the gap between artistic expression and cutting-edge technology, translating the overarching creative direction into a fluid, tactile reality. Leading an elite team of animators and technical artists, you will define pipelines, push engine capabilities, and ensure that every movement, combat encounter, and cinematic moment aligns perfectly with the game’s core tone and player fantasy.

At Massive Entertainment, we believe that world-class animation is the cornerstone of player immersion and game feel. The Animation Director is tasked with a profound responsibility: finding the perfect equilibrium between cinematic visual fidelity and instantaneous gameplay responsiveness.

You will dictate how characters interact with complex urban environments, how they express weight, tension, and tactical awareness, and how the world responds to their presence. Working closely with core stakeholders, you will champion an animation philosophy that honors the established identity of a globally recognized franchise while pioneering new techniques in locomotion, combat physics, and non-verbal storytelling.

Key Responsibilities ::

As a key creative leader within the studio, your responsibilities will span across strategic vision, team leadership, technical innovation, and operational pipeline design:

1. Vision, Execution & Game Feel

• Establish the Direction: Define, document, and drive the overarching animation style guide and technical standards for the entire project, ensuring alignment with the game’s creative and narrative pillars.
• Optimize Game Feel: Serve as a primary stakeholder for game feel, ensuring that character controls are sharp, responsive, and satisfying without sacrificing the realistic weight and visual polish of the animations.
• Quality Assurance: Review and critique animation assets across gameplay, cinematics, and ambient systems to guarantee a cohesive, high-quality player experience from conception to final implementation.

2. Leadership, Collaboration & Pipeline Architecture

• Team Leadership: Mentor, inspire, and manage a multi-disciplinary team of lead animators, technical animators, and runtime programmers. Provide clear, constructive feedback and foster an inclusive environment built on creative growth.
• Pipeline Engineering: Partner with the production team to design efficient asset pipelines, establish clear workflows, manage scope, and outline realistic milestone targets without compromising creative quality.
• Cross-Disciplinary Synergy: Collaborate intimately with Design, Art, Audio, and Production departments to integrate animation seamlessly into systemic gameplay mechanics and world-building structures.

3. Technological Innovation & Engine Evolution

• Snowdrop Advancement: Partner directly with the proprietary Snowdrop Engine team to pioneer next-generation animation tools, systems, and workflows that empower content creators across all of Ubisoft.
• Technological Architecture: Strategically evaluate and implement advanced animation systems, finding the optimal balance between traditional keyframe artistry, motion capture data, and cutting-edge procedural technologies.

We are looking for an enthusiastic, forward-thinking leader who pairs an elite artistic eye with a deep understanding of modern game engine constraints and animation technical architecture.

Professional Experience & Proven Expertise

• AAA Pedigree: You possess a proven track record of success with at least one fully shipped, large-scale AAA title in a supervising role (such as Animation Director, Associate Director, or Lead Animator).
• Leadership Excellence: You have extensive professional experience managing, mentoring, and scaling internal and external animation teams through complex, multi-year production cycles.
• Articulate Communicator: You excel at translating abstract creative concepts into actionable production strategies, confidently pitching and presenting your vision to executives and grassroots developers alike.

Technical & Systems Proficiency

• Software Mastery: You possess deep, expert-level knowledge of industry-standard DCC tools, including Motion Builder, Maya, and 3DS Max.
• Advanced Animation Systems: You understand the mechanical nuances, performance costs, and practical pros and cons of modern runtime technologies, including:
  • Motion Matching and advanced locomotion systems.
  • Inverse Kinematics (IK) and Forward Kinematics (FK) integration.
  • Procedural physics, ragdoll blending, and contextual environmental replication.

Located in the progressive, culturally rich city of Malmö, Sweden, Massive Entertainment is a powerhouse of game development. Boasting a highly diverse team of over 700 professionals from 50+ countries, we celebrate unique perspectives, collaboration, and a collective passion for innovation.

As part of the global Ubisoft family, we leverage the reach of an industry leader while maintaining a close-knit, supportive studio culture. We are dedicated to pushing the absolute boundaries of entertainment technology—whether through our proprietary Snowdrop engine or our genre-defining live games like Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Star Wars Outlaws, and Tom Clancy’s The Division franchise.

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