Sledgehammer Games hiring Senior Animator
Job Overview Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Category: Animation Job Type: Full-Time Sledgehammer Games, a leading global development studio, is seeking an experienced and highly creative Senior Animator to join our expanding team in Melbourne, Australia. This role offers a unique opportunity to shape the visceral, high-fidelity experience that defines one of the world’s most successful franchises, Call of Duty Your Platform: Excellence in First-Person Shooter Development Since our founding in 2009, Sledgehammer Games has been at the forefront of the video game industry, setting new benchmarks for visual and gameplay fidelity. Our rich portfolio includes seminal titles that have redefined the first-person shooter genre, such as Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Call of Duty: WWII, Call of Duty: Vanguard, and, most recently, the highly successful Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III. As industry leaders, our commitment to technical and artistic excellence permeates every detail of our work. We specialize in crafting both highly polished multiplayer experiences and emotionally engaging single-player campaigns, focusing on sophisticated systems and impactful player immersion. At Sledgehammer Games, we don’t just develop games—we push creative boundaries, redefine the possibilities of interactive storytelling, and strive to deliver world-class gaming content that continually raises the bar for quality, innovation, and player engagement on a global scale. Joining our Melbourne studio places you within a dynamic ecosystem, working collaboratively with talented teams across our international locations in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. This global structure ensures that you are contributing directly to the core development of monumental AAA titles. If you are ready to be part of a dynamic, supportive, and collaborative environment where your exceptional skills will have a direct and measurable impact on millions of players worldwide, we invite you to explore this pivotal career opportunity. To learn more about our studio’s legacy and culture, please visit us at www.sledgehammergames.com. Your Mission: Crafting Complex and Believable In-Game Motion As a Senior Animator based in Melbourne, you will become an essential member of a tight-knit and passionate animation team. Your mission is to create intricate and believable in-game and cinematic animations that are fundamental to both the emotional narrative and the core gameplay loop. Working in close collaboration with the Animation Lead, you will receive assignments that require a deep understanding of character motivation, action choreography, and the project’s overall emotional and gameplay objectives. Your daily work will demand technical precision and creative independence, requiring you to build essential collaborative relationships across multiple production disciplines, including Design, Engineering, and Environment teams, to ensure optimal visual and narrative consistency. This is a senior-level position requiring you to act as a creative driver and technical mentor. Responsibilities are comprehensive and include, but are not limited to: Diverse Animation Craftsmanship: Utilizing a powerful combination of Motion Capture (MoCap) editing and cleanup alongside expert Key Framing to produce a wide range of game motions, including nuanced 1st-person gameplay mechanics, immersive viewmodel/weapon animations, crucial in-game cinematics, and detailed 3rd-person character vignettes. Cinematic Expertise: Demonstrating a sophisticated understanding of camera animation, cinematic framing, shot continuity, and facial animation to ensure seamless and impactful storytelling moments. Quality & Polish: Exhibiting a strong capacity to receive and implement feedback effectively, iterating diligently to achieve the industry-defining polish level mandatory for AAA titles. Workflow Leadership: Proactively troubleshooting tool implementations and acting as a technical resource to spearhead workflow improvements that measurably enhance the efficiency, creativity, and output of the entire animation team. Production Insight: Working closely with production staff to advise on potential performance concerns, accurately assess animation scope, and actively mitigate project risks before they impact the schedule. Creative Independence: Leveraging your wealth of professional experience to work creatively and independently, often requiring little instruction and proactively solving complex animation challenges. Mentorship: Setting a high standard by example and actively mentoring Junior Animators, contributing to the professional growth and overall skill level of the department. Player Profile: Technical Mastery and Leadership We are seeking a highly experienced individual who possesses both the technical dexterity to manage complex animation pipelines and the creative vision to deliver emotionally resonant character movement. Minimum Requirements: Highly Valued Attributes (Extra Points): More Jobs