Sledgehammer Games hiring Senior Animator

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

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.

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:

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:

• Experience:
  • Demonstrable and strong professional animation experience, with extensive, in-depth tenure specifically as a game animator.
• Technical Pipeline Knowledge:
  • Expertise in Cinematic and Motion Capture Editing and cleanup workflows.
• Fundamentals:
  • Superior grasp of animation fundamentals, with a dedicated focus on realistic and stylized human movement.
• Software Mastery:
  • Expert proficiency in animating within the Autodesk Maya environment.
• Adaptability & Communication:
  • Proven ability to rapidly adapt to new proprietary tools and technologies, coupled with strong problem-solving skills and clear, effective communication across technical and artistic disciplines.
• Leadership Qualities:
  • Clear ability to mentor Junior Animators and lead by example, inspiring excellence and contributing to a positive team culture.
• Philosophical Approach:
  • The capacity to think deeply and philosophically about character movement, ensuring animation choices enhance player agency and narrative immersion.

• A functional understanding of the character creation process, including modeling, texturing, and rigging basics.
• An active interest in participating in live previs shoots to help clarify tone, choreography, and pacing for MoCap actors, bridging the gap between performance capture and in-game application.