[Hiring] Senior Gameplay Animator @Keywords Studios

Role Description

We're looking for an experienced Senior Gameplay Animator to join our team on an exciting short-term contract, helping bring a high-profile, well-loved AAA IP to life. This is an opportunity to work on a vertical slice/demo experience that showcases the quality and vision of an upcoming project. The work is heavily focused on delivering impactful, responsive gameplay animation with a strong emphasis on cinematic combat.

• Create high-quality, polished gameplay animations for a combat-focused experience.
• Produce believable, weighty melee combat animations that feel responsive and satisfying.
• Animate combat encounters involving player attacks, enemy reactions, finishers, and traversal where required.
• Create animations supporting Quick Time Events (QTEs) and seamlessly blend gameplay into cinematic moments.
• Collaborate closely with designers, technical animators, and engineers to iterate on gameplay feel and responsiveness.
• Work within an established animation pipeline while maintaining a high level of polish and attention to detail.
• Help define and maintain the quality bar expected of a premium AAA action title.

Qualifications

• Extensive professional experience as a Gameplay Animator on AAA console or PC titles.
• Demonstrated experience working on third-person action or combat-heavy games.
• Strong understanding of melee combat systems, timing, anticipation, impact, and character weight.
• Experience creating cinematic gameplay moments and scripted in-game events.
• Excellent keyframe animation skills with a strong eye for performance and physicality.
• Comfortable working from motion capture as well as creating bespoke keyframe animation where required.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to work independently within a collaborative team.

Bonus Skills

• Experience working on titles similar in style to:
  • God of War
  • Ghost of Yōtei
  • Ghost of Tsushima
  • The Last of Us
  • Uncharted
• Technical experience with any of the following is highly desirable:
  • Autodesk Maya
  • Autodesk MotionBuilder
  • Unreal Engine (UE4/UE5)
  • Animation Blueprints, State Machines, and gameplay integration workflows

Contract Details

• Contract: 3-4 Months
• Location: Remote (preferred overlap with North American working hours)
• Employment Type: Contract
• Working Pattern: Full Time, Remote