[Hiring] Lead Character Tools Engineer @PlayStation

Role Description

We are seeking a Lead Character Tools Engineer to join the PlayStation Central Technology team focusing on Character technology from creation, rigging, and animation. Developing and distributing tools and optimizing for making the best characters in games more efficiently and integrating emergent technology into the future of game making.

Candidate expected to prototype, create, and collaborate to deploy and maintain technical tools and practices from experience on traditional game development and run-time workflows with internal teams and seek new opportunities for bringing increased usage of AI and ML to make those processes more efficient.

This internal team of artists, engineers, and technical artists partner with engineering teams, studio stakeholders, research engineers, and other Central Technology groups to provide cohesion and standardization across PSS activities.

This position requires a demonstratable understanding of game development pipelines, extensive experience with Autodesk Maya software, and strong programming skills. Familiarity with leveraging agentic workflows to accelerate code creation and testing.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with internal team members and studio stakeholders to prototype and harden create tools considering contemporary development workflows, data management, art creation, animation, and game engine integration.
• Setting up and maintaining project specific environments and automation opportunities.
• Learning and supporting varying client working environments, assets, and tools.
• Writing, maintaining, and customizing internal tools and workflows.
• Building and maintaining technical documentation.
• Willingness to attend and participate in PlayStation internal demonstrations and conferences, travel required.
• Ability to work in a collaborative team environment as well as self-driven experimentation and research.

Qualifications

• Experience as technical artist or engineer to develop and deploy tools to support character creation, rigging, simulation, or animation pipelines in a run-time environment.
• 10+ years in a game development studio or previous experience creating artist-facing tools on technical art or engineering team in a production environment.
• BS degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Graphic Art, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• Extensive experience in working with game editors and excellent working knowledge of technical specifications of workflow from DCC to complex real-time environments.
• Capable of writing and debugging C++.
• Excellent knowledge of Maya with general knowledge of Maya rigging.
• Developing or maintaining project pipeline tools and system environments.
• Excellent troubleshooting skills and the ability to creatively solve problems.
• Experience leveraging Agentic AI models.
• Strong understanding of deformation and mesh processing.
• Familiarity with industry trends in character rigging, gameplay animation, cinematic animation, deformation and simulation usage in character animation pipelines.
• Decent sense of humor.

Extended Experience

• Strong Python programming skills and experience with PyQt/Pyside.
• Motionbuilder, Maya, Houdini experience.
• Experience with HLSL, MaterialX.
• Experience with other programming languages, especially C++.
• Experience with Perforce, Git, Confluence.
• Exposure to photogrammetry, motion capture/performance capture.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision.
• Matching 401(k).
• Paid time off.
• Wellness program.
• Coveted employee discounts for Sony products.
• This role may be eligible for a bonus package.

Equal Opportunity Statement

Sony is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All persons will receive consideration for employment without regard to gender (including gender identity, gender expression and gender reassignment), race (including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin), religion or belief, marital or civil partnership status, disability, age, sexual orientation, pregnancy, maternity or parental status, trade union membership or membership in any other legally protected category.

We strive to create an inclusive environment, empower employees and embrace diversity. We encourage everyone to respond.

Sony Interactive Entertainment is a Fair Chance employer and qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records will be considered for employment.