Senior Animator - The Sims

Welcome to Maxis, home to tinkerers, craftspeople, & storytellers. Our drive is to inspire everyone to make a better world through creative play. As the developer of The Sims, we create games and experiences for millions of people around the world and are always looking for new ways to inspire our players. Maxis is a place where you can do what you love and help others grow while doing it; a place where your unique voice can be heard and seen. We put creativity and inclusivity at the core of our work and don’t settle for seeing the world only as it is, but strive to build a world as it could be.

In this role you will be part of the Project Rene team building out the next generation game and creative platform. Project Rene is a Mobile + HD cross-platform that allows players to play The Sims alone or with friends, without barriers, for the first time ever. Explore the dramatic lives of your Sims in the most accessible, dynamic Simulation to date. Players can create characters, customize furniture, design apartments, and more using accessible tools. We’re excited you’re interested to learn more about how you can join our team and dream big. For more information about The Sims, follow @TheSims on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok, like The Sims on Facebook, visit TheSims.com newsroom and tune into Behind The Sims on YouTube for the latest news and updates.

You will be reporting to one of our studio Development Directors.

Location: Remote North America – open to most North America locations

This Senior Animator’s role will be to create and improve upon animation content and implementation, through prototyping, aesthetic exploration and tool research (Maya, Unreal, and other tools/tech). You will support the foundational building and testing of the animation pipeline for a Sims Game, while working with the Animation Director, Tech Animation Director and Motion Engineers. This is a collaborative position that involves technical research, and pioneering animation challenges. You will also help transition the team into a production phase, and move into content creation and implementation as a primary function.

Responsibilities:

You will drive the delivery of the following:

Content creation

Creating, iterating and driving animation content to support prototype goals in (Maya and Engine) that span the product needs.

Adapting to and refining the project’s unique animation aesthetic while creating content that serves as a benchmark to the animation style guide.

Creatively approaching content creation in new and innovative ways.

Estimating animation tasks appropriately and meeting milestone deliverables.

Providing more junior animators feedback in aesthetics and implementation techniques to achieve higher level goals set by the Animation Director.

Supporting Tech

Being a partner in evaluating and testing new tools, workflows and pipeline systems in Maya, Unreal, and other tools for future development.

Supporting Tech Animation and Tech Art across multiple prototypes, while targeting and advocating for the Animation vision.

Supporting peers in collaboration, feedback and implementation to aid in a unified team deliverable

Driving animation prototype targets and feedback, while collaborating on implementation methodology.

Documentation / Communication

Documenting R&D efforts pertaining to personal and more junior animators’ tasks.

Establishing and maintaining communication across all discipline peers and management regarding personal and team deliverables.

Proactively providing constructive feedback to technical team members and communicate necessary information to partners.

Concisely communicating and presenting work to members of the team at various levels.

Qualifications:

You can create high-quality in game biped animation content on a project.

You are experienced in driving features/leading systems from start to finish while driving animation implementation.

You are experienced at working in, designing, and hooking up state machine workflows.

You are experienced in troubleshooting animation issues in Maya and in Engine.

You can collaborate creatively with artistic and technical discipline peers.

You can test new animation workflows and communicate concise feedback.

Knowledge in Unreal or similar Engines.

Experienced in documenting research and presenting to peers and animators.

Visit us at: https://www.ea.com/ea-studios/maxis

US COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

The base salary ranges listed below are for the defined geographic market pay zones in these states. If you reside outside of these locations, a recruiter will advise on the base salary range and benefits for your specific location.

EA has listed the base salary ranges it in good faith expects to pay applicants for this role in the locations listed, as of the time of this posting. Salary offered will be determined based on numerous relevant business and candidate factors including, for example, education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, and business or organizational needs.

BASE SALARY RANGES

• California (depending on location e.g. Los Angeles vs. Sacramento):

º $113,300 – $171,700

• New York (depending on location e.g. Manhattan vs. Buffalo):

º $111,500 – $171,700

• Jersey City, NJ:

º $126,700 – $171,700

• Colorado (depending on location e.g. Denver vs. Colorado Springs):

º $111,500 – $144,000

• Washington (depending on location e.g. Seattle vs. Spokane):

º $111,500 – $157,300

Base salary is just one part of the overall compensation at EA. We also offer a package of benefits including paid time off (3 weeks per year to start), 80 hours per year of sick time, 16 paid company holidays per year, 10 weeks paid time off to bond with baby, medical/dental/vision insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, and 401(k) to regular full-time employees. Certain roles may also be eligible for bonus and equity.