As a member of the Animation team, on Teamfight Tactics you bring champions to life through classic animation principles and body mechanics. You will create high quality animations for a diverse and rapidly growing universe, including bipeds, quadrupeds, and creatures. A great reel will showcase a variety of walk cycles, a diverse selection of game-related animation, and a strong foundation in the principles of animation, including weight, anticipation, and impact. Also working to expand our current content pipeline, you will collaborate with designers and artists to develop new features and technologies. Your craft expertise will breathe life into iconic and beloved characters for players.

As an Animator for Teamfight Tactics on the Gameplay Pod, you’ll report into your manager. You will work directly with multiple pods, collaborating with them in updating and optimizing champion animations in TFT, Building new characters for TFT and R&D’ing on new animation opportunities across TFT cosmetics. You will bring content in TFT to life through classical animation principles, animated props in environments and character body mechanics. You will create high-quality animations for a diverse and rapidly growing universe, including bipeds, quadrupeds, and creatures. A great reel will showcase a variety of walk cycles, a diverse selection of game-related animation, and a strong foundation in the principles of animation, including weight, anticipation, and impact. Also working to expand our current content pipeline, you will collaborate with designers and artists to develop new features and technologies. Your craft expertise will breathe life into iconic and beloved characters for players.

Responsibilities: 

• Collaborate with designers in creating new and exciting gameplay animations, adapting iconic Champions from League of Legends to Teamfight Tactics
• Bring arenas to life through interactive props and creatures
• Work with technical artists to optimize animation assets and iterate on animation rigs
• Give and receive feedback on internal and external animation work
• Demonstrate a deep understanding of League of Legends and Auto Battlers to ensure cohesion between the products

Required Qualifications: 

• 3+ years of industry experience (or equivalent experience)
• Experience creating high-quality, stylized gameplay animations
• Demonstrated mastery of the animation principles and associated techniques, particularly posing, body mechanics, and storytelling
• Skills in 3D animation software, particularly Maya.
• Knowledge of Auto Battler genre, ideally League of Legends, as it pertains to game design, isometric content, and visual clarity
• Excellence in collaboration and communication

Desired Qualifications:

• Experience working and communicating with several designers
• Strong communication skills both in and out of discipline
• Development experience creating animations within modern game engines (Unreal, Unity, etc)
• Familiarity with the League of Legends IP and skins universes
• Tools experience: have worked in several tools, pipelines, and game engines.
• Experience giving direction and delivering clear, constructive feedback to vendors

As a part of the application process, you will be expected to provide a portfolio or demo reel of your work and may be asked to complete an art test.

For this role, you’ll find success through craft expertise, a collaborative spirit, and decision-making that prioritizes the delight of players. We will look at your past studies, experience, and your personal relationship with games. If you embody player empathy and care about the experiences of players, this is the role for you!

Our Perks:

Riot has a focus on work/life balance, shown by our open paid time off policy, in addition to other perks such as flexible work schedules. We offer medical, dental, and life insurance, parental leave for you, your spouse/domestic partner and children, and a 401k with company match. Check out our benefits pages for more information.

Riot Games fosters a player and workplace experience that values teamwork embodied by the Summoner’s Code and Community Code. Our culture embraces differences as a strength, and our values are the guiding principles for how we approach work. We are committed to putting diversity and inclusion (D&I) at the center of everything we do, and promoting a fair and collaborative culture where Rioters treat one another with dignity and respect. We encourage you to read more about our value of thriving together and our ongoing work to build the most inclusive company in Gaming.

(Los Angeles Only) Base salary range between $102,000 USD - $143,200 USD + incentive compensation + equity + 401K with company match + medical, dental, vision, and life insurance + short and long-term disability + open PTO.

It’s our policy to provide equal employment opportunity for all applicants and members of Riot Games, Inc. Riot Games makes reasonable accommodations for handicapped and disabled Rioters and does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, handicap, veteran status, marital status, criminal history, or any other category protected by applicable federal and state law, including the City of Los Angeles’ Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance relating to an applicant’s criminal history.