We’re looking for an Animation Lead to join our team at Hypixel Studios, which collaborates remotely from around the world. Our members range from industry newcomers to experts with 25+ years of experience. Team members come from a diverse set of backgrounds, but share a common passion for building polished player-focused, community-powered games.

Join us on our mission to bring players together in an inviting, immersive world where they can make their mark. Hytale empowers creative expression across a spectrum of experiences including sandbox adventure, social play, minigames, and creativity using a suite of powerful and accessible tools.

As an Animation Lead on the Hytale team, you will report to the Creative Director while collaborating across disciplines to establish workflows and build efficient pipelines. You will partner closely with the Art Director and the Creative Leads to shape and drive the overall creative strategy and logistics for all Hytale products. You will also use your experience to directly manage and mentor other artists, helping them to solve problems and to develop long-term career plans.

Who You Are:

• A veteran 3D animator, able to contribute at a high-level as both an artist and a leader of artists
• You are a team player and an excellent communicator; you love working across disciplines and advocating for your team
• You take pride in building effective teams; you love providing feedback and sharing knowledge with other team members
• You excel at organising and prioritising work; you are able to build and pursue long term goals for large scale projects
• You are driven by discovering solutions to unique problems and participating in the development of unique tools and pipelines
• You want to proactively seek out creative ways to improve all aspects of the game, from visual presentation to performance

Some of your role:

• Directly manage and mentor other artists, directing their work and delivering feedback to aid in their growth
• Create animations, from roughed-in pose concepts to final polish, integrating animations in-game using our in-house engine; document and coach the team on all aspects of this process
• Report to the Creative Director to achieve organisational goals and execute upon the product vision
• Partner with the Art Director to ensure that visual standards are known and maintained
• Work closely with Design and with other Creative domains (Audio, Narrative, UX/UI) to ensure VFX assets support our diverse game experiences
• Align with Production to develop high-level execution plans and determine priorities
• Find creative solutions and contribute to ongoing improvements in tools and techniques that run parallel to the animation pipeline

Essential traits:

• Minimum 6+ years of experience creating real-time character/creature animation in production, with at least 2+ of direct people management
• Portfolio demonstrating high quality animation work.
• Great communication, documentation and self-organisation skills
• Demonstrable experience mentoring and developing teams
• Excellent problem solving skills; you take complex problem spaces and break them down into functional and actionable solutions

Bonus traits:

• Traditional 2D art skills - Storyboarding, Illustration, Character Design
• Experience shipping titles across multiple platforms (PC/Console/Mobile)

We can offer:

• Competitive salary
• Annual Performance Bonus (APB)
• Quality of Life increases
• Christmas closure
• A chance to work on a new game project with an extremely motivated team
• Opportunities to learn and grow personally and professionally
• A stable and secure work environment
• The ability to work remotely

We’re looking for applicants who are self-driven, put players first, and that have a history of making cool stuff. In return, we can offer an environment that values and supports individual creativity and passion and believes in fostering new talent. We recognize the value of diversity in every sense and actively encourage candidates from diverse backgrounds to apply.