Technical Animator

About the Company:
Founded in 2017 by visionary directors Anthony and Joe Russo, AGBO is an artist-led, Academy Award–winning independent studio redefining global storytelling across film, television, and gaming. With 15 #1 openings and more than $7 billion at the box office, its hits include Marvel’s highest-grossing film Avengers: Endgame, the multi-Oscar-winning Everything Everywhere All at Once, and Netflix blockbusters The Gray Man and Extraction. AGBO’s Citadel universe has become a worldwide Prime Video sensation, while recent projects in post-production, include The Bluff (Amazon MGM) and The Whisper Man (Netflix). Upcoming releases include Citadel Season 2 and Marvel Studios’ epic Avengers: Doomsday (2026) and Avengers: Secret Wars (2027), both directed by the Russo Brothers and produced by AGBO.

In 2023, AGBO welcomed Donald Mustard—former Chief Creative Officer at Epic Games and co-creator of Fortnite—as a partner. Mustard brings a bold creative vision to AGBO: to expand what storytelling can be through immersive, interconnected worlds that span across media. We’re building the future of storytelling—and we’re looking for bold, creative minds to help shape it. If you’re ready to help define what comes next, we’d love to meet you.

Position Summary:
AGBO is seeking a Technical Animator to champion the technical development and real-time implementation of animation content in Unreal Engine 5. This role will serve as the technical authority for animation systems and is instrumental in establishing standards for character performance, animation systems, and rigging workflows across projects. You will be the primary liaison between teams, ensuring alignment between creative intent, technical feasibility, and performance optimization. You will drive cross functional collaboration across the company resolving challenges and building processes to enable the team to deliver high quality animation at scale.

We’re looking for someone with strong UE5 proficiency, a deep understanding of skeletal and animation systems, and experience working with a wide range of characters—from bipedal to quadruped to serpentine forms.

This role is based in Raleigh, NC, and candidates located in or willing to relocate to the area are strongly preferred. However, remote candidates will be considered for the right individual.

Key Responsibilities:

• Own and define the character and animation implementation pipeline in Unreal Engine 5, setting standards for performance, optimization, and development efficiency.
• Act as the principal liaison across disciplines, shaping technical animation strategy to ensure creative ambition is realized within sustainable, high-performance systems.
• Oversee the architecture and technical direction of UE5 character systems, including Skeletal Meshes, Animation Blueprints, Blend Spaces, Physics Assets, Montages, Animation Layers, Morph Targets, and related frameworks.
• Partner with artists and animators to guide the implementation and refinement of keyframe and motion-capture animation content, ensuring alignment with technical standards and creative goals.
• Establish and enforce scalable standards for character setup, including replication, customization systems, weapon attachments, and animation synchronization.
• Drive the adoption and evolution of advanced animation systems such as animation sharing, retargeting, cloth physics, control rig, procedural animation, and Metahuman workflows.
• Provide technical leadership, mentorship, and clear documentation, empowering the broader team with consistent rigging and animation methodologies.
• Proactively identify, diagnose, and resolve performance, optimization, and compatibility challenges within animation pipelines.
• Collaborate with Art, Engineering, Virtual Production, and VFX leadership to align technical animation strategy with overall production goals and enhance real-time visual fidelity.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Qualifications & Skills:

• 10+ years of experience in a Technical Animation, Technical Art, or Rigging/Animation TD role in games or real-time media.
• Expert-level knowledge of Unreal Engine 5, with hands-on experience setting up and optimizing character animation systems.
• Familiarity with scripting or tool development in Python, MEL, or equivalent.
• Deep understanding of character setup including replication logic, character composition through Blueprint, and real-time performance constraints.
• Experience working with a range of character types (bipedal, quadruped, serpentine) and adapting pipelines for each.
• Familiarity with Metahuman authoring and modification, as well as hair grooming, facial animation, and procedural rigging techniques.
• Excellent communication and documentation skills, especially when translating technical setups to artists or designers.
• Demonstrated ability to influence across disciplines and guide teams through complex challenges.
• A collaborative, solution-oriented mindset with the ability to adapt to evolving creative needs.

Bonus Skills:

• Experience with animation dynamics, runtime animation blending, or facial rigging workflows.
• Familiarity with Niagara, Sequencer, or Live Link.
• Prior work on narrative-driven, cinematic, or cross-medium storytelling projects.
• Experience defining technical standards or mentoring others in rigging and character animation.
  

Additional Information:

• Please submit a demo reel or portfolio showcasing relevant technical animation, rigging, or UE5 character implementation work.
• This role is preferred onsite in Raleigh, NC. However, remote candidates will be considered for the right individual.
• Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the U.S.

AGBO Labs LLC is committed to operating fair and unbiased recruitment procedures allowing all applicants an equal opportunity for employment, free from discrimination on the basis of religion, race, sex, age, sexual orientation, disability, color, ethnic or national origin or any other classification as may be protected by applicable law. We aim to recruit the right people for the jobs we have to offer, and to assess applications on the basis of relevant skills, education and experience.

AGBO participates in E-Verify - English | Spanish

Thejob description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed by the employee(s) incumbent to this position.