Technical Animator at Virtuos in Ireland, IE

At Virtuos, we harness the latest technologies to make games better and more immersive than ever before. That is why we pride ourselves in constantly pushing the boundaries of possibility since our founding in 2004.

PLAY, GROW and WIN

To be a part of Virtuos means to be a creator. 

At Virtuos, we harness the latest technologies to make games better and more immersive than ever before. That is why we pride ourselves in constantly pushing the boundaries of possibility since our founding in 2004. 

Virtuosi is a team of experts – people who have come together to share their mutual passion for making and playing games. People with the same enthusiasm for exploring new ideas and the constant drive to excel in their field. People who believe in earning success through dedication.

At Virtuos, we are at the forefront of gaming, creating exciting new experiences daily. Join us to Play, Grow and Win – together.

ABOUT THE POSITION

About Us: Black Shamrock is a leading game development studio that thrives on creating captivating worlds and immersive gameplay. We are pioneering the future of game development with a AAA project that integrates cutting-edge AI systems and realism into gameplay. As part of our talented team, you’ll have the opportunity to shape an animation pipeline at the bleeding edge of to shape an animation pipeline at the bleeding edge of real-time performance, procedural behavior, and AI-generated motion working on an ambitious project that pushes boundaries in both creativity and technology.

About the Position: We’re seeking a Technical Animator to bridge the gap between traditional animation and advanced AI-driven systems. This role is pivotal in architecting runtime animation behaviors, collaborating with AI teams, and assisting in driving the animation integration process across gameplay and systems.

A deep understanding of rigging is essential—not only to collaborate with dedicated riggers, but also to contribute to the design and review of control systems, deformation setups, and the overall character pipeline. While not solely a rigging role, you’ll be actively involved in ensuring rigs support systemic and intelligent behaviors and may contribute directly where needed.

Responsibilities

• Design and maintain scalable, real-time animation systems that integrate with AI behaviors and procedural motion.
• Collaborate closely with AI engineers and gameplay developers to create adaptive, systemic character performances.
• Support rigging workflows, including the design and review of skeletal structures, facial systems, and deformation strategies.
• Build tools (in Python or MEL) that support animation retargeting, pose libraries, motion blending, or state-driven animation logic.
• Prototype and implement motion matching, IK solvers, and procedural animation techniques that support gameplay responsiveness and realism.
• Ensure clean integration and optimization of animation assets in engine (preferably Unreal).
• Help define and enforce animation quality and performance standards across the pipeline.

Qualifications

Need to Have:

• Experience in technical animation on at least one shipped AAA title (or equivalent complex real-time project).
• Expert-level skills in Maya (required) for animation, rig review, and technical workflows.
• Solid scripting experience in Python for automation and tool creation.
• Deep understanding of rigging systems, character setup, and skinning best practices.
• Strong knowledge of animation systems and runtime behaviors (blend trees, IK, state machines, Control Rig, etc.).
• Comfortable in discussions with rigging and animation teams and aligning rigging outputs with gameplay and AI needs.

Nice to Have:

• Experience with MotionBuilder for mocap processing (not required).
• Familiarity with Unreal Engine Control Rig and Sequencer.
• Exposure to motion matching, neural animation systems (e.g., DeepMimic, Phase-Functioned Neural Networks), or procedural animation.
• Background or interest in machine learning, behavior systems, or character AI.

About the Company

Founded in 2004, Virtuos is one of the largest independent video game development companies. We are headquartered in Singapore with offices in Asia, Europe, and North America. Specializing in full-cycle game development and art production, we have delivered high-quality content for more than 1,500 console, PC, and mobile games. Our clients include 23 of the top 25 gaming companies worldwide.

About Our Team

Black Shamrock was founded in 2016 and acquired by the Virtuos Group in 2017. The studio is Ireland’s largest PC and console game development studio and provides unique opportunities to work on multiple AAA titles. Our people are as diverse, exciting, creative, and dynamic as the projects that we work on. Black Shamrock is a place for talent to flourish and lifelong industry connections to begin.

Our in-house and full-service capabilities include narrative, game, sound and level design, animation, art, rigging, engineering, and graphics, to name a few areas our skilled team members work on. At Black Shamrock, we take pride in helping put Dublin on the world map as the birthplace of award-winning AAA games.