Unreal Engine Engineer (Skeletal Animation)

Onsite, Santa Clara, CA

W2 Contract to Possible Hire

Widely considered to be one of the technology world’s most desirable employers, we are an industry leader with groundbreaking developments in avatars, artificial intelligence, and visualization.

We are seeking a skilled Unreal Engine Skeletal Animation Developer to support the Interactive Avatar Team, which drives the development of our Avatar Cloud Engine (ACE). ACE is a comprehensive suite of AI tools designed to create lifelike avatars and digital humans in real-time environments.

In this role, you will be a key contributor to enhancing the ACE Unreal Plugin by expanding its capabilities to include skeletal animation, allowing for full-body character movements driven by real-time data. You'll work with a highly collaborative team of engineers, developers, and artists to innovate in the field of digital human animation.

What you’ll be doing

• Extend the existing ACE Unreal Plugin to support skeletal animations for characters driven by data from our real-time animation services.
• Develop new features in Unreal Engine, including creating Anim Graph nodes to handle skeletal animations and implementing IK retargeting to apply animations to various character skeletons.
• Work with the ACE team to maintain and enhance plugin components, focusing on real-time synchronization of audio and animations.
• Design and implement data handling structures to support full-body character animations, using the NVIDIA Digital Human reference rig as a baseline.
• Develop sample assets and documentation to enable customers to integrate skeletal animations into their projects easily.

What we need to see

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Game Development, Animation, or a related field with 3+ years of experience.
• Strong experience with Unreal Engine, particularly in character animation, skeletal systems, and the use of Anim Graph editor.
• Proven skills in C++ development for Unreal Engine, including plugin creation and multi-threading for high-performance applications.
• Familiarity with rig and retargeter workflows within Unreal, and the ability to adapt reference animations to different character skeletons.
• Background in real-time character animation, including knowledge of local and component space transformations, blend shapes, and facial animation.
• Experience working with source control systems like Git and GitLab.
• Ability to write clear user documentation, preferably in reST/Sphinx format.

How to stand out from the crowd

• A passion for digital human technology and character animation, with an eye for detail in animation quality.
• Skills in real-time animation tools, audio synchronization, and cloud-based systems for scalable character animation.
• Proven ability to work in interdisciplinary teams, collaborating with artists, animators, and developers to achieve shared goals.
• Strong understanding of rigging, bone transforms, and applying IK solutions dynamically in Unreal Engine.

TCWGlobal is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based on age, ethnicity, gender, nationality, religious belief, or sexual orientation.

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.