Lead Animation Engineer (Apex Legends)
About Respawn Entertainment
Founded in 2010 by the original creators of the Call of Duty Franchise, Respawn was created with the philosophy that when talented people have creative freedom, they'll make extraordinary games that achieve the unexpected. From our roots as an indie studio to joining the expansive roster of studios at Electronic Arts, this remains our guiding principle. We truly love what we do and want to share our passion with players worldwide. Our shipped titles include critically acclaimed multi-platform games Apex Legends, Titanfall, Titanfall 2, Star Wars™ Jedi: Fallen Order, Star Wars™ Jedi: Survivor and Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond. Join us for the opportunity to create groundbreaking games with some of the best developer talent in the industry.
Role Overview
As a Technical Lead on our Animation team, you will drive the evolution of Apex Legends’ animation system at the core of our game. You will lead a team of animation engineers, taking ownership of building technical roadmaps and modernizing our animation system, working with riggers, animators, and tech art to add new capability and streamline workflows. In a fast-paced environment with frequent updates, you will carefully plan major technical changes to ensure a stable, shippable codebase. You are excited by the challenge of bringing years of content up to modern standards and keeping the animators working efficiently as we add new content, new capabilities, and evolve the Apex experience. Your role will require exceptional problem-solving, technical expertise, and collaborative leadership to simplify and enhance a mature, complex codebase, delivering seamless player experiences worldwide.
Responsibilities
Lead a team of animation engineers, fostering a collaborative, solutions-focused environment.
Partner with tech art, rigging, and the animation director to realize their vision.
Plan and execute major technical changes while maintaining a stable live-service codebase.
Analyze and improve existing animation systems to streamline performance and maintainability.
Define technical roadmaps and staffing plans aligned with long-term engine goals.
Mentor engineers through reviews, architecture discussions, and hands-on guidance.
Architect, implement, and maintain animation systems in C++.
Collaborate across disciplines to design efficient, scalable solutions.
Optimize systems for memory, CPU, and streaming performance.
Develop cross-platform for Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo hardware.
Debug and resolve complex animation issues in large-scale, live environments.
Identify risks in future roadmaps and build mitigation strategies.
Collaborate with the animation team to help improve their workflows.
Requirements
Passion for games and animation systems, with a deep understanding of animation fundamentals as well as the state of the art.
Demonstrates strong ownership, comfortable navigating ambiguity and finding pragmatic solutions.
Nimble, flexible and adaptable to changing requirements.
This role requires someone comfortable working in a custom engine environment, evaluating existing animation architecture, and helping evolve bespoke runtime animation workflows rather than relying on off-the-shelf animation graph, state machine, or animation-driven gameplay systems.
Technical expertise:
Deep expertise in C/C++ and real-time animation systems, with a strong focus on performance, memory efficiency, scalability, and runtime optimization in a AAA game environment.
Expertise in designing, developing, and maintaining runtime character animation systems and architecture, including animation playback, pose evaluation, blending, layering, additive animation, IK, procedural animation, locomotion presentation, ragdoll/physics integration, animation compression, and how to represent, select, sequence, synchronize, and blend animation at runtime.
Solid understanding of skeletal deformation systems, including skinning, blendshapes, corrective shapes, facial animation, character rigs, and runtime retargeting.
Strong knowledge of animation content pipelines, including the path from DCC tools such as Maya into engine runtime systems, with experience improving tools, validation, automation, iteration speed, and debugging workflows for animators and technical artists.
Versatility: Comfortable across engine domains and large codebases.
Experience: 10+ years in game development, including 5+ in animation and 3+ in a technical leadership role. Experience collaborating closely with animation, design, technical art, gameplay engineering, tools engineering, and production to build robust systems that support high-quality animation at scale.
Leadership: Proven ability to guide experienced engineers and align teams on complex goals.
Platform knowledge: AAA engines, console development (Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo), Perforce, Visual Studio, Windows; shipped at least one AAA title.
Skills: Expert debugging and performance optimization using industry profilers; cross-disciplinary collaboration and solutions-focused mindset.
Preferred: Bachelor’s degree in CS/Math, experience with PS5/Xbox Series X|S, multiplayer AAA titles.
Experience in motion matching.
Comfortable with Maya.
If you’re thrilled by the challenge of driving Apex Legends’ core engine systems forward and leading a talented team to solve tough technical problems, we want to talk to you! Don't let doubt deter you - we are an equal opportunity team excited about our next journey. Please submit your resume to apply. We will get back to you once we have a chance to review.