Lead Animation Engineer (Apex Legends

• British Columbia
• Canada
• California
• United States of America

Role

Worker Type

Regular Employee

Studio/Department

Work Model

Hybrid

Electronic Arts creates next-level entertainment experiences that inspire players and fans around the world. Here, everyone is part of the story. Part of a community that connects across the globe. A place where creativity thrives, new perspectives are invited, and ideas matter. A team where everyone makes play happen.

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.

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.

• 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.

• 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.
• 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,…