As part of the Technical Art, Rigging team, you will create rigs for characters and props. You will oversee tool creation and maintenance for all other art disciplines. Working closely with animation, modeling, and concept teams, you will uncover new ways to improve workflow and ensure functionality, consistency, and quality. As a support, you will be the carry behind the carry, helping hoist up art teams on the strength of your rigs and tools. 

As a Principal Rigging Technical Artist on VALORANT, you will play a pivotal role in defining and elevating our next-generation standards for Rigging & Animation tools. Your expertise will be instrumental in crafting rigs of exceptional aesthetic quality and technical execution for characters, facial features, and props. Your expertise will be instrumental in developing high-quality agents and personalization content that resonate with our players.  This position offers the unique opportunity to shape the future of our rigging and animation tools, directly impacting the quality of our projects.

Responsibilities:

• Develop and maintain state-of-the-art rigging systems for characters and facial animations, ensuring seamless integration with Unreal Engine.
• Identify new opportunities to incorporate technology to increase art workflow efficiency and unlock new creative opportunities
• Direct team towards building the right rigging and animation tools that support animators and other artists through production tasks and workflow challenges
• Partner with other Technical Artists at the studio to develop a cohesive vision and shared standards across the Technical Art discipline
• Mentor and support your teammates in executing team goals and help them grow and develop as artists
• Provide technical support to artists working from our art workflows, collecting data to further improve the tools they are using
• Spread knowledge of the team’s processes and help teams expand their technical know-how
• Consistently give and take constructive feedback, direct next steps, and communicate clear goals and outcomes to your team

Required Qualifications:

• 8+ years of experience as a Rigging Technical Artist in games or related industries
• Body and facial rigging experience
• Strong knowledge of figure and facial anatomy
• Proficient Python developer
• Deep expertise in content creation tools, particularly Maya, and experience with a wide range of proprietary, self-created, or off-the-shelf rigging systems
• Proven mastery in body and facial rigging and experience rigging a wide variety of characters including humans, animals, and creatures
• Highly proficient communication skills and capacity to act as an ambassador between art and engineering
• Superb critical thinking skills, particularly as it pertains to translating artistic requirements to sustainable workflow design

Desired Qualifications:

• Expertise in game development using Unreal
• Proficiency in tool and content pipeline design and development
• Expertise in UI/UX design and front end development (PyQt/PySide skills are a plus)

As a part of the application process, candidates will be expected to provide a portfolio or demo reel of their work and may be asked to complete an art test.

For this role, you'll find success through craft expertise, a collaborative spirit, and decision-making that prioritizes the delight of players. We will be looking at your past studies, experience, and your personal relationship with games. If you embody player empathy and care about players' experiences, this could be your role!

Our Perks:

Riot focuses on work/life balance, shown by our open paid time off policy and other perks such as flexible work schedules. We offer medical, dental, and life insurance, parental leave for you, your spouse/domestic partner, and children, and a 401k with company match. Check out our benefits pages for more information.

Riot Games fosters a player and workplace experience that values teamwork embodied by the Summoner's Code and Community Code. Our culture embraces differences as a strength, and our values are the guiding principles for how we approach work. We are committed to putting diversity and inclusion (D&I) at the center of everything we do and promoting a fair and collaborative culture where Rioters treat one another with dignity and respect. We encourage you to read more about our value of thriving together and our ongoing work to build the most inclusive company in Gaming