Stone Kite is hiring : Technical Animator in Chicago

Overview

Stone Kite is a world building studio that thoughtfully develops heroic universes across games, film, TV, comics, audio, and more. Built by veterans from game and entertainment studios such as Marvel, Disney, Pixar, Bungie, and Riot, our team leverages expertise and passion to build worlds that matter. We’re looking for a Technical Animator to take ownership of our Unreal Engine 5 gameplay animation systems. This foundational role will help bring our flagship world to life, by meticulously building, debugging, and polishing the pipelines that make characters responsive and alive in play. This includes designing state machines, implementing procedural features like IK and physics-driven reactions, sourcing and prototyping new animation content, and refining skinning and rigging workflows. You’ll also establish best practices, standards, and tooling to ensure the pipeline is clear, reliable, and scalable as the project and studio grows.

This is a high-impact role at the intersection of art, design, and engineering, combining technical precision with creative initiative. Success will require clear communication, adaptability, curiosity, and the confidence to guide animation decisions that carry through the full production pipeline.

This role is a remote based position.

What You’ll Do :

• Build, maintain, debug, and polish gameplay animation systems, including character animation blueprints
• Source and prototype animation content by creating new assets or adapting existing ones
• Implement procedural systems such as physics-driven reactions, inverse kinematics, and runtime adjustments
• Establish, document, and evangelize best practices, content standards, and tooling for the gameplay animation pipeline
• Collaborate with artists and engineers to implement and maintain a mesh skinning pipeline prototype in Blender
• Contribute to brainstorming, playtests, and feedback sessions to ensure animation elevates the moment-to-moment player experience

What You’ll Bring :

What You’ll Get :

The expected salary range for this position is $135,000 - $185,000 annually. The compensation package will also include a range of generous medical, dental, vision and other perks & benefits. Compensation decisions are determined using a variety of job-related factors such as skill set, geographic location, market demands, experience, and education / certifications. If we extend an offer for employment, we will consider all individual qualifications.

Stone Kite provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

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