Bonfire Studios

Lead Gameplay Animator

Bonfire Studios

full-time

Posted on:

Location Type: Hybrid

Location: Orange County • California • United States

Visit company website

Explore more

✨ AI Apply
Apply

Salary

💰 $196,500 - $247,133 per year

Job Level

Senior

About the role

  • Inspiring and guiding the animation discipline, setting the creative vision and quality bar for characters and combat in a competitive multiplayer game.
  • Leading and mentoring a lean animation team, fostering autonomy, accountability, and growth through clear expectations, constructive feedback, and thoughtful development.
  • Balancing leadership with hands-on creation, contributing directly to gameplay animation while setting standards and pushing ideas forward independently.
  • Partnering with cross-discipline leads (design, engineering, art, production) to align animation with gameplay systems, technical realities, and the overall player experience.
  • Owning combat feel and moment-to-moment gameplay expression, ensuring characters are readable, responsive, expressive, and impactful.
  • Driving production clarity and execution, prioritizing animation goals, pipelines, and team focus while balancing fidelity, performance, and schedule.
  • Evolving animation systems and workflows, including thoughtful use of motion capture, keyframe techniques, and external partnerships.
  • Guiding and reviewing external animation partners, maintaining a high craft bar across both internal and outsourced work.
  • Contributing to studio-wide hiring, onboarding, and team-building efforts to grow and strengthen the animation discipline.
  • Fostering accountability and self-sufficiency, empowering the team to solve problems proactively while maintaining strong collaboration.

Requirements

  • Proven experience creating high-quality, in-game animations, ideally across multiple shipped titles.
  • Understand competitive multiplayer combat and the critical role animation plays in readability, feel, and fairness.
  • Strong understanding of combat systems and how animation drives responsiveness and player satisfaction.
  • Experience developing animation systems, ideally in new or evolving engines.
  • Comfortable owning features end-to-end, from early exploration through final implementation.
  • Highly skilled at conveying character through gameplay animation, not just cinematics.
  • Push for animation excellence while always putting gameplay quality first.
  • Thrive in tight-knit, highly collaborative teams and communicate clearly across disciplines.
  • Self-directed, adaptable, and able to focus on what matters most for the game right now.
  • Value trust, openness, humility, curiosity, and enjoy learning alongside others.
  • Have a growth mindset and care deeply about helping teammates develop.
  • Want to make a meaningful impact on a new IP and shape both the role and the studio as we grow.
Benefits
  • Every new teammate receives equity
  • Full benefits package
  • Extra perks to make work (and life) better
Applicant Tracking System Keywords

Tip: use these terms in your resume and cover letter to boost ATS matches.

Hard Skills & Tools
in-game animationsanimation systemsmotion capturekeyframe techniquesgameplay animationcombat systemsresponsivenessplayer satisfactionfeature ownershipanimation excellence
Soft Skills
leadershipmentoringcollaborationcommunicationself-directedadaptabilityproblem-solvingtrustopennessgrowth mindset