Lead Creature Animator

Lead Creature Animator at Guerrilla

Guerrilla is looking for a Lead Creature Animator who is passionate about bringing machines to life through expressive, high-quality keyframe animation. In this role, you will lead a team responsible for crafting the iconic movement and combat behaviors of the mechanical creatures that inhabit our world. From agile scout-class machines to massive combat units, your work will be at the heart of our gameplay experience—delivering responsive, believable, and memorable performances that players interact with directly. If you thrive on challenge, love leading teams, and are obsessed with mechanical motion, this role is for you.

The Animation Team

At Guerrilla, the Animation team is a highly collaborative and creative group that focuses on crafting the lifelike motion of all characters and machines that populate our games. Our animators work closely with design, engineering, and AI to ensure that every machine movement—from patrol to attack—is both mechanically convincing and gameplay-relevant. We specialize in hand-keyed animation that emphasizes clarity, timing, and player feedback, and we’re always pushing for innovation in motion language and behavioral design.

What You Will Do

As Lead Creature Animator, you will:

• Lead and mentor a team of animators focused on machine animation
• Define the animation style and motion language, together with the Animation Director for a variety of machine types, ensuring consistent quality and visual identity across the game
• Create high-quality keyframe animations for gameplay, with a strong emphasis on weight, timing, physicality, and responsiveness
• Collaborate closely with Game Design, AI, and Tech Animation teams to integrate machine animations into behavior trees, animation systems, and gameplay loops
• Drive prototyping and iteration of new machine behaviors, combat patterns, and traversal mechanics
• Ensure animations are not only visually compelling but also clearly communicate gameplay intent and feedback to the player
• Participate in animation planning and reviews, helping the team stay on track and meet production goals
• Contribute to the development and improvement of animation tools and workflows within the engine

Who You Are

We’re looking for someone who:

• Has proven experience in game development as an Animator and Lead (5+ Animation and 2+ as Lead), with a strong focus on gameplay animation for non-humanoid entities
• Has a deep understanding of animation principles, particularly as applied to mechanical characters, quadrupeds, and complex, multi-limbed designs
• Possesses strong keyframe animation skills and a portfolio that demonstrates high-quality machine or creature movement
• Is confident leading teams and providing constructive feedback to other animators
• Is experienced with game engines and runtime animation systems, including blend trees, state machines, and behavior integration
• Thrives in a multidisciplinary environment and communicates effectively with design, engineering, and tech animation
• Is proactive, detail-oriented, and passionate about machine movement and animation-driven gameplay

Plusses

• Experience animating mechanical creatures or robots in a combat-driven game
• Knowledge of AI behavior systems and how animation integrates with them
• Familiarity with Maya and in-engine animation tools such as Unreal’s Blueprints, state machine systems, or similar proprietary game engine technologies
• Experience working on multi-player games, open-world or action-adventure games

If you're excited to be part of a cutting-edge, creative project, and possess the skills and experience we're looking for, we’d love to hear from you! Please apply with your CV, a cover letter, and a link to your reel showcasing your best and most recent relevant work.

Please note: This position is based in our studio, and we offer relocation and immigration support for the right candidate.