EA SPORTS is one of the world's leading sports entertainment brands, known for top-selling video game franchises, award-winning interactive technology, and cross-platform digital experiences. EA SPORTS creates connected gaming experiences that bring the emotion of sports to life through industry-leading titles, including Madden NFL, EA SPORTS FC, NHL, NBA LIVE, and UFC.

Meet the A-Team: an innovative Character Animation Research Team based in Vancouver, British Columbia, with talented remote members spread across North America. We are a cross-functional, applied R&D team, strategically positioned in EA to drive and disrupt the future of character animation technology. We are a self-motivated, collaborative team, empowered to constantly explore and leverage the latest innovations across the fields of animation, rigging, physics, and machine learning. Our technology has been used to create next-generation gameplay realism across EA titles including FC, Madden, NHL, UFC, Battlefield, and many others.

This team works 3 days/week onsite in our Burnaby studio.

Role Description:

The Senior Technical Artist will work with the A-Team Technical Art Directors, game team Technical Art Directors and central content teams to create tools, workflows and systems to achieve the highest quality character deformation. This includes investment in R&D for the future of rigging at EA.

Key Responsibilities:

Develop global rigging deformation workflows and systems with the goal of convergence and efficiency
Participate in and enhance the EA character community
Coordinate with content creators to achieve highest possible content to our game team partners
Partner with Technical Art Directors on rigging content game integration
Collaborate on solutions with other disciplines (Animation, Engineering and Art)
Evolve rigging domain along with changing industry technology and trends
Participate in development of training programs for A-Team
Collaborate on and follow A-Team best practices (code conventions, versioning, node naming, directory structure)
Participate in code and art reviews
Communicate risks and concerns with A-Team leadership
Work with A-Team on rigging deformation solutions
Aim to improve cross studio communication and team culture
Write documentation, where applicable

Required Technical Skills and Qualifications:

At least 10+ years of rigging experience in games and film
Expertise in creating common animation rigs, tools and workflows for rigging and animation
Expert knowledge in Maya
Expert knowledge in Python
Working knowledge in Motion Builder
Understanding of physical motion, weight, balance and form
Knowledge of human and creature anatomy
Experience with motion capture and motion retargeting
Experience with editor-based game development environments (Unreal, Unity)

Pay Transparency - North America

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

The ranges listed below are what EA in good faith expects to pay applicants for this role in these locations at the time of this posting. If you reside in a different location, a recruiter will advise on the applicable range and benefits. Pay offered will be determined based on a number of relevant business and candidate factors (e.g. education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, or business needs).

PAY RANGES

* British Columbia (depending on location e.g. Vancouver vs. Victoria) *$141,400 - $204,400 CAD

Pay is just one part of the overall compensation at EA.

For Canada, we offer a package of benefits including vacation (3 weeks per year to start), 10 days per year of sick time, paid top-up to EI/QPIP benefits up to 100% of base salary when you welcome a new child (12 weeks for maternity, and 4 weeks for parental/adoption leave), extended health/dental/vision coverage, life insurance, disability insurance, retirement plan to regular full-time employees. Certain roles may also be eligible for bonus and equity.

About Electronic Arts

We’re proud to have an extensive portfolio of games and experiences, locations around the world, and opportunities across EA. We value adaptability, resilience, creativity, and curiosity. From leadership that brings out your potential, to creating space for learning and experimenting, we empower you to do great work and pursue opportunities for growth.

We adopt a holistic approach to our benefits programs, emphasizing physical, emotional, financial, career, and community wellness to support a balanced life. Our packages are tailored to meet local needs and may include healthcare coverage, mental well-being support, retirement savings, paid time off, family leaves, complimentary games, and more. We nurture environments where our teams can always bring their best to what they do.

Electronic Arts is an equal opportunity employer. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, genetic information, religion, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, marital status, family status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We will also consider employment qualified applicants with criminal records in accordance with applicable law. EA also makes workplace accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities as required by applicable law.

Senior Technical Artist (Rigging & Deformation) - EA SPORTS Technology