Principal Animator

As a Principal Animator, you are a highly skilled artistic expert responsible for defining and maintaining the highest quality standards within your area of specialization. This role bridges artistic vision and execution by setting benchmarks, developing workflows, and mentoring team members. You will collaborate closely with Animation Directors, Associate Animation Directors, Team Leads, Animators and other departments to ensure the creative vision is consistently achieved across all stages of production.

What you’ll do:

• Establish and maintain high artistic standards, ensuring consistency and alignment with the creative vision of the project.
• Craft impactful, high-quality animations that serve as benchmarks for the team, showcasing excellence in technical and artistic execution.
• Define and guide workflows, tools, and best practices specific to the animation specialization.
• Balance artistic vision with technical constraints, ensuring that outputs align with production performance goals.
• Collaborate with Animation Directors and Associate Animation Directors to support and reinforce the overall animation style and goals of the project.
• Act as a bridge between disciplines (Animation, Tech Animation, Art, Game Design) to create cohesive and optimized assets that satisfy both creative and functional needs.
• Partner with other Principal Animators to ensure consistency across animation disciplines and integration with technical pipelines.
• Serve as a mentor for animators, providing hands-on feedback, training, and support to raise the team's overall proficiency.
• Offer assistance and guidance proactively rather than through formal managerial structures like task delegation.
• Promote a collaborative culture of learning and innovation by sharing knowledge of advanced tools, techniques, and animation principles.
• Stay informed about emerging trends, tools, and practices within the industry.
• Drive innovation in their specialized field, integrating new methods to improve artistic quality and production efficiency.
• Assess team and project needs for involvement, adapting responsibilities based on project scope, skill levels within the team, and existing leadership capabilities, without creating redundancy or unnecessary complexity.

• 7+ years of experience in game animation production. 
• Evidence of past leadership contributions, including mentorship, stylistic guidance, or technical process improvement.
• Expert knowledge of tools and techniques relevant to their specialization.
• Solid understanding of game engines (e.g., Unreal Engine, Unity) and how animation assets integrate into production pipelines.
• Advanced knowledge of optimization techniques and technical constraints for game assets.
• Strong grasp of artistic principles such as composition, color theory, proportion, lighting, and texture detail.
• Ability to create visually stunning animation or prototypes that uphold the artistic vision.
• Strong leadership and communication skills.
• A proven ability to work across teams and disciplines to create alignment and maintain workflows.
• A collaborative mindset and desire to support team growth and innovation.

What to send our way

• A portfolio of your best work (you can attach images or provide us with a password link) as well as your CV highlighting your education, experience and skills.

About us

Ubisoft is a global leader in gaming with teams across the world creating original and memorable experiences, from Assassin’s Creed and Rainbow Six to Just Dance and beyond. We believe diverse perspectives help both players and teams thrive. If you’re passionate about innovation and pushing entertainment boundaries, join our journey and help create the unknown!

This posting is for an existing vacancy and is not intended to build a candidate pool for future opportunities.

The yearly base salary range for this full-time position is $120,000 to $140,000 CAD. Your actual base pay will be determined following the interview process, taking into account your experience, skills, scope of responsibilities, and qualifications to ensure fair compensation.

We also embrace a hybrid work model to keep you connected with your team while supporting work-life balance. Please note that some roles are fully office-based and may not be eligible for hybrid work.