2D Animator

About the role

The 2D Animator Opportunity at Peakgames represents a pivotal role within our vibrant creative studio, where your expertise will be instrumental in shaping the visual narrative of our interactive entertainment. You will own the end-to-end animation process for a diverse portfolio of game projects, ensuring that every character and object moves with intention and impact. This position requires you to breathe life into meticulously crafted concepts, transforming static illustrations into dynamic performances that captivate millions of players worldwide. You will be the driving force behind the motion that defines the personality and feel of our games, making the digital world feel alive and responsive. Your work will directly influence player immersion and satisfaction, as you translate artistic direction into tangible, fluid movement. You will act as a critical bridge between the art department and engineering teams, ensuring that creative visions are realized within technical constraints. Ultimately, your mastery of animation principles will set the standard for quality across our product lines.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Analyze project requirements and game design documents to identify the specific animation needs for characters, objects, and UI elements.
• Construct key poses and generate in-between frames to create lively, believable movement for creatures, objects, and effects within the game environment.
• Draft scene layouts that accurately establish spatial relationships, camera angles, and movement paths to ensure coherence in the final animated sequence.
• Shape personality and emotion through the strategic use of spacing, arcs, and precise timing to make movements feel intuitive and responsive to player input.
• Inspect raw animation cycles rigorously to verify clarity, readability, and technical correctness, even during the most intense and fast-paced action sequences.
• Coordinate closely with interface designers to ensure that UI elements move in clear, understandable ways that enhance the overall user experience and accessibility.
• Ship complete animation sets that integrate seamlessly with existing gameplay mechanics, tools, and engine pipelines without disrupting the production schedule.
• Partner with engineers to adapt animation files, resolve technical issues, and optimize performance to maintain stable functionality across all target platforms.
• Adhere strictly to art guidelines while simultaneously adding believable weight, appeal, and a sense of life to every animation cycle and transition.
• Maintain clean, well-structured, and logically named folders and files so that artists and engineers can easily locate, review, and reuse your work efficiently.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to iterate on feedback, ensuring that animation direction aligns with the evolving creative vision and technical limitations.
• Contribute to the establishment and refinement of animation best practices and style guides to ensure consistency across all game content.
• Optimize animation workflows to improve iteration speed and reliability, allowing the art team to focus on creativity rather than technical hurdles.
• Act as an animation quality assurance partner, identifying and reporting any inconsistencies or technical defects before content is finalized for release.
• Support the broader production schedule by managing multiple animation tasks concurrently while adhering to strict deadlines and milestones.

Requirements

To excel in this position, you must possess three to five years of professional experience in 2D animation within a games or interactive media environment. A strong proficiency with 2D rigging tools is required, along with a deep understanding of fundamental motion principles such as squash and stretch, anticipation, and follow-through. You must demonstrate the ability to export files that strictly match the technical specifications required for games, including naming conventions, file formats, and optimization standards. It is crucial that you can adhere to art guidelines while simultaneously adding believable weight, appeal, and a sense of life to your animations without deviating from the established visual direction. Your work should always aim to enhance the overall artistic vision of the project, ensuring that movement supports the narrative and emotional goals. You must be highly organized, with a meticulous approach to file management and version control to prevent production bottlenecks. Strong communication skills are essential, as you will need to articulate your creative decisions and collaborate effectively with engineers and designers. A proven track record of delivering high-quality animation on time is non-negotiable for success in this role.