Sr. Technical Animator, VR

Join Axon and be a Force for Good. At Axon, we’re on a mission to Protect Life. We’re explorers, pursuing society’s most critical safety and justice issues with our ecosystem of devices and cloud software. Like our products, we work better together. We connect with candor and care, seeking out diverse perspectives from our customers, communities and each other. Life at Axon is fast-paced, challenging and meaningful. Here, you’ll take ownership and drive real change. Constantly grow as you work hard for a mission that matters at a company where you matter. Join Axon and Be a Force for Good At Axon, we're committed to our mission of Protecting Life. We stand at the forefront of tackling society's most pressing safety and justice challenges. Our approach combines innovative devices and cloud software into a comprehensive ecosystem, all driven by collaboration, empathy, and diverse perspectives from those we serve and work with. At Axon, you're not just a team member; you're a key player in a global mission to make a significant difference. We connect with candor and care, seeking out diverse perspectives from our customers, communities and each other. We are on a moonshot mission to reduce police-related gun violence by 50% over the course of 10 years. Build VR Solutions for Social Good Police primarily go through 40 hours of in-service training a year outside of the academy, and most of that time goes to topics like firearm and CPR recertification. There is not enough time to train on everything police need to be aware of. Officers who do learn a skill at in-service practice it once or twice, then are expected to remember it eight months later, under stress. Our goal is training that is more accessible, more memorable, and done more frequently. We call this "Roll Call" training: training that can be done before and after a shift to keep skills sharp. Public-safety training is broken. Today's training is ineffective, not scalable, and expensive. Axon's VR team creates engaging, effective training with scenario feedback, including Community Engagement Training and less-lethal weapon training (like TASER), so officers are prepared to use alternatives to Use of Force. Most police interactions are verbal and non-verbal, so we emphasize hand gestures and natural language processing. The trainee's body language, what they say, and how they say it all shape how they interact with NPCs (Non-Playable Characters) in the scenario. A trainer observes these interactions and gives feedback in a post-training debrief, and every product ties back into the Axon ecosystem through Axon Academy, Axon Evidence, Axon Performance, and Axon Standards. Your Impact You will join an interdisciplinary team tackling the biggest challenges in public safety training head-on, including immersive VR-based empathy, coping and de-escalation training that helps officers engage with the communities they serve with greater awareness and safety. As one of the expanding members of Axon's VR team, the Senior Technical Animator is the bridge between art and technology. You will own the animation pipeline and animation systems for our standalone-headset training simulators, turning motion-capture data into believable NPC behavior that runs within tight mobile performance budgets. You will partner with Art, Engineering, Content, UX and User Research to deliver the best immersive quality for our trainings. This is a senior role. We expect you to work independently, own your area end to end, and take direction from the Lead Technical Artist and the Art Director rather than needing day-to-day management. We believe happy teams make the best products, so we foster a friendly, open, introspective team culture that encourages everyone to speak their mind, collaborate, and have fun. The team runs daily check-ins and open-format meetings, plus a weekly VR Happy Hour in headset. We spend a lot of time with law enforcement officers to learn about their needs and see the real impact of our work, and we work closely with our Axon Community Impact team and community subject experts so our content reflects the needs of both law enforcement and community. Role Details - Location: Seattle, WA - Reports to: Lead Technical Artist, VR (with creative direction from the Art Director) - Direct reports: None - Platform: VR/XR training simulators on standalone headsets What You'll Do You will be a key member of the VR Art Team with a critical role in defining the animation pipeline. On any given day you may find yourself: - Owning the animation pipeline from DCC to engine: rigs, mocap ingest, retargeting, export, import, setup, and validation - Rigging characters for runtime-driven animation - Designing, building, and maintaining animation systems and character setups in Unity, including state machines, blend trees, and animation controllers - Building runtime IK and procedural animation layers, and blending them with authored and physics-driven motion - Building and maintaining facial animation setups, including ARKit-style blendshapes, lip-sync, and viseme systems - Evaluating and integrating AI animation tools (e.g., Cascadeur, Kimodo) into the team's workflow - Building tools and automation using AI toolsets to speed up the team's animation workflows - Partnering with Engineering on animation-driven gameplay and runtime behavior - Profiling and keeping animation cost within platform budgets (skinning, bone counts, Animator and Playables overhead) - Troubleshooting and resolving technical animation issues so animation integrates smoothly into the engine - Collaborating with Tech Art and the Animation team to evolve the animation system and create seamless, immersive animation that enhances the user experience - Documenting the pipeline and tools as they are developed, setting standards, and educating teammates on best practices - Communicating pipelines and methods to other artists and software engineers - Attending stand-ups and play tests to share progress and give notes on how the experience is playing What You Bring - Shipped at least one title as a Technical Animator - Strong skills as an animator, with the eye for timing, weight, and polish to elevate mocap data - Hands-on rigging experience - Experience with motion capture: cleanup, retargeting, and integrating captured data into Unity - Experience building and maintaining animation systems - Proficiency in Maya and/or MotionBuilder - Experience with the Unity Playables API - Familiarity with AI animation tools such as Cascadeur and Kimodo - Experience using AI-assisted development workflows (e.g., Cursor, Claude Code) in your daily work - Experience building tools and pipeline automation using AI toolsets - A portfolio demonstrating past work, including animation systems and pipelines - A track record of working independently and owning your deliverables, including in ambiguous environments - Ability to work with cross-functional teams, including Engineering, Design, and Product Requirements - Portfolio showcasing the best of your work with animation and any other relevant materials - Experience with character animation - 5+ years working in the gaming and/or VR industry - 5+ years of Unity or Unreal game engine experience Preferred - Unity experience (strongly preferred) - Experience with VR or mobile VR - Unreal Engine experience - Runtime IK experience (Animation Rigging or custom solutions) - Facial animation experience (ARKit blendshapes, lip-sync, visemes) - Experience profiling animation performance on mobile hardware - Experience blending authored and procedural or physics-driven animation, such as ragdoll - Experience building engine-side control rigs that facilitate motion editing - Experience with Motion Matching systems and pipelines - Version control experience (Perforce or Git) Benefits That Benefit You - Competitive salary and 401K with employer match - Discretionary paid time off - Robust parental leave policy - An award-winning office and working environment - Ride along with real police officers in real-life situations, explore a wide range of third-party VR content, get inspired - Get paid to play - And more Axon is a total compensation company, meaning compensation is made up of base pay, bonus, and stock awards. The actual base pay is dependent upon many factors, such as: level, function, training, transferable skills, work experience, business needs, geographic market, and often a combination of all these factors. Our benefits offer an array of options to help support you physically, financially and emotionally through the big milestones and in your everyday life. To see more details on our benefits offerings please visit https://www.axon.com/careers. Base Pay Range $104,250—$166,800 USD Axon is a total compensation company, meaning compensation is made up of base pay, bonus, and stock awards. The actual base pay is dependent upon many factors, such as: level, function, training, transferable skills, work experience, business needs, geographic market, and often a combination of all these factors. Our benefits offer an array of options to help support you physically, financially and emotionally through the big milestones and in your everyday life. To see more details on our benefits offerings please visit https://www.axon.com/careers. Base Pay Range $104,250—$166,800 USD Don’t meet every single requirement? That's ok. At Axon, we Aim Far. We think big with a long-term view because we want to reinvent the world to be a safer, better place. We are also committed to building diverse teams that reflect the communities we serve. Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they check every box in the job description. If you’re excited about this role and our mission to Protect Life but your experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification listed here, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles. Important Notes The above job description is not intended as, nor should it be construed as, exhaustive of all duties, responsibilities, skills, efforts, or working conditions associated with this job. The job description may change or be supplemented at any time in accordance with business needs and conditions. Some roles may also require legal eligibility to work in a firearms environment. We collect personal information from applicants to evaluate candidates for employment. You may request access, deletion, or exercise other CCPA rights at [email protected] or via our Axon Privacy Web Form. For more information, please see the Your California Privacy Rights section of our Applicant and Candidate Privacy Notice. Axon’s mission is to Protect Life and is committed to the well-being and safety of its employees as well as Axon’s impact on the environment. All Axon employees must be aware of and committed to the appropriate environmental, health, and safety regulations, policies, and procedures. Axon employees are empowered to report safety concerns as they arise and activities potentially impacting the environment. We are an equal opportunity employer that promotes justice, advances equity, values diversity and fosters inclusion. We’re committed to hiring the best talent — regardless of race, creed, color, ancestry, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship status, marital status, disability, gender identity, genetic information, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances — and empowering all of our employees so they can do their best work. If you have a disability or special need that requires assistance or accommodation during the application or the recruiting process, please email [email protected]. Please note that this email address is for accommodation purposes only. Axon will not respond to inquiries for other purposes. Phishing alert: Axon will never ask you to pay for any part of the hiring process, including training, equipment, or background checks. 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