Senior Technical Artist (Apex Legends)

Electronic Arts creates next-level entertainment experiences that inspire players and fans around the world. Here, everyone is part of the story. Part of a community that connects across the globe. A place where creativity thrives, new perspectives are invited, and ideas matter. A team where everyone makes play happen.

Founded in 2010 by the original creators of the Call of Duty Franchise, Respawn was created with the philosophy that when talented people have creative freedom, they'll make extraordinary games that achieve the unexpected. From our roots as an indie studio to joining the expansive roster of studios at Electronic Arts, this remains our guiding principle. We truly love what we do and want to share our passion with players worldwide.

Our shipped titles include critically acclaimed multi-platform games Apex Legends, Titanfall, Titanfall 2, Star Wars™ Jedi: Fallen Order, Star Wars™ Jedi: Survivor and Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond. Join us for the opportunity to create groundbreaking games with some of the best developer talent in the industry.

The Senior Technical Artist, Technical Animator serves as a critical bridge between Animation, Concept Art, Rigging, Engineering, and Production teams. This role combines advanced technical expertise, problem-solving, workflow design, and content development support to enable the creation of high-quality animation systems and pipelines at scale.

This individual is responsible for architecting and driving technical animation solutions that improve content quality, production efficiency, and long-term maintainability. They proactively identify production challenges, design scalable workflows, develop tools and processes, and collaborate across disciplines to ensure successful delivery of game features and content.

In addition to technical leadership, the Senior Technical Artist acts as a key support partner to content creators, helping teams resolve complex production issues while mentoring others and promoting best practices across the studio.

Responsibilities

Serve as a technical animation subject matter expert, providing leadership in Maya animation systems, animation assets, and content development workflows.

Design, develop, and maintain rigging, deformation, simulation, procedural animation, and runtime systems that support high-quality gameplay experiences.

Develop scalable animation architectures that balance visual quality, performance, maintainability, and content production efficiency.

Leverage advanced knowledge of Maya coupled with deep understanding of animation systems (state management, blending, transition logic, and selection systems) to create rigs and systems that support and amplify animation workflows and content quality.

Utilize proprietary procedural rigging and animation systems to create high end cosmetic content that enhances realism, responsiveness to gameplay, and behaves in a systemic fashion.

Collaborate with Animation, Concept Art, Design, Gameplay Engineering, and other disciplines to define requirements and deliver technical animation solutions that support project goals.

Contribute to the evaluation, improvement, and scaling of animation pipelines, , identifying opportunities for workflow optimization, automation, and content reuse across teams and projects.

Establish, document, and champion best practices for animation system design, asset implementation, performance optimization, and long-term maintainability.

Diagnose and resolve complex issues spanning animation, tools, rigs, and content pipelines, using advanced debugging techniques to identify root causes and implement sustainable solutions.

Provide technical leadership, mentorship, and guidance to team members while driving alignment across disciplines on technical animation standards and workflows.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience working in proprietary internal game engines and development environments.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Expert level experience in Maya.
• Experience in writing Artist/Animator facing tools specifically for a large production environment.
• Proficiency in Python.
• Knowledge of physics-based animation.
• In addition to opportunities for creative impact and professional growth which come with being a member of our team, working at Respawn has many other perks and benefits! Learn more atrespawn.com/perks.
• If this opportunity sounds like a great fit for you, we encourage you to apply.

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) *$122,300 - $170,700 CAD
• California (depending on location e.g. Los Angeles vs. San Francisco) *$143,800 - $217,200 USD

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

In the US, we offer a package of benefits including paid time off (3 weeks per year to start), 80 hours per year of sick time, 16 paid company holidays per year, 10 weeks paid time off to bond with baby, medical/dental/vision insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, and 401(k) to regular full-time employees. Certain roles may also be eligible for bonus and other incentive programs.

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 other incentive programs.

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.