About Iconic:

We’re building digital actors: AI-driven characters that don’t just talk, but act; shaping the world, responding to the player, and driving stories that evolve through both words and actions.

The Mission:

We believe games and interactive media are on the verge of a fundamental shift.

Today’s experiences are largely scripted, characters follow predefined paths, and player choice is limited. We’re building systems that change that: digital actors that can think, communicate, and take action in real time.

Our goal is to create worlds that are truly alive—where stories emerge from interaction, and every player experience is unique.

Recent advances in AI make this possible for the first time. The challenge now is turning that potential into real, scalable systems that people can play.

The Role:

We’re looking for a Technical Artist with a strong focus on rigging and animation systems to help bridge the gap between art and engineering.

You’ll play a key role in building performant, scalable character and animation pipelines, while also contributing hands-on to asset creation when needed.

This is a hybrid role: equal parts problem-solver, pipeline builder, and creative collaborator.

You’ll be central to how characters and animation come to life in our projects, ensuring they not only look great but behave reliably in a real-time environment. Your work will directly impact both creative expression and technical performance.

What You’ll Do:

Rigging & Animation Systems

• Create high-quality rigs for characters, creatures, and props (biped, quadruped, stylized, etc.)
• Build and maintain animation systems (state machines, blend trees, procedural layers)
• Collaborate with animators to ensure rigs are intuitive, flexible, and production-ready
• Implement animation assets into engine (Unity/Unreal), ensuring fidelity and performance
• Troubleshoot deformation, skinning, and runtime animation issues

Pipeline & Tools

• Develop and improve rigging/animation pipelines and workflows
• Create tools/scripts (Python, C#, or similar) to streamline production
• Work closely with engineering to integrate animation tech (IK systems, physics, runtime solvers)
• Optimize assets and systems for performance across target platforms

Art Collaboration

• Partner with artists, designers, and engineers to ensure assets meet technical constraints
• Support asset integration and validation in engine
• Provide guidance on best practices for animation, rigging, and asset setup

What We’re Looking For:

Core Skills

• Strong experience in rigging and skinning (Maya, Blender, or equivalent)
• Solid understanding of animation principles and workflows
• Experience implementing animation systems in Unity or Unreal Engine
• Good understanding of real-time constraints and performance considerations

Technical Ability

• Scripting experience (Python, MEL, C#, or similar)
• Experience building or maintaining art pipelines/tools
• Comfortable debugging technical issues across DCC tools and game engines

Art Fundamentals

• Understanding of anatomy, deformation, and motion
• Willingness to jump into modelling/texturing tasks when needed

Mindset

• Problem-solver who enjoys bridging art and code
• Collaborative and communicative across disciplines
• Pragmatic: balances quality, performance, and production realities

Nice to Have:

• Experience with procedural animation systems or runtime rigging
• Knowledge of physics-based animation or simulation
• Familiarity with version control (Git, Perforce)
• Experience with VFX Graph / Niagara / shader workflows
• Interest in emerging tech (AI-assisted animation, runtime generation)

Why Join Us:

• Build at the frontier of AI and interactive entertainment
• High ownership and direct impact in a small team
• Work on technically challenging, meaningful problems
• Help shape how shape how characters and animation behave in a new kind of interactive system
• London-based team with in-person collaboration