Role Call Roundup: Animation jobs from January 12 to 18

January 20, 2025

Attention, recruits! And welcome to CartoonRecruit.com’s weekly Role Call Roundup. On the main page, I monitor and curate links to job posts (updated daily) from an ever-expanding list of animation studios. This blog is where I collect job posts from the past week and reflect on hiring trends across the animation industry.

This week, we collected 75 jobs on the website; 17 of which are remote. The studios currently seeking the most new hires are Method Studios (a VFX production company in Santa Monica) and Blizzard Entertainment (a game developer in Irvine). Ready to take a closer look?

Studio highlights and analysis

Method Studios is a VFX production company headquartered in Santa Monica, California, with specialized teams in New York, San Francisco, Atlanta, Vancouver, Montreal, Melbourne and Pune. Founded in 1998, the studio is known for their work on blockbuster feature films like Thor: Love and Thunder and RRR, episodic television such as For All Mankind and Game of Thrones, as well as advertising for clients including e.l.f. and TJ Maxx. The studio was acquired by Framestore in 2020. Method Studios was seeking ten roles over the past week in Santa Monica, with six listings still open:

Blizzard Entertainment is a game developer in Irvine, California, which was acquired by Activision in 2008. Founded by Allen Adham, Frank Pearce and Michael Morhaime in 1991, the developer is best known for its franchises which include Warcraft, Diablo and Overwatch as well as the hit mobile game Hearthstone. Blizzard is currently hiring for five roles in Irvine:

Hybrid and on-site highlights

Want your next production to be inside an animation studio? Like, corporeally and not through a zoom call or astral projection? The jobs in this category include listings that are either entirely on-site or require a set amount of time collaborating with peers in-person throughout the week.

USA:

Blizzard is hiring a Lead VFX Artist (Hearthstone) (Irvine, California): “As the Lead VFX Artist on Hearthstone you will work with art leadership to help build the vision of VFX art across our live, feature and project developments.“
DreamWorks is hiring a Story Artist (Feature) (Glendale, California): “Knowledge of acting, anatomy, perspective, staging and composition. Ability to come up with inventive ideas to plus story material. Strong sense of entertainment and humor.“
Method Studios is hiring a Senior CG Generalist (Temporary) (Santa Monica, California): “The CG Generalist, Sr. will work closely with the VFX department stakeholders. You will come with previous background and experience in Look Development & Lighting, modeling, texturing, some form of rigging or rig optimization, Asset generation, and 3D scene layout.“

Canada:

Industrial Light and Magic is hiring a Hard Surface Modeler (Expression of Interest) (Vancouver, British Columbia): “The Hard Surface Modeler places an emphasis on proportion, form, detail, and functionality, crafting three dimensional assets for production use.“
Mainframe Studios is hiring a Keyframe Animation Director (Vancouver, British Columbia): “Under the guidance of the Director, on a CG animated series, the Keyframe Animation Director provides creative leadership and guidance to our outsource studio.“
Electronic Arts is hiring a Character Artist (EA Sports FC) (Vancouver, British Columbia): “Our character artists are dynamic and efficient modelers with sculpting and texturing skills – able to create outstanding content with an imagination that is constantly in motion.“

UK:

Aardman is hiring an Attractions & Live Experiences Executive (Project Manager) (Bristol, England): “A key role sitting at the centre of Attractions & Live Experiences. Essential to managing and driving new business opportunities for Live Events & Attractions and in developing and increasing Aardman’s experiential partnerships. To provide all aspects of Attractions & Live Experiences project management.“
Outpost VFX is hiring a Production Manager (Bournemouth or London, England): “Working closely with the Producer, you will be responsible for the overall schedule, targets and daily priorities for the team, leading to final delivery.“
Blue Zoo is hiring a Toon Boom Harmony Animator (Mid-Level) (London, England): “Our character animators are fantastic storytellers. Their day-to-day focuses on punchy comedic timing, charming acting choices, and production deadlines, whilst meeting that all important brief from our Directors and Clients.“

Australia:

Firemonkeys is hiring a CG Animation Intern (Melbourne, Victoria): “Your skills and curiosity will help expand The Sims FreePlay world that empowers our passionate players to create Sims experiences that are unique to them.“
Flying Bark Productions is hiring a Senior 2D Rough Animator (Sydney, New South Wales): “The Senior 2D Rough Animator is responsible for bringing life to the characters of the Programs, with an emphasis on enhancing the story and audience connection with the characters and narrative.“
Framestore is hiring a Lighting TD (Junior to Mid-Level) (Melbourne, Victoria): “The Lighting TDs are responsible for the lighting and rendering of elements required to complete visual effects shots for high-end photo-realistic VFX films.“

Remote work highlights

Looking for productions which offer the flexibility to work from home full-time? CartoonRecruit.com sorts remote jobs into two categories. “Remote” is for jobs that can be performed within a wide geographic area, while “Remote (Local)” only allows for remote work in a specific city or region.

These distinctions can be important, as it’s not unusual for TV and film productions to be supported by tax credits which incentivize hiring employees in a particular region.

Remote highlights:

Cloud Chamber is hiring a Principal Character Technical Animator (USA): “Cloud Chamber is looking for a Principal Character Technical Animator to work closely with the animation and programming teams to push the creative vision and technical boundaries.“
Insomniac Games is hiring a Senior Animator (Traversal Gameplay) (USA): “In this role, the Senior Animator is responsible for creating traversal animation at the highest quality level set by Lead Animators and Animation Directors.“
Method Studios is hiring a Modeler (Temporary) (USA): “As a Company 3/Method Inc Modeler, you will help create and design accurate and efficient models in the assigned time frame as outlined by the project schedule. You will exhibit a high degree of technical skill and artistic judgment.“
Method Studios is hiring a Digital Matte Painter (Temporary) (USA) “You will be proficient at digitally painting photo-real environments and landscapes primarily using Photoshop. You’ll be responsible for creating photorealistic paintings that are used as an element to either embellish or replace live-action footage.“
That's No Moon Entertainment is hiring a Senior Gameplay Animator (Project Hire) (USA): “We are looking for a Senior Gameplay Animator with a passion for creating incredible animations for a AAA title, with a strong focus on player driven actions and combat systems.“
Hasbro is hiring a Technical Artist (USA): “Tech Art’s goal is to empower artists to achieve their vision, while meeting the performance requirements of our game and hitting production landmarks.“
Ingenuity Studios is hiring a Pipeline Technical Director (USA): “Work closely with studio departments to develop, maintain and improve pipeline tools. Enable artists to work faster and more efficiently by removing barriers and repetitive tasks.“
Barnstorm VFX is hiring a Compositing Lead (Canada): “You are able to work with a producer to assist in bid shots and can design workflows and estimate artist time and tasks from script, concept and/or video references.“
Ingenuity Studios is hiring an FX Artist (Canada): “Ingenuity Studios is seeking experienced FX Houdini Artists to work alongside members of the CG Department and work collaboratively with our Compositing Department on a variety of traditional and complex particle and dynamics based fx work.“
DNEG VFX is hiring a FX TD (Australia): “FX TDs at DNEG gather a variety of 3D assets produced by our Build, Layout and Animation departments and use off the shelf software – primarily Houdini – and custom pipeline tools to create high-quality particle, pyro, rigid body, fluid, cloth, fur and hair simulations for top VFX Feature Films.“
DNEG VFX is hiring a Compositor (Mid to Senior) (Australia): “Compositors at DNEG work closely with VFX Supervisors and 2D Supervisors to composite the numerous elements that complete a visual effect shot, including live-action and computer graphic elements.“

Remote (Local) highlights:

Atomic Cartoons is hiring a CG FX Artist (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada): “Design and animate effects utilizing Houdini for smoke, clouds, fire, lava, and water that meet the technical and aesthetic standards of the project.“
DNEG VFX is hiring a Layout Technical Supervisor (Feature) (Montreal, Quebec, Canada): “In this role, you will work directly with multiple show crews and supervisors to solve technical issues, support and develop the layout department tools and techniques for current FEAT projects, and advance the studio's layout capabilities.“
ZŌIC is hiring a 2D Senior Compositor (Expression of Interest) (British Columbia, Canada): “Our studio is seeking Nuke compositors with strong shot finishing skills for a variety of episodic streaming projects across different services. The ideal candidate will be highly skilled using Nuke within a production pipeline with strong CG integration capabilities.”
Disney Television Animation is hiring an Animatic Editor (Multiplatform) (Burbank, California, USA): “The Animatic Editor will handle video editing, media management, basic sound, music and delivery.“

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We believe that the best thing that artists applying for a job can do is to research the studio they are applying to, and we want to help provide specific advice for artists applying to a wide variety of studios.

Signing off for now

That’s all for this week, recruits! Have thoughts or feedback about our project? Feel free to message me by email at mike@cartoonrecruit.com, or send a DM to our LinkedIn page or @cartoonrecruit.com on Bluesky. I will do my best to reply to every non-spam message I receive.

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