Principal Animation Engineer

About the Company:Founded in 2017 by visionary directors Anthony and Joe Russo, AGBO is an artist-led, Academy Award–winning independent studio redefining global storytelling across film, television, and gaming. With 15 #1 openings and more than $7 billion at the box office, its hits include Marvel's highest-grossing film Avengers: Endgame, the multi-Oscar-winning Everything Everywhere All at Once, and Netflix blockbusters The Gray Man and Extraction. AGBO's Citadel universe has become a worldwide Prime Video sensation, while recent projects in post-production, include The Bluff (Amazon MGM) and The Whisper Man (Netflix). Upcoming releases include Citadel Season 2 and Marvel Studios' epic Avengers: Doomsday (2026) and Avengers: Secret Wars (2027), both directed by the Russo Brothers and produced by AGBO.

In 2023, AGBO welcomed Donald Mustard—former Chief Creative Officer at Epic Games and co-creator of Fortnite—as a partner. Mustard brings a bold creative vision to AGBO: to expand what storytelling can be through immersive, interconnected worlds that span across media. We're building the future of storytelling—and we're looking for bold, creative minds to help shape it. If you're ready to help define what comes next, we'd love to meet you.Position Summary:AGBO is seeking a Principal Animation Engineer to lead the technical vision and development of animation systems for our interactive projects. This role focuses on building scalable, high-performance animation architecture that supports expressive, responsive, and emotionally resonant gameplay.

As a Principal Animation Engineer, you will define the technical direction for animation systems across the project—owning core runtime architecture and partnering closely with Animation, Design, and Technical Art. You'll play a critical role in ensuring our character performance and gameplay feel meet the cinematic and storytelling standards.

This role is based in Raleigh, NC, and we're primarily seeking candidates who are currently located in the area or are open to relocating. In-person collaboration with our technical and creative teams is essential to the success of this position.

Key Responsibilities:

• Define and lead the technical strategy for animation systems within Unreal Engine (UE5), ensuring scalability, maintainability, and performance.
• Architect and implement advanced runtime animation systems including state machines, animation blueprints, motion matching, locomotion systems, blending frameworks, and procedural solutions.
• Collaborate closely with animators to ensure animation content integrates seamlessly and performs optimally in-engine.
• Establish and communicate best practices for animation pipelines, performance optimization, replication, and networked animation systems.
• Serve as the primary technical partner to Animation leadership, translating creative goals into sustainable engineering solutions.
• Identify performance bottlenecks and proactively implement solutions to maintain high frame-rate targets.
• Partner with Design and Gameplay Engineering to ensure tight integration between animation systems, combat mechanics, and player controls.
• Contribute to tooling improvements and workflow enhancements that increase iteration speed and team efficiency.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Qualifications & Skills:

• 10+ years of professional experience in gameplay or animation engineering, with multiple shipped titles and at least one in a senior or principal capacity.
• Significant professional experience as an Animation Engineer on at least one shipped UE4 or UE5 title.
• Experience developing animation systems for a third-person game, with strong understanding of locomotion, combat, and character responsiveness.
• Deep expertise in C++ and Unreal Engine animation frameworks (Animation Blueprints, Montages, Blend Spaces, Control Rig, etc.).
• Strong understanding of character movement, camera systems, and player input responsiveness.
• Experience optimizing animation systems for performance across platforms.
• Proven ability to lead technical initiatives and mentor other engineers.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to clearly articulate technical concepts to non-engineering partners.

Bonus Skills:

• Experience with motion matching, procedural animation, IK systems, or advanced locomotion frameworks.
• Familiarity with network replication for character animation systems.
• Experience working on narrative-driven or cinematic gameplay experiences.
• Background in early-stage or prototype development environments.

Additional Information:

• This role is based in Raleigh, NC, and we're primarily seeking candidates who are currently located in the area or are open to relocating. In-person collaboration with our technical and creative teams is essential to the success of this position.
• Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the U.S.

AGBO Labs LLC is committed to operating fair and unbiased recruitment procedures allowing all applicants an equal opportunity for employment, free from discrimination on the basis of religion, race, sex, age, sexual orientation, disability, color, ethnic or national origin or any other classification as may be protected by applicable law. We aim to recruit the right people for the jobs we have to offer, and to assess applications on the basis of relevant skills, education and experience.AGBO participates in E-Verify -  English | SpanishThe job description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed by the employee(s) incumbent to this position.