Vacancies

Jobs in the Northern Ireland Sector

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Italic Pig

Italic Pig is an award winning indie animation and gaming studio rooted in Northern Ireland.

• First and foremost, they are a cheerful collection of decent human beings. They want working there to be fun, fair, and never stressful.
• They do their best to employ an inclusive, diverse team with a well-balanced spread of voices, backstories and experience.
• Their team is fully remote and has been since 2019, before it was cool.
• They pride themselves on their 4 day work week, letting you recoup over a longer weekend. It’s amazing. Your life will be better for it.
• They have unlimited annual leave. Seriously. Just be reasonable, take as much as you need, and they’ll pester you if you don’t take enough.

 

Game Director

Full Time (4 day week) – Remote – Permanent

Italic Pig are looking for a Game Director to join the leadership team for our upcoming multiplayer farming game. Our ideal candidate would have an exceptional knowledge of game development and a passion for wholesome games. We’re looking for someone who will take ownership, learn the project inside out, steer the design and implementation, and guide the rest of our experienced team to make this game with love and care.

What you’ll do

• Take responsibility for the game’s overall vision and direction.
• Develop and iterate the game’s design with input from all teams.
• Design and balance gameplay systems, progression loops, economies, and other core mechanics.
• Review features and content as they are implemented, to make sure they are excellent.
• Take an active part in project planning and studio management.
• Conduct gameplay evaluations with the team and playtesters, providing feedback and suggestions to help improve the game.
• Speak publicly as the external face of the game in podcasts, media and internal marketing.

What you’ll bring

• Plenty of development experience, with shipped titles.
• An excellent understanding of game design, especially wholesome games.
• Understanding of different disciplines – you need to be able to talk to programmers about programming, artists about modelling, and so on.
• Ability to write and communicate ideas clearly.
• Unity experience is ideal, but experience with other engines is good too.

How to apply

Application deadline: May 17th.

Please apply directly through this form.

We are only able to respond to successfully shortlisted candidates. Shortlisted candidates will be informed by May 23rd.

 

Lead Level Designer

Full Time (4 day week) – Remote – Permanent

Italic Pig are looking for an experienced Lead Level Designer to create an engaging, open world environment for our upcoming multiplayer farming game. You will have plenty of autonomy to help shape our world into an exciting player experience and ensure that your team understands the vision and design.

What you’ll do

• Create immersive gameplay scenarios that enhance the core mechanics and creative vision from block out to final quality.
• Lead a team of level designers to deliver high quality levels with effective feedback and mentorship practices, including performance evaluations. 
• Work closely with the Game Director and programming team to create an engaging, seamless world.
• Create an effective workflow to maintain high quality with efficient asset usage.

What you’ll bring

• Extensive experience in level design within Unity with at least one shipped title.
• A passion and knowledge for open world game and level design with a strong knowledge of layout, composition, flow and player interactions.
• An understanding of player motivations and psychology.
• Communicate effectively, meet deadlines, address challenges proactively, and have a drive for continuous learning and professional development.

Would be nice

• Experience using Git or other version control systems.

How to apply

Application deadline: May 17th.

Please apply directly through this form.

We are only able to respond to successfully shortlisted candidates. Shortlisted candidates will be informed by May 23rd.  

 

Rigger

Full Time (4 day week) – Remote – Permanent

Italic Pig are looking for an established 3D rigger to work on our upcoming multiplayer farming game. You’ll work closely with our art and animation leads to help breathe life into our characters and creatures. We’re looking for someone who can design accurate and efficient rigs, and who’s a great problem solver and troubleshooter.

What you’ll do

• Create fully scripted rigs and refine them according to animation and Unity game engine needs.
• Prototype, implement and refine puppet (skeleton), cloth (deformer based) or mechanical rigs.
• Troubleshoot and fix rig issues, collect feedback and fine tune rig behaviour.
• Create simple tools to help animation workflow and rig interaction.
• Develop pipeline and rigging standards.

What you’ll bring

• In-depth knowledge of Blender rigging (full body/facial).
• Understanding of exporting rigged models for game engines such as Unity.
• Python ability for Blender scripting.
• A passion for creating believable CG characters and creatures with the requisite attention to detail.
• Ability to write and communicate ideas clearly, including technical documentation.
• Knowledge of anatomy for bipeds and quadrupeds, skeletons and muscles.
• A good understanding of constraints and deformers.

Would be nice

• Animation skills.
• Basic knowledge of dynamics (Maya Hair, nCloth, nParticle etc.).
• Experience using Git or other version control systems.

How to apply

Application deadline: May 17th.

Please apply directly through this form.

We are only able to respond to successfully shortlisted candidates. Shortlisted candidates will be informed by May 23rd.  

 

Narrative Writer/ Designer

Full time contractor – Remote – 12 Months

Italic Pig are looking for a highly experienced Narrative Gameplay Writer to join our team on a contract basis. You will have significant autonomy to help create, expand and deliver a wholesome narrative experience for our upcoming multiplayer farming game. Working closely with the Game Director, you will be responsible for writing captivating storylines and character arcs, building towards a cohesive and immersive gameplay.

 

What you’ll do

• Drive the creation and development of story and character arcs.
• Work with the design team to aid in creating character-driven situations and accompanying dialogue for in-game tasks and resolutions.
• Provide context and meaning to the gameplay experience.
• Deliver scripts formatted appropriately to work with our systems in-engine.

What you’ll bring

• Prior experience as a Game Writer and a strong portfolio of writing samples.
• A strong understanding and passion for narrative game design and the impact of dialogue and text on player experience, with special interest in farming and life sims.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills.

Would be nice

• Experience using Unity or other game engines.
• Experience using Git or other version control systems.

How to apply

Application deadline: May 17th.

Please apply directly through this form.

We are only able to respond to successfully shortlisted candidates. Shortlisted candidates will be informed by May 23rd.  

 

Makematic

FREELANCE ANIMATOR/MOTION GRAPHICS DESIGNERS

Makematic are on the lookout for FREELANCE ANIMATOR/MOTION GRAPHICS DESIGNERS to work with us on some exciting upcoming projects.

Makematic  develop short-form educational content that combines live action with overlaid graphics, full-frame 2D animation and motion graphics. You’ll be working alongside an established and growing team of creatives – both staff and freelance – to develop fun, engaging and slick motion graphics and animated educational content.

This position is remote-hybrid. Makematic have a large office in Belfast city centre you are welcome to work from, but our cloud based workflow allows you the flexibility to work remotely as needed. (Please note the latter will require sufficient internet speed, as noted below).

Skills and Qualities:

Motion graphics/2D animation competence
Illustration skills
Comfortable working with live action video
Strong interpersonal and communication skills
Ability to follow the in-house style guide and maintain our clients’ brand guidelines and integrity
Flexible and receptive to feedback and altering animations/artworks to better suit client needs
Ability to work independently and collaborate with a team and be able to take directions from senior animators, directors and clients
Manage time effectively, ability to multi-task and meet deadlines

Essential skills:

Adobe After Effects
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Illustrator

Desirable:

Basic video editing skills
Experience in educational or explainer videos

Qualifications:

At least 3 years industry experience including video production, design and animation
Strong portfolio showcasing high-end digital design skills

** Because this position is remote-hybrid and requires moving large media files in a cloud based workflow, your remote office/home internet connection must be Minimum 20–25 Mbps download speed and 30 Mbps upload speed.

Apply here.

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JAM Media

 

Storyboard Artists

JAM Media are hiring Storyboard Artists to join our fantastic team for our CG animated production, ‘BeddyByes’. So if you are passionate about storytelling and animation, we’d love to hear from you. This role is a wonderful opportunity to join an exciting award winning company. For full details on the job and how to apply click on the link below.

We are committed to building a culturally diverse workforce. We welcome applications from individuals who are underrepresented in the Film and TV industry with a committed and passion to work in the industry. We would welcome applications from pairs of people who would like to job share. Please submit only 1 application with both CVs for the job share team attached, and add “job share” after the job title in the subject line.

Apply here.

Application Deadline: 17 May 2024

 

2D FX ANIMATOR

JAM are seeking applications from talented FX animators to join their fantastic team for an upcoming 2D animated production.

Job Description: 

Animators will design and animate FX animation to match the style of their new show. These FX’s will further enhance the characters and their magical environment using ToonBoom Harmony software. This is a full-time, specified purpose role.

Required Skills / Experience: 

• • Animate scenes and maintain consistency of production quality and style to deadline and to FX animation quota
  • Work with the Art Director and the production team to ensure that scenes are in line with the Director’s vision
  • FX animation production experience preferred

Key Requirements: 

• Good understanding of the technical aspects of ToonBoom Harmony
• Strong knowledge of FX design and animation fundamentals and principles
• Utilise FX concepts and video libraries when creating new FX
• Attention to detail, problem solving ability and taking direction in order to work in a collaborative environment
• Ensure the artwork is layered correctly, utilising file naming conventions to make ready for compositing stage
• This is a UK based position
• Roles available for both in house and remote working

Apply here.

 

Animation Supervisor 3D

Job Description: 

JAM is seeking applications from talented Animation Supervisors for an immediate start to join our fantastic team for a 3D animated production. Production on this exciting new series is underway and we are expanding the character animation team. For full details on the job and how to apply click on the link below.

We are committed to building a culturally diverse workforce. We welcome applications from individuals who are underrepresented in the Film and TV industry with a committed and passion to work in the industry. We would welcome applications from pairs of people who would like to job share. Please submit only 1 application with both CVs for the job share team attached, and add “job share” after the job title in the subject line.

Contact Details: https://www.jammedia.com/careers/3d-animation-supervisor-beddybyes/

Application Deadline: 13 May 2024

PLEASE NOTE: Successful applicants will be invited for interview within 4 weeks of the application deadline. If you have not been invited for interview by then your application has not been successful.