3d Animator, Bethesda Game Studios, Canada

3D Animator job overview : Welcome to
Bethesda Game Studios, the award-winning development team behind some of the most iconic, critically acclaimed, and genre-defining franchises in interactive entertainment history, including
Starfield ,
The Elder Scrolls, and
Fallout. At Bethesda, we don’t just build games;
we create massive, living worlds that players inhabit for thousands of hours.Our studio culture is built on the belief that groundbreaking creativity flourishes when our people are supported, valued, and inspired. We are committed to offering our employees a thoroughly well-balanced home and work life. We achieve this by providing highly competitive salaries, a generous and comprehensive benefits program, and creative studio environments located in some of North America’s most vibrant and culturally rich cities.With a definitive goal of cultivating a workforce and studio culture as fun, diverse, and inclusive as our global player base, we proudly welcome applicants with unique skillsets, varied experience levels, and diverse backgrounds. If you are deeply passionate about making a meaningful, lasting contribution to some of the most significant, widely anticipated games in the industry, we want to hear from you!Job Overview : 3D Animator
Job Attribute
DetailsPosition
Animator (First-Person Focus) / Animateur(trice)Studio
Bethesda Game Studios (Developer of
Starfield ,
Fallout ,
The Elder Scrolls )Location Options
Rockville, MD | Austin, TX | Dallas, TX | Montreal, QCDepartment
Art (Animation)Base Salary Range
$70,000 – $155,000 / year (Dependent on primary work location)Core Software
Maya, 3ds Max, or Blender (Required);
MotionBuilder (Asset)Key Qualifications
3D Animation training, strong hand-keyed principles, attention to detailBonus Skills
First-person animation, motion capture, creature animation, animation graphsUnion Representation
Yes (Represented by the Communication Workers of America – CWA)The Role: Animator (First-Person Focus)
Bethesda Game Studios
is seeking a talented, expressive, and technically proficient
First-Person Animator
to join our elite core Art Department. In this role, your craft will directly dictate the physical feel, immersion, and tactile feedback of our game worlds. You will focus heavily on the mechanics, weight, and subtle nuances of first-person gameplay perspective—ensuring that every weapon draw, spell cast, object interaction, and traversal mechanic feels incredibly responsive, punchy, and visually flawless.We will consider exceptional candidates for placement across any of our four primary Bethesda Game Studios physical office locations:This position is a prominent part of a collective bargaining unit and is proudly represented by the
Communication Workers of America (CWA), ensuring a structured, fair, and advocate-supported workspace.Core Responsibilities
1. High-Fidelity Asset Creation & Artistic Execution
Hand-Keyed Animation:
Masterfully apply core animation principles (timing, weight, secondary motion, squash and stretch, anticipation) to author premium, high-quality, hand-keyed animations that define the player’s primary perspective.Artistic Iteration:
Seamlessly adapt and refine animations based on constructive feedback and the overarching artistic direction provided by Lead Animators and Directors.Mechanical Integration:
Implement and rigorously maintain your animations directly within our proprietary engine architecture, troubleshooting runtime hitches to guarantee visual consistency.2. Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration & Communication
Gameplay & Cinematic Synergy:
Collaborate dynamically with gameplay designers, programmers, sound designers, and technical artists to map out animation requirements that elevate both active gameplay feel and scripted cinematic moments.Positive Developer Relations:
Actively and positively engage with developers outside of your immediate art discipline, cultivating a highly productive, respectful, and innovative environment across departments.External Coordination:
Clearly articulate, document, and communicate specific asset dependencies, technical needs, or quality standards to out-of-team dependencies or external partners.Peer Reviews:
Cultivate a studio-wide mindset of growth by providing insightful, highly constructive, and clear peer-to-peer feedback to fellow animators on the team.Prototyping & R&D:
Assist in the early prototyping of new gameplay mechanics or custom rigging solutions, solving visual or structural technical bottlenecks proactively.Qualifications: What Makes You S.P.E.C.I.A.L.
To thrive in our pipeline, candidates should possess a blend of artistic excellence, robust technical comprehension, and an exemplary collaborative spirit:Core Animation Mastery:
Exceptional animation skills showcasing a profound, intuitive understanding of body mechanics, weight distribution, and a persistent drive to push the envelope of real-time movement.Attention to Detail:
A hyper-focused eye for micro-movements, clipping issues, frame-pacing, and the minute details that separate standard movement from award-winning immersion.Adaptability & Coachability:
A self-motivated team-player mindset paired with an open, cooperative attitude, displaying the distinct ability to pivot gracefully through pipeline changes and absorb constructive feedback.Organization & Time Management:
Stellar time management, prioritizing deliverables accurately within rigid production sprints and maintaining pristine data management habits.Communication Prowess:
Superb oral and written communication skills to articulate complex technical animation hurdles or stylistic concepts clearly.Targeted Training:
A university degree, college education, or intensive, guided formal training program focused heavily on 3D character animation.Software Competency:
Proven proficiency in key industry-standard DCC applications, with deep competence in
Autodesk Maya ,
3ds Max, or
Blender .Unbridled Passion:
A lifelong passion for gaming, interactive entertainment, and a relentless desire to push real-time animation quality to the absolute next level.Preferred & Bonus Skills
While not strictly mandatory, candidates possessing the following credentials will stand out significantly:Industry Track Record:
Prior professional experience animating within a collaborative game development lifecycle or as part of an established studio team.First-Person Expertise:
Specialized, demonstrable experience animating meticulously for first-person perspective titles (e.G., weapon reloads, hands-only manipulation, camera-shake integration).Mocap Familiarity:
Practical experience manipulating, cleaning, and blending motion capture data inside
Maya
or
Autodesk MotionBuilder .Creature Animation:
Strong proficiency in creature body mechanics, quadruped design, and fantasy monster animation.Animation Graphs:
Hands-on experience working directly with interactive state machines, behavior trees, and animation graphs within modern game engines.Expected Salary Range
The typical base pay range for this position at the start of employment is expected to be between
$70,000 – $155,000 per year .Location-Based Pay Variations:
ZeniMax Media maintains tailored base pay structures for various work locations across the United States and international offices. This enables us to compensate our staff competitively and consistently within distinct geographic job markets. The broad range displayed above reflects potential U.S. base pay;
your specific base pay will depend squarely upon your primary designated work location, role complexity, individual skill sets, and verified relevant experience. Base pay structures are evaluated and updated annually.At ZeniMax, core dedication is rewarded. Eligible roles have access to performance-based financial incentives, including:Merit-based salary increasesDiscretionary performance bonusesFor personnel based out of our United States offices (Rockville, Austin, Dallas), our premium benefits tier includes:Healthcare & Wellness:
Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance plans alongside dedicated wellness benefits.Financial Protection:
Fully employer-backed short-term and long-term disability coverage, along with basic life insurance policies.Retirement Planning:
Robust 401(k) retirement plan featuring a highly competitive company matching contribution program.Work-Life Balance:
Generous allotment of paid vacation time, dedicated paid sick and mental health time off, and numerous observed paid company holidays throughout the year.Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
At Bethesda Game Studios and ZeniMax, we purposefully embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion across every single vector of our operation. This core philosophy guides how we recruit talent, publish art, and govern daily operations to ensure safe, deeply respectful, and highly cooperative workspaces.Our company culture is built entirely upon principles of mutual respect, deliberate inclusion, and fair treatment. We welcome anyone into our developer family without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, status as a protected veteran, or status as an individual with a disability.We firmly believe that our internal diversity fuels our creative innovation and inspires us to construct profound, universally welcoming game worlds that bring our global community of players closer together.
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