Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Software Development

Senior Robot Animator

San Mateo, CAOnsiteFull TimeSenior$100,000–$300,000 /yrPosted 2 months agoVisa sponsorship available

Is this role right for you?

Upload your resume and get a skill-by-skill breakdown — see exactly where you match, where you're close, and what to highlight. Not a mystery percentage.

Get a tailored resume highlighting what this role needs.

Required skills

Robot Animation
Rigging
Keyframe Animation
Motion Capture
Maya
Blender
Body Mechanics
Motion Retargeting
Simulation
Robotics

Nice to have

Rigid-body Dynamics
Humanoid Characters
Machine Learning

Role summary

Seeking a Senior Robot Animator to bring robots to life through rigging and animation. This role involves creating motion for both simulation and physical robots, working closely with robotics, simulation, and hardware teams. Responsibilities include authoring motion in Maya/Blender, choreographing multi-robot sequences, building motion libraries, and supporting hardware design through previz and range-of-motion studies. A strong portfolio and experience in animation craft with an understanding of physical robot capabilities are essential.

Company Overview

At Skild AI, we are building the world's first general purpose robotic intelligence that is robust and adapts to unseen scenarios without failing. We believe massive scale through data-driven machine learning is the key to unlocking these capabilities for the widespread deployment of robots within society. Our team consists of individuals with varying levels of experience and backgrounds, from new graduates to domain experts. Relevant industry experience is important, but ultimately less so than your demonstrated abilities and attitude. We are looking for passionate individuals who are eager to explore uncharted waters and contribute to our innovative projects.

Position Overview

We're looking for a Senior Robot Animator to help bring our robots to life. In this role, you'll work closely with our robotics, simulation, and hardware teams to rig, animate, and refine motion that runs both in simulation and on physical machines, supporting a range of teams and programs across the company. This is an animation-first role focused on the computer graphics side of motion — rigging, keyframe animation, body mechanics, and the editing and retargeting of captured data. Strong candidates pair animation craft with an intuition for what a physical robot can actually execute.

Responsibilities

Author robot motion in Maya (or Blender) using keyframe, procedural, and capture-based techniques

Work with our robotics engineers to take motion from digital content creation (DCC) to real hardware

Choreograph and time performances, including multi-robot sequences and motion cut to music or camera

Deliver finished rendered work as well as sequences performed by the machines themselves

Build motion libraries and retargeting that support our simulation and machine learning work

Partner with our hardware teams on previz and range-of-motion studies that inform design

Preferred Qualifications

5+ years animating professionally in film/VFX, games, or robotics, or equivalent senior-level experience — demo reel required

Expert keyframe animation with a strong sense of weight, timing, and body mechanics

Rigging experience with mechanical or articulated characters: constraints, IK/FK, joint limits, mechanism-accurate setups

Comfortable cleaning, editing, and retargeting motion capture onto non-human skeletons

Background working with humanoid or robotic characters in simulation or the real world

Familiarity with controls/rigid-body dynamics/simulation is a plus

Base Salary Range$100,000—$300,000 USD

Ready to apply?

You'll be redirected to Skild AI's application page.