Lead Game Development Expert, AI-Asset & Animation Production

Overview

In this role you guide AI-driven asset production and animation workflows across Tencent’s overseas studios. You’ll lead technical collaboration to enhance asset quality, performance, and rigging/physics-based animation, shaping cross-region production pipelines. You will bridge creative requirements with AI capabilities, turning experiments into production-ready tools. This is a high-impact position at the intersection of art, engineering and global co-development.

Responsibilities

• Provide senior expertise in AI-enabled asset production, asset performance optimisation, asset visual fidelity, skeleton design, rigging and physics-based animation
• Identify opportunities across asset and animation lifecycles (modelling, texturing, materials, LODs, performance profiling; skeleton generation, skinning, control rigs, cloth, hair, rigid-body dynamics and ragdoll setups)
• Lead or contribute to proof-of-concept projects integrating AI tools with asset authoring tools, animation rigs, physics engines and Unreal Engine or equivalents
• Evaluate AI solutions for asset/animation challenges and define measurable metrics (creation time, memory budgets, fidelity, rigging speed, physics stability, pipeline scalability)
• Collaborate with Art Directors, Animators, Engineers, Producers and AI specialists to translate requirements into practical solutions
• Drive AI experiments into daily production workflows and refine pipelines based on feedback
• Establish human-review and quality-control for AI-assisted workflows ensuring visual consistency, fidelity, physics plausibility and IP/data security
• Lead investigations and designs for asset production and animation challenges (e.g., auto-rigging, cloth/hair simulation, shader performance)
• Bridge overseas studio requirements with Tencent’s AI capabilities, asset platforms and animation tech stacks
• Document reusable AI use cases, rigging and physics best practices, and performance guidelines; share knowledge via workshops and reviews
• Monitor trends in generative AI, neural rendering, procedural content generation, ML for deformation/physics, digital humans and real-time graphics; assess value for AAA production

Key requirements

• 8+ years in technical art, animation tech or related discipline with AAA asset/animation pipeline exposure
• Experience in senior roles (Senior Technical Artist, Lead Technical Artist, TAD, Animation Pipeline Lead, Rigging Lead or equivalent)
• Proven shipping AAA title experience with asset optimisation, rigging or physics-animation workflows
• Strong understanding of the complete asset and animation lifecycle including engine integration and runtime optimisation
• Strong interest in generative AI, ML and intelligent automation for asset generation, optimisation, auto-rigging, motion synthesis and physics simulation
• Ability to identify high-value AI opportunities and progress them from PoC to production adoption
• Experience with Unreal Engine (or major game engine), real-time rendering, asset management, animation blueprints, physics assets and cross-platform constraints
• Proficiency in Blender or Maya; Houdini knowledge a plus
• Experience with Python, C++, Blueprint or equivalents for asset processing, rigging automation or physics tools
• Strong problem-solving, solution design and stakeholder-management skills
• Excellent English communication; able to lead technical discussions and collaborate internationally
• Willingness to travel to partner studios in Europe or other regions as required
• Deep expertise in AAA asset production pipelines, asset visual quality and efficiency, skeleton design and rigging, skinning and deformation, and physics-based animation

• Strong problem-solving
• Stakeholder-management
• Clear English communication
• Unreal Engine
• Blender
• Maya

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