Principal Technical VFX Artist

Hangar 13

JOB TITLE PRINCIPAL TECHNICAL ANIMATOR (GAMEPLAY) Department Technical Art Location(s)  Brighton, Prague, Brno Reports To  Associate Director Technical Animation Job Type (Permanent, fixed term, internship)  Permanent   Job Summary  The Principal Technical Animator (Gameplay) will help define the technical vision, architectural framework, and long-term strategy for character animation integration across the studio. In this highly influential role, you will champion innovation, driving the adoption of cutting-edge technologies to ensure our games achieve world-class animation quality and responsiveness. You will serve as a technical authority on gameplay animation, solving the studio’s complex R&D challenges while collaborating with design, animation and engineering to establish future-proof pipelines. While not a people manager, you will inspire, mentor, and elevate the technical capabilities of the entire animation department.  Duties and Responsibilities   * Architect and oversee the high-level design of gameplay animation systems, ensuring scalability, performance, and seamless integration across complex real-time systems. * Drive R&D initiatives to evaluate and implement cutting-edge animation technologies (e.g., advanced Motion Matching, machine learning/AI animation, next-gen physics). * Partner with Engineering and Tech Animation leadership to implement project-wide animation roadmaps and toolsets.  * Solve deep, complex runtime bugs and drive animation optimisation efforts to meet strict performance and memory budgets. * Define and document technical standards, best practices, and pipeline workflows for the wider technical animation team. * Collaborate closely with Design and Animation leads to heavily iterate on and perfect 3C mechanics (character, camera, controls), maximizing game feel. * Actively mentor and upskill senior and mid-level technical animators through code/blueprint reviews and hands-on guidance. Essential Skills, Attributes and Experience * Extensive proven experience architecting and integrating gameplay animation systems for AAA titles using Unreal Engine. * Master-level expertise in Unreal Engine’s animation suite (Anim Blueprints, Motion Matching, Control Rig, State Machines,  and Sequencer). * Deep technical understanding of low-level animation concepts, including runtime optimisation, memory management, and threading for animation. * Exceptional cross-discipline communication skills, with a proven track record of aligning Art, Design, and Engineering directors on complex technical visions. * Expertise in feature breakdown and scoping, with the ability to translate abstract creative pillars into robust, production-ready plans.. * A profound understanding of gameplay mechanics, game feel, and the mathematical principles behind smooth character movement and physics. * A portfolio or reel demonstrating a history of solving highly complex, innovative technical animation challenges in shipped titles. Highly Desirable  * Strong proficiency in C++ for extending Unreal Engine’s animation system, alongside Python for pipeline tool automation. * Experience contributing to proprietary engine tools or custom modifications to Unreal's core animation code. * Production experience with advanced DCC tools, including Maya API, MotionBuilder, or Houdini for runtime or pipeline integration. * Background in traditional animation or motion capture data manipulation to better bridge the gap between art and code.   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hangar 13  prides itself on the diversity of its team members, partners, and communities.  For this reason, we remain committed to providing equal employment opportunity in all aspects of the employment relationship, from recruitment and hiring through compensation, benefits, discipline and termination.   As an equal opportunity employer, we are also committed to ensuring that qualified individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation(s) to participate in the job application and/or interview process, to perform their essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment.  Please contact us if you need to request reasonable accommodation. SECURITY NOTICE -  We have recently been made aware of increasing occurrences of bad actors posing as company HR personnel to gain information from "potential candidates", in the form of job interviews and offers. These scams can be quite sophisticated and appear legitimate. Please know that Hangar 13 and 2K never use instant messaging apps to contact prospective employees or to conduct interviews. If you believe you have been a victim of such a scam, you may fill out a complaint form at https://complaint.ic3.gov/ and https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/ detailing as much as possible. We are taking these matters very seriously and apologize for any inconvenience. #LI-Hybrid #LI-JF1

Toast

Toast creates technology to help restaurants and local businesses succeed in a digital world, helping business owners operate, increase sales, engage customers, and keep employees happy. Toast IQ is our agentic platform for restaurant operators: a growing set of specialized AI agents that take real work off an operator's plate — driving demand, managing labor, and optimizing the back office. We're launching new agents continuously across multiple lines of business, and the complexity of doing that well, with coherent packaging, consistent quality, and a single platform story, is growing faster than the surface area of the product itself. This role owns the program that makes it work. You'll design and run the monthly release engine end to end, set and hold the bar on platform readiness, and coordinate go-to-market so naming, packaging, and messaging land as a coherent platform story rather than a dozen separate launches that confuse operators and the field. The goal is to build repeatable operating mechanisms that let Toast move quickly and confidently and that scale as Toast IQ scales. You'll work across product, engineering, marketing, support, and finance. You won't have direct authority over most of the people you depend on, which means you'll earn influence, make decisions that stick, and serve as an escalation point when things go sideways. A day in the life (Responsibilities)  * Design, own, and continuously improve the monthly agent release program — one cadence, one launch process — across all lines of business. Build this as a durable operating mechanism, not a series of one-off coordination efforts. * Set and hold the platform-readiness bar. Engage credibly with engineering teams on architecture, dependencies, and technical risk. Own the dependency and risk map. Be willing to call a postponement when a product isn't ready — and make that call stick. * Drive go-to-market coherence across LOBs so naming, packaging, and messaging land as one platform story. Work with PMM and GTM to make sure the field can sell and operators understand what they're getting. * Instrument launch health and build reporting that matters: what shipped, what slipped, adoption signals, and the blockers that need to be resolved upstream. Feed this signal back to R&D leadership in a form they can act on. * Operate with high judgment in ambiguous situations. When the governance model doesn't cover a case, make a defensible call and move. Surface the right decisions to leadership with the context they need — don't just escalate problems. * Establish the operating rhythms, governance structures, and cross-functional alignment mechanisms that keep multiple engineering teams moving toward a shared cadence. What you'll need to thrive (Requirements) * 12+ years of technical program management working directly with software engineering teams. * Track record of owning cross-functional programs end to end — not just coordinating them — from design through launch, across teams with competing priorities. * Technical fluency sufficient to engage meaningfully with engineers on architecture, dependencies, and risk: you can identify when a technical assumption is wrong before it becomes a launch problem. * Demonstrated ability to build repeatable operating models. You've built the system, not just run projects inside someone else's system. * Experience managing cross-org dependencies and aligning teams you don't control. * Strong written communication; you can translate complex program status and risk into a clear narrative for senior leadership. What will help you stand out (Nonessential Skills/Nice to Haves) * Experience with AI/ML systems, agentic architectures, or applied AI programs. * Experience standing up a recurring multi-team release cadence on a platform serving multiple product lines. * Vertical SaaS, SMB, or restaurant/hospitality technology experience. * Familiarity with usage-based or consumption pricing models. * BA/BS in a technical discipline, or equivalent practical experience.    AI at Toast At Toast, one of our company values is that we're hungry to build and learn. We believe learning new AI tools empowers us to build for our customers faster, more independently, and with higher quality. We provide these tools across all disciplines, from Engineering and Product to Sales and Support, and are inspired by how our Toasters are already driving real value with them. The people who thrive here are those who embrace changes that let us build more for our customers; it’s a core part of our culture. Our Total Rewards Philosophy We strive to provide competitive compensation and benefits programs that help to attract, retain, and motivate the best and brightest people in our industry. Our total rewards package goes beyond great earnings potential and provides the means to a healthy lifestyle with the flexibility to meet Toasters’ changing needs. Learn more about our benefits at https://careers.toasttab.com/toast-benefits. The base salary range for this role is listed below. The starting salary will be determined based on skills, experience, and geographic location. In addition to base salary, our total rewards components include cash compensation (overtime, bonus/commissions if eligible), equity, and benefits. You can learn more about how we align pay with local labor markets in our Geographic Pay Zone Philosophy. Zone A $181,000—$290,000 USD Zone B $157,000—$251,000 USD Zone C $142,000—$227,000 USD How Toast Uses AI in its Hiring Process Throughout the hiring process, our goal is to get to know you. We use AI tools to support our recruiters and interviewers with tasks like note-taking, summarization, and documentation of interviews to ensure they can be fully focused on your conversation. All hiring decisions are made by people. To learn more: https://careers.toasttab.com/ai-in-hiring Our Approach to Hybrid Working We embrace a hybrid work model that fosters in-person collaboration while valuing individual needs. Our goal is to build a strong culture of connection as we work together to empower the hospitality community, regardless of location. Please visit the Locations page on our career site to learn more about our in-office expectations by region: https://careers.toasttab.com/locations-toast Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is Baked into our Recipe for Success At Toast, our employees are our secret ingredient—when they thrive, we thrive. The restaurant industry is one of the most diverse, and we embrace that diversity with authenticity, inclusivity, respect, and humility. By embedding these principles into our culture and design, we create equitable opportunities for all and raise the bar in delivering exceptional experiences. We Thrive Together We embrace a hybrid work model that fosters in-person collaboration while valuing individual needs. Our goal is to build a strong culture of connection as we work together to empower the restaurant community. To learn more about how we work globally and regionally, check out: https://careers.toasttab.com/locations-toast. Apply today! Toast is committed to creating an accessible and inclusive hiring process. As part of this commitment, we strive to provide reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities to enable them to access the hiring process. If you need an accommodation to access the job application or interview process, please contact candidateaccommodations@toasttab.com. ------ For roles in the United States, it is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

Snowflake

At Snowflake, we are powering the era of the agentic enterprise. To usher in this new era, we seek AI-native thinkers across every function who are energized by the opportunity to reinvent how they work. You don’t just use tools; you possess an innate curiosity, treating AI as a high-trust collaborator that is core to how you solve problems and accelerate your impact. We look for low-ego individuals who thrive in dynamic and fast-moving environments and move with an experimental mindset — who rapidly test emerging capabilities to discover simpler, more powerful ways to deliver results. At Snowflake, your role isn't just to execute a function, but to help redefine the future of how work gets done. We are hiring a Principal Technical Architect for our Services Delivery team. This is one of the most senior technical roles in the SD organization. You will define how we deliver at scale, set the architectural standards that our entire practice builds on, and engage with our most strategic customers at the highest levels of technical complexity. Your work will shape both what we build for customers and how we grow as a SD organization. AS A PRINCIPAL TECHNICAL ARCHITECT AT SNOWFLAKE, YOU WILL: Practice Leadership and Standards * Define the architectural frameworks, delivery standards, and technical methodologies that guide how the Services Delivery organization operates across engagements * Own the development of the SD technical practice in one or more domains (AI/ML, data platform, cloud migration, MLOps), establishing reference architectures, repeatable delivery patterns, and capability accelerators * Identify and close capability gaps across the SD team, driving investments in tooling, enablement, and institutional knowledge * Represent the SD technical perspective in cross-functional planning with product, engineering, and field leadership Strategic Customer Engagement * Engage directly with the most complex and strategically significant customer opportunities, providing principal-level technical guidance that other architects build around * Advise C-level and senior executive stakeholders on platform architecture, AI strategy, and long-term technology direction in the context of Snowflake's capabilities * Own technical outcomes for enterprise programs where delivery risk is highest, personally driving resolution of the most difficult architectural and integration challenges * Translate emerging Snowflake capabilities into actionable strategic advantage for key customers before those capabilities are broadly adopted External Influence and Thought Leadership * Represent Snowflake's technical depth externally through conference presentations, published content, customer advisory boards, and industry forums * Build Snowflake's reputation as a trusted technical partner in the AI and data platform ecosystem * Channel field intelligence from strategic engagements back into Snowflake's product organization to influence roadmap decisions Organizational Development * Mentor senior architects and technical leads across the SD practice, raising the technical ceiling of the broader team * Partner with SD leadership on hiring, technical calibration, and the development of architectural career paths * Drive adoption of AI-native delivery practices within the SD organization, setting the standard for how the team uses AI to accelerate and improve customer outcomes OUR IDEAL PRINCIPAL TECHNICAL ARCHITECT WILL HAVE: * BA/BS in computer science, engineering, mathematics, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience * 10+ years of experience in senior technical architecture, data platform consulting, or a principal-level customer-facing technical role * Recognized expertise across the full modern data and AI stack, with deep hands-on Snowflake experience including advanced platform governance, performance architecture, and multi-cloud deployment patterns * A track record of defining architectural standards or technical methodologies adopted across a large organization or practice * Deep expertise in the AI/ML lifecycle at enterprise scale, including production MLOps, model governance, responsible AI frameworks, and generative AI architectures * Demonstrated ability to influence product strategy, organizational direction, or market positioning through technical leadership * Proficiency in SQL and Python at a level sufficient to architect, review, and advise on production systems * Experience engaging C-level and senior executive audiences on complex technology decisions, with a track record of translating technical depth into executive clarity * Ability to hold and defend strong technical positions in ambiguous, high-stakes environments BONUS POINTS FOR THE FOLLOWING: * Published technical work, conference presentations, or recognized industry contributions in data, AI/ML, or cloud architecture * Experience building or scaling a technical practice, Center of Excellence, or architecture function across a large organization * Background in a principal or distinguished engineer role at a product-led technology company * Advanced cloud certifications (AWS Solutions Architect Professional, Google Professional Cloud Architect, Azure Solutions Architect Expert, or equivalent) * Snowflake SnowPro Advanced Certification(s) * Deep industry vertical expertise across multiple verticals (e.g., Financial Services, Healthcare, Media and Entertainment, Public Sector) * Experience contributing to open source projects or co-authoring technical standards WHY JOIN OUR SERVICES DELIVERY TEAM AT SNOWFLAKE? This is a role for someone who wants to build something, not just deliver into it. As a Principal Technical Architect, you will have a direct line from your work to how our entire SD practice thinks, delivers, and grows. You will define the standards others follow, engage with the hardest problems our most sophisticated customers bring to us, and have a genuine voice in how Snowflake's product evolves based on what you see in the field. The role combines the intellectual depth of principal-level architecture work with the organizational impact of building a practice at scale. If you are at a point in your career where individual delivery is no longer enough and you want your influence to operate at the level of the entire PS organization and beyond, this is the role for you. How do you want to make your impact? Snowflake is growing fast, and we’re scaling our team to help enable and accelerate our growth. We are looking for people who share our values, challenge ordinary thinking, and push the pace of innovation while building a future for themselves and Snowflake. How do you want to make your impact? For jobs located in the United States, please visit the job posting on the Snowflake Careers Site for salary and benefits information: careers.snowflake.com