Animation Background Artist Jobs (NOW HIRING)

About the Company:
Founded in 2017 by Anthony and Joe Russo, AGBO is an artist-led independent studio shaping the future of film and television. The Russo Brothers and AGBO have generated more than $7 billion at the global box office, including Avengers: Endgame. The studio's projects include Academy Award-winning Everything Everywhere All at Once, Netflix hits The Gray Man and Extraction, and Prime Video's visceral thriller The Bluff and the global Citadel franchise. Citadel Season 2 premieres in May 2026.

AGBO is currently in production with Netflix on Tygo and Mercenary, both part of the Extraction universe, as well as with Lionsgate on John Rambo, a prequel to the iconic franchise. The studio is in post-production on The Whisper Man, starring Robert De Niro, and Avengers: Doomsday, which will be released December 18, 2026. AGBO will begin shooting Avengers: Secret Wars later this year. Both upcoming Avengers films are directed by Anthony and Joe Russo and co-produced by AGBO and Marvel Studios.

In 2023, AGBO welcomed Donald Mustard-former Chief Creative Officer at Epic Games and co-creator of Fortnite-as a partner. Mustard brings a bold creative vision to AGBO: to expand what storytelling can be through immersive, interconnected worlds that span across media. We're building the future of storytelling-and we're looking for bold, creative minds to help shape it. If you're ready to help define what comes next, we'd love to meet you.

Position Summary:
AGBO is looking for a Technical Artist, Character to drive the technical quality and pipeline integrity of our characters - from high-resolution sculpts through fully rigged, characters and NPCs. You will partner closely with Character Artists, Animators, Riggers and Engineers to ensure our cast looks and moves exactly as intended.

Key Responsibilities:

• Define and maintain workflows for mesh import, LOD generation, skinning, morph targets, and engine integration
• Diagnose and resolve character related technical issues.
• Author character shaders and skin subsurface scattering, hair and strange rendering, eye shaders, cloth, and layered material blending
• Develop and maintain scripts and plugins supporting riggers and animators, including corrective shapes, space switching, and deformer optimization
• Review and optimize skin weights, joint counts, and influence limits across hero and background character tiers
• Configure skeletal meshes, physics assets, LOD chains, Groom assets, and control rig setups into Unreal Engine
• Partner with animators on IK rigs, animation Blueprints, cloth and physics simulations
• Author, maintain and troubleshoot existing character creation workflows and pipeline efficiency to ensure performance and stability
• Interface with internal artist teams and codevelopers to maintain milestone cadences
• Perform all other duties as assigned

Qualifications & Skills:

• 3-5 years of professional experience as a Character TD or Character Technical Artist in games/interactive media. Experience working on and shipping AAA preferred.
• Deep knowledge and experience working in Unreal Engine 5 - Skeletal Mesh, Control Rig, Groom, Physical Assets
• Expert-level Maya skills - rigging, skinning, deformers, and Python/MEL scripting
• HLSL shader authoring experience focused on skin, hair, and other character materials
• Deep understanding of PBR texturing for character
• Experience with facial rigging, blend shapes, and FACS-based setups
• Ability to profile and optimize GPU skinning and character rendering costs

Additional Information:

• This role is based in Los Angeles, CA or Raleigh, NC and only candidates located in or willing to relocate to the area will be considered.
• Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the U.S.

The typical base salary for this position ranges from $90,000-$110,000 annually. Actual offers will be determined based on experience. Actual offers will be determined using local market data for the identified candidate's geographic area and may vary from the stated range.

AGBO Labs LLC is committed to operating fair and unbiased recruitment procedures allowing all applicants an equal opportunity for employment, free from discrimination on the basis of religion, race, sex, age, sexual orientation, disability, color, ethnic or national origin or any other classification as may be protected by applicable law. We aim to recruit the right people for the jobs we have to offer, and to assess applications on the basis of relevant skills, education, and experience.

AGBO participates in E-Verify - English | Spanish

The job description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed by the employee(s) incumbent to this position.