Senior Animation Programmer (Project Baxter)
Hi 👋 I’m Oksanna, Talent Acquisition Partner here at Starbreeze, and I’m looking for a Senior Animation Programmer to join Per-Olof’s Tech team here on Project Baxter.
You'll be a key player on our team and a crucial bridge between our Tech and Animation teams. You'll be right in the thick of it with our characters, helping our Animators directly by building the tools they need to make magic happen. While Project Baxter will be your main mission, you'll also be an integral part of our team, lending your talents to our other titles.
So, are you an Animation Programming wizard who loves bringing characters to life? Do you get a kick out of creating systems that make games feel fluid, responsive, and incredibly fun to play? If so, we've got a quest for you on our Project Baxter team!
Please note that this role must be based at our office in Stockholm 5 days per week.
Project Baxter is a cooperative urban crawl through a reactive Dungeons & Dragons®-world, inspired by our love of tabletop RPGs and utilizing procedural tools to enhance emergent gameplay in an endlessly replayable setting. Project Baxter is currently in development in Unreal Engine 5 and is set to launch on all major platforms in 2026.
What You'll Be Doing:
🤖 System creation: You'll work closely with our Animation and Design leads to build the animation systems that support the gameplay needs of our titles.
đź”§ Fixing and improving: You'll tweak and polish existing animation features until they shine.
⚡️ Rapid prototyping: You’ll support our Technical Animators to quickly prototype new ideas.
đź§© Blueprint-ing: You'll create, manage, and troubleshoot Blueprints in Unreal Engine 5.
đź§ Sharing your wisdom: You'll share your knowledge with the animation team, helping them better understand our systems and how everything works together.
What We're Looking For
A seasoned pro: You have experience as an Animation Programmer on multiple AA+ projects. You’ve been around the development block and you know the drill.
Locomotion guru: You've designed and implemented locomotion systems that feel amazing to play.
Animation Blueprint whiz: You know your way around Animation Blueprints and Animation Graphs.
C++ pro: You have extensive experience working with C++ based game engines.
Bonus Points If You Have Experience With:
Unreal Engine 4 & 5: You've gotten your hands dirty with one or both.
Multiplayer games: You've worked on the unique challenges of multiplayer games.
Physics-driven animation: You've played around with ragdolls or other physics-based animation systems.
Procedural animation: You've dabbled in procedural animation.
Melee Combat Systems: You've built systems for epic sword fights and close-quarters combat.
Interview Process:
30-minute Google Meet call with a member of our Talent Acquisition team.
1-hour interview with a Senior Animation Programmer and Lead Gameplay Programmer.
1-hour interview with our Lead Animator and a Senior Combat Designer.
Perks of the Job
We know that great work comes from happy people, so we've levelled up our benefits package:
Flexible hours: Our core hours of 09:30 AM to 15:30 PM CET helps you to structure your day that is best and most productive for your lifestyle and for your team.
Time off: You'll get 30 vacation days, plus an extra 5 days to use as you please, and even a paid moving day. That's all on top of public holidays!
Pension: We offer a generous occupational pension plan through Nordnet.
Insurances: We've got you covered with comprehensive private healthcare, life, and accident insurance.
Wellness allowance: We offer a 5000 SEK annual wellness allowance to put towards whatever helps you feel your best; whether that’s a gym membership, yoga classes, swimming lessons, or whatever else you do for you!
Bike to work: Enjoy tax-free bike leasing through Lease a Bike.
Relax and recharge: We offer free monthly in-office massage sessions to help you unwind and recharge.
Fun and games: We're a team that loves to hang out; whether that’s Monday breakfasts, frequent fika, or our weekly Dungeons & Dragons club.
A fresh new office: Our new digs are right in the heart of Stockholm, surrounded by great restaurants, gyms, and awesome spots for Friday after-work drinks.
About Starbreeze
At Starbreeze, we believe games are more than just entertainment, they’re a way to bring people together. From the pulse-pounding, cooperative heists of PAYDAY to our upcoming Dungeons & Dragons adventure, we create experiences that thrive on teamwork, strategy, and the thrill of emergent gameplay. Our mission is to build vibrant games that offer infinite replayability, allowing players to forge their own stories and adventures together.
Every Starbreeze employee helps shape this vision. Whether you’re crafting intricate game worlds or developing the systems that bring players together, your creativity and passion will drive the future of cooperative gaming. Join us in our journey to create innovative, immersive experiences that unite players and redefine what gaming can achieve.
Starbreeze values diversity and inclusion, and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We welcome you as who you are, no matter where you are from or what games you play. If there are preparations or accommodations that we can make to help ensure that you have a comfortable and positive interview experience, please let us know.
Ready to Join the Crew?
If this all sounds good to you, then we can't wait to hear from you! Send us your CV and a cover letter in English. We review applications continuously, so the sooner you apply, the better.
P.S. A heads-up for our friends in the agency world: we're handling this one ourselves, so please don't send us any unsolicited CVs to our TA team or managers.
- Team
- Technology
- Locations
- Stockholm
What more do we offer? We're glad you asked!
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Flexible working hours, with core hours of 09:30-15:30 CET, to allow you to structure your day in a way that best suits you;
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30 paid vacation days per year, plus an extra 5 paid days off, plus 1 paid moving day - all on top of public holidays, of course!
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A generous occupational pension via Nordnet, typically ~50% above the collective agreement standard;
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Private healthcare, life, and accident insurance;
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A wellness allowance of 5000 SEK per year towards your wellness; whether that's a gym membership, tennis lessons, yoga classes, or whatever else you do for you!
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Bike leasing through Lease a Bike, with the cost deduced tax free from your gross salary;
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In office massage sessions monthly, free for all employees;
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A variety of fun events in office, from regular breakfasts and fika sessions, to our weekly DnD club;
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And let's not forget our new office itself - in the centre of Stockholm near a variety of excellent restaurants, gyms, and bars for those Friday after-works!
One Team. A Multitude of Skills.
Do you recognise yourself in the following description? If so you could be one of us!
Smarter Together – We utilise our diverse set of experiences, competences, and backgrounds to achieve the best results.
Accountability – We are committed to
delivering excellence, including holding ourselves and others accountable. We get sh*t done.
Enable Creativity – We use fun, passion and play to explore new ideas and possibilities.
Learn and Develop – When we fail we do it quick and make sure to learn from it. Asking for and giving feedback is part of our daily routine
About Starbreeze
Starbreeze is an independent developer, publisher and distributor of PC and console targeting the global market, with studios in Stockholm, London, Barcelona and Paris. Housing the smash hit IP PAYDAY, Starbreeze develops games based on proprietary and third-party rights, both in-house and in partnership with external game developers. Starbreeze shares are listed on Nasdaq Stockholm.
For more information, please visit www.starbreeze.com
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