Gameplay Animator (Senior/Principal)

What We Offer

The base salary range for this role is $196,500 - $247,133. Depending on your experience and level (whether you're closer to mid-level or principal), your offer may land above or below that range. We don’t just look at years on a résumé — we think about the impact you can have on the team and the game. Of course, compensation at Bonfire goes beyond salary. Every new teammate receives equity, plus a full benefits package and some extra perks to make work (and life) better.

About the Role

We’re looking for a Senior/Principal Animator who understands that every frame communicates something: timing, weight, threat, opportunity. You’ll help define the animation language of a competitive experience, shaping clarity and responsiveness from the earliest stages of development. On a small team, your work will directly influence the feel of every ability, encounter, and moment of impact.

YOU’LL CONTRIBUTE BY:

• Create high-quality, in-game character animations that bring combat, movement, and moment-to-moment gameplay to life.
• Collaborate closely with designers, engineers, and tech artists to develop combat that feels responsive, readable, and satisfying in a competitive multiplayer environment.
• Partner with animation, engineering, and tech art to help shape rigs, tools, and animation systems that improve workflows and elevate quality.
• Owning animation features end-to-end, from early exploration and iteration through polish and final implementation.
• Align with the animation team on style, quality bar, and execution, while contributing your own ideas, taste, and problem-solving.
• Participate actively in playtests, evaluating your work through the lens of the player experience and iterating based on feel, clarity, and gameplay impact.
• Balance animation fidelity with gameplay needs, making smart tradeoffs that serve performance, readability, and fun.
• Wear multiple hats in a small, focused team and use your experience to contribute beyond your core lane when it helps the game or studio.
• Help shape a new IP, contributing creatively and thoughtfully as the game, systems, and pipelines evolve.

WE’RE EXCITED ABOUT YOU BECAUSE YOU:

• Have strong experience creating high-quality gameplay animation, ideally across multiple shipped titles.
• Are genuinely excited by competitive multiplayer combat and understand how animation affects feel, fairness, and clarity.
• Bring a deep understanding of combat systems and how animation drives responsiveness and player satisfaction.
• Have experience working with or helping develop animation systems and tools, including in new or evolving engines.
• Are comfortable owning work independently, seeing features through from concept to completion.
• Are highly skilled at conveying character through gameplay animation, not just cinematics.
• Push for animation excellence while prioritizing gameplay quality first.
• Are self-motivated and good at identifying what matters most right now for the game.
• Thrive in highly collaborative, cross-disciplinary teams and communicate clearly with partners in all disciplines.
• Value trust, openness, and diverse perspectives, and enjoy learning from others.
• Have a growth mindset and care about raising the quality bar for both yourself and the team.
• Are passionate about the creative process and excited to help build something new together.

THIS MIGHT NOT BE THE ROLE FOR YOU IF:

• You’re primarily looking for a people-management or team-lead role rather than a hands-on IC position.
• You prefer working in a highly siloed environment with minimal cross-disciplinary collaboration.
• You’re uncomfortable iterating based on playtests or adjusting work to serve gameplay needs.
• You’re looking for a role with narrowly defined responsibilities and little room to explore beyond your lane.
• Competitive multiplayer games (and the tradeoffs they require) don’t genuinely excite you.
• You prefer fully established pipelines and systems over building and evolving things as you go.

YOU’LL LOVE WORKING AT BONFIRE BECAUSE WE:

• Embrace bold challenges with creativity and courage, making the tough calls to build a game we’re proud to play every day.
• Keep fun at the core: we play Arkheron daily, staying grounded as players. If it’s not more fun than yesterday, we fix it. We don’t chase trends; we listen by playing.
• Stay truly independent, with decisions driven by the team — not by investors or a board.
• Thrive in a culture of passion, trust, and shared ownership; where transparency matters and egos don’t.