Senior Character Animator at Mercor

Senior Character Animator | $60-90/hr | Part-time W-2 | Playa Vista (Los Angeles) or New York, NY

A leading AI lab is building a performance transfer model: one that takes an actor's original performance and carries it faithfully into a new output, keeping the timing, the emotion and the small physical choices that make it feel real. Senior character animators will help define what a well-transferred performance looks like and judge where the model gets it right or wrong.

What the work involves

• Set the quality bar: define standards for when a performance has carried over well — body mechanics, facial nuance, timing and emotional intent — and point out where current evaluations fall short.
• Critique model outputs: review generated performances shot by shot, as you would in dailies, and write precise, actionable notes.
• Build benchmarks: choose reference performances ranging from easy to genuinely hard to capture, so the model is tested on what matters.
• Shape the reviewer pool: help define the profile, rubric and calibration for the human reviewers who score outputs at scale.
• Collaborate with other experts to keep evaluations consistent and accurate.

Who it's for

• 10+ years as a hands-on character animator focused on human and character acting, at Senior, Lead or Principal level.
• Animator credits on several feature films, VFX features or AAA game cinematics at recognized studios (e.g., Sony Pictures Imageworks, ILM, Animal Logic, Laika, Pixar, Disney, DreamWorks, Framestore, MPC, DNEG, Weta FX).
• A sharp eye for micro expressions, lip sync, weight and timing, and the small acting choices that make a performance feel authentic.
• Hands-on use of generative image and video tools (e.g., Sora, Veo, Midjourney, Runway, Kling) to create your own samples for testing and comparison.
• Strong written communication: the ability to turn visual detail into clear, precise language for evaluation templates.
• Strongly preferred: facial animation experience, and recent work in real-time engines (Unreal or Unity), VR/XR, or performance capture pipelines.

Pay and employment

$60-90/hr. This is a part-time W-2 employment position with Cincinnatus LLC, an enterprise staffing company that serves as employer of record (W-2 employment, payroll, benefits and compliance), with the opportunity to be placed at a leading AI lab as part of their extended workforce.

Location

Playa Vista (Los Angeles), CA or New York, NY, with on-site in-person working sessions once or twice a month.

Cincinnatus LLC is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer and does not discriminate based on any legally protected characteristic.