Job Description
Seeking an Animator / Avatar Designer to create and implement a branded digital character for an AI-powered product. This role involves designing the avatar’s look and style, producing animation for lip-sync and expressions, and integrating voice layers. The work will directly support the first functional demo, with potential to expand into long-term creative and technical leadership.
Responsibilities
- Design and develop a unique, recognizable digital avatar.
- Create animations for speech, facial expressions, and gestures.
- Integrate avatar with text-to-speech (TTS) systems for natural lip-sync.
- Collaborate with AI engineers and frontend developers to connect the avatar into a chat application.
- Produce short, reusable clips for marketing channels (social video content).
- Optimize animations for performance in web and mobile environments.
Required Technical Skills
- Proficiency in 2D/3D animation tools (Blender, Maya, Cinema4D, or equivalent).
- Experience with avatar or character design (stylized or realistic).
- Knowledge of real-time animation pipelines and formats compatible with web/mobile deployment.
- Familiarity with AI avatar platforms (e.g., HeyGen, Synthesia, Unreal MetaHuman, Didimo) or ability to build custom.
- Strong understanding of lip-syncing techniques and integration with TTS systems.
- Ability to export and deliver assets optimized for frontend integration.
Preferred Skills
- Experience with Unity or Unreal Engine for real-time character deployment.
- Familiarity with WebGL or three.js for web-based rendering.
- Audio design basics for syncing voice and animation.
- Prior work on characters for games, VR/AR, or interactive apps.
Compensation & Growth
- Stage 1 (Demo Build): Contract role, $10K–$20K project-based compensation (depending on scope and complexity).
- After demo completion, opportunity for ongoing work (content creation, avatar evolution).
- As an early contributor to a startup, there is long-term potential to expand into a Creative Director or Technical Art Lead role, with equity participation available upon conversion to full-time.