Character and Facial Animation Consultant

This role is for one of our clients

Compensation: $60-$90 per hour

A leading AI research organization is developing advanced performance-transfer technology designed to faithfully carry an actor's original performance into a new output while preserving timing, emotional nuance, physical choices, and the subtle details that make a performance feel authentic.

We are seeking experienced Character and Facial Animation Consultants to help establish rigorous evaluation standards for this technology. You will bring deep expertise in character performance, facial animation, and performance capture to define what high-quality output looks like, identify challenging evaluation scenarios, and help shape the human-review process used to assess model performance.

This is a part-time engagement with opportunities for ongoing collaboration. The role involves remote work with occasional in-person working sessions in Playa Vista, Los Angeles, CA, or New York, NY, approximately once or twice per month.

2. Key Responsibilities

• Define evaluation standards: Establish clear, practical criteria for assessing whether an animated performance accurately captures the emotional intent, physical movement, timing, facial expression, and nuances of the original performance.
• Evaluate performance quality: Identify subtle differences in facial expressions, emotional beats, body language, timing, and character movement that distinguish authentic performance from technically acceptable but emotionally inaccurate animation.
• Curate evaluation benchmarks: Identify representative examples ranging from straightforward performance-transfer scenarios to complex and challenging cases that test the limits of the technology.
• Develop review frameworks: Help establish reviewer profiles, evaluation rubrics, and structured guidelines for assessing character and facial animation outputs consistently.
• Provide expert feedback: Review existing evaluation approaches, identify gaps or inconsistencies, and recommend improvements based on professional animation practices.
• Collaborate with specialists: Work closely with other animation and visual-performance experts to maintain consistent standards and ensure evaluation criteria accurately reflect professional expectations.
• Document visual insights: Translate nuanced visual and performance observations into clear, precise language suitable for evaluation templates, datasets, and annotation workflows.

3. Core Qualifications

• 4+ years of professional experience as a hands-on character animator, with character and human performance as a primary area of expertise.
• Verifiable credits on two or more feature films, animated productions, or AAA game cinematics produced by recognized studios.
• Direct experience with facial animation and/or performance capture, including facial keyframe animation, motion-capture solving, cleanup, motion editing, or character/facial rig development.
• Exceptional understanding of micro-expressions, emotional timing, body mechanics, facial performance, and the subtle characteristics that make animated performances feel believable.
• Familiarity with modern AI-assisted creative tools and workflows, including the ability to generate or work with visual samples for testing and comparison.
• Strong ability to articulate complex visual observations clearly and translate them into precise evaluation criteria, captions, and written feedback.
• Excellent attention to detail and the ability to make consistent, evidence-based judgments about animation quality.
• Willingness and ability to participate in in-person working sessions in Playa Vista, Los Angeles, CA, or New York, NY once or twice per month.
• Reliable access to a 4K-resolution monitor for detailed visual and pixel-level review is preferred.

4. Who This Role Is For

This opportunity is specifically designed for professionals whose primary expertise is character performance and facial animation.

Relevant backgrounds may include character animation, facial animation, performance capture, motion editing, facial rigging, or related character-performance disciplines.

The role is not intended for professionals whose primary experience is limited to cinematography, lighting, camera work, color grading, compositing, editing, generalist 3D work, layout, previsualization, environments, or visual effects without substantial character-performance experience.

5. Equal Opportunity

We are committed to providing equal opportunities to all qualified applicants. We do not discriminate based on legally protected characteristics and provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals throughout the application and engagement process.

6. Engagement Terms

• Part-time professional engagement.
• Remote work with periodic in-person collaboration sessions.
• Approximately one to two in-person sessions per month, depending on project requirements.
• Engagement duration may vary based on project needs and performance.
• Work will focus on evaluation, expert feedback, benchmark development, and quality standards for character and facial animation.