3D Creative Engineer – Rigging, Animation & Tools

Job description

Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Stockholm, Epidemic Group is a global creative platform on a mission to reimagine storytelling through music, sound, video, and AI. The group comprises Epidemic Sound, the world's leading soundtracking platform; Soundly, its sound effects platform; Overtone Studios, the group's mood and functional music label; Plenty Labs, an AI-native creative platform for enterprises and creative professionals teams; and Blenda Labs, a next generation video entertainment company. The group is backed by EQT, Blackstone, Creandum, Atwater Capital, Alecta, AMF, and IMAS Foundation. At Blenda Labs, we’re rethinking how movies are made—combining cutting-edge AI tools with the best creative talent to produce jaw-dropping video on famous IP such as Lilla Spöket Laban https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUCri64QJ_4, Pippi Långstrump https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0Bs5lOrunI and Sunes värld https://www.youtube.com/shorts/AeEXveZV_f0. Now we’re extending our capabilities from pure 2D animation to 3D and live action. We're looking for a 3D Creative Engineer to join our team for a 3 month freelance assignment (with a good chance to be extended further). You'll sit at the intersection of art and engineering — rigging characters, building 2D, 3D and VFX workflows, and writing the tools that let our creative pipeline move fast without breaking. From Blender-based animation setups to procedural systems and custom software, you'll help define how content actually gets made here. You'll be laying the foundation for a future team of artists and developers, but this is a hands-on role first and foremost. What you'll do - Build and extend 2D, 3D, animation and VFX pipelines centered on Blender - Design and build character rigs and procedural setups that animators can rely on - Write pipeline tooling and automations in Python and Swift that connect asset handling, animation, rendering, and versioning - Solve hard problems in motion quality: animation cleanup, temporal consistency, and polish on AI-assisted output - Collaborate with artists, AI developers, and producers to bridge creative intent and technical output - Prototype and ship tools that real artists will depend on daily What we're looking for - A technical director mindset: you think in systems, not just one-off scripts - Strong Blender skills, including scripting and add-on development with Python - Solid experience of generative AI models for video and images - Solid 3D fundamentals: modeling, shading, lighting, and scene and asset management - Hands-on rigging experience — character rigs, IK/FK solvers, control hierarchies, or procedural setups - Animation experience, with an understanding of timing, weight, and deformation - macOS programming experience, e.g. Swift/Rust/C++, for apps or pipeline utilities - A sharp eye for motion quality — you feel when something's off before you can name why Bonus: - Background in VFX or post-production (compositing, simulation, FX) - Experience with real-time skeletal animation systems or mesh pipeline tooling - Familiarity with a game engine (Godot, Unreal, or Unity) - Experience with AI tools and workflows, e.g. ComfyUI or similar - JavaScript/TypeScript for tooling or editor extensions What we offer - Hybrid role in Stockholm. We share office space with Epidemic Sound near Medborgarplatsen, Stockholm. - A chance to work hard and grow very fast with an extremely ambitious team. - We want to start with a 3 month freelance assignment with a good chance to be extended further. Equal opportunity employer We believe that bringing people together from different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives makes for a healthy workplace, a more successful business and a better world. We value diversity and encourage everyone to apply.