Character and Facial Animation Consultant

What you'll do

A leading AI lab is building a performance transfer model: it takes an actor's original performance and carries it into a new output while keeping the timing, emotion and small physical choices that make it read as real. The lab wants senior character animators to decide what "good" means before it scales up human review.

This is evaluation design. The ad lists four responsibilities:

• Set the standard: define criteria for when a performance has been captured well, both emotionally and physically, and point out where current evaluation falls short
• Curate benchmarks: find performances that are easy to transfer and ones that are genuinely hard, so the model is tested on what matters
• Shape the reviewer pool: define the profile, expertise mix and rubric for the human reviewers who will score outputs at scale
• Calibrate with peers: work with other subject-matter experts to keep evaluations consistent

A lot of the value is in language. You have to turn "the eyes are dead in frame 40" or "the brow settles a beat too early" into caption and template wording that a reviewer pool can apply the same way every time.

Who fits

• 4+ years as a hands-on character animator, with human or character performance as your core craft
• Verifiable credits on 2 or more feature films, animated features or AAA game cinematics at recognized studios
• Direct facial animation or performance capture experience: facial keyframing, mocap solving, cleanup or motion editing, or facial and performance rig design
• A close eye for micro-expressions and emotional beats
• Familiarity with AI tools, including generating your own visual samples for testing
• The ability to describe visual detail precisely in writing
• Able to attend in-person sessions in Playa Vista (Los Angeles) or New York once or twice a month
• Optional: a 4K monitor for pixel-level review

Not a fit, per the ad: directors of photography, lighting or camera specialists, colorists, compositors, editors and generalist 3D artists. Layout, previs, environment and effects work do not qualify on their own.

What it pays

$60–90 per hour, Mercor's published band.

How the engagement is structured

The listing is inconsistent. The body describes a part-time W-2 employment position with Cincinnatus LLC, the staffing firm that acts as employer of record and places people with the lab's extended workforce. The listing header calls it an hourly contract, and the standard Mercor footer describes independent contracting with weekly payment on Stripe or Wise and calls the role fully remote, which conflicts with the monthly on-site sessions. Confirm the employment basis and the travel arrangement (including who pays for it) before accepting.

Worth knowing

Good:

• Rare paid work that values performance animation craft directly
• Shapes the evaluation standard itself, not just individual scores
• Part-time, with in-person sessions only once or twice a month
• A strong hourly rate for part-time consulting

Less good:

• US only, and you must be able to reach Los Angeles or New York regularly
• Credits on 2+ features or AAA cinematics are required
• Contradictory engagement terms (W-2 vs. contractor, remote vs. on-site)
• Weekly hours are not stated
• H-1B and STEM OPT holders are excluded, per the Mercor footer

About this listing

Posted by Mercor with a US location requirement and in-person sessions in Playa Vista, CA or New York, NY, confirmed open on 24 September 2026. Pay, credits and exclusions are the ad's own. See Mercor.