Unreal Engine 5 Character Artist Needed

I'm producing a series of short lecture videos delivered by a single recurring character, "Mu" — a stylized humanoid female with rabbit ears and gold-painted skin who speaks directly to camera. I need an Unreal Engine 5 / MetaHuman artist to build the character and a reusable scene template once, so that I can then produce the whole series myself by dropping in voiceover audio and having Mu automatically lip-sync to it. The key deliverable is not a finished video — it's a clean, well-organized Unreal project I can operate: Mu, fully built and placed in a simple lecture environment, with a camera + lighting setup and an automated audio-to-lip-sync workflow already wired up. I'll handle writing scripts, recording/generating the voiceover, and rendering each episode. I'm an intermediate hobbyist who has done a lot of this work myself (MetaHuman assembly, materials, a custom ear mesh in Blender), so I can follow technical handoffs — but I want a professional to do it properly and document it so the template is reliable and repeatable. What I'll provide: Reference stills of MU (AI-generated concept art) showing the look, gold finish, ears, and wardrobe. A clean, animation-ready rabbit-ear mesh (quad topology, proper UVs) already prepared in Blender, plus the working Blender→FBX export settings, if useful. (You're also free to build ears from scratch if you prefer — your call.) Engine target and any existing assets on request. Technical environment (please match): Engine: Unreal Engine 5.7.x (currently 5.7.4). Character framework: MetaHuman (in-engine MetaHuman Character / MetaHuman Creator + Animator). MU is built on a MetaHuman female base. Final renders: Movie Render Queue (I'll run these), so the template should be set up for deterministic, repeatable high-quality output. Deliverable must be a project I can open and operate in UE 5.7 on macOS (Mac) — no Windows-only plugins or middleware I can't run. The character — "MU" A humanoid female with rabbit ears who can credibly deliver lectures — not a realistic rabbit and not a cartoon. She must hold up in extended close-ups, since she speaks directly to camera for long stretches. Skin: matte gold-painted finish — painted skin, not metal/chrome. Visible pores and skin detail, warm subsurface glow, natural-looking eyes. The gold should read uniformly across face, body, and ears (ideally one shared skin material so it's consistent and adjustable from one place). Ears: rabbit ears with real volume (not paper-thin) — rounded edges, thickness like cartilage/a human ear, a substantial outer rim and deep inner channel. They should be gold to match the skin (slightly smoother is fine), attached to the head, and ideally able to bend/flop/animate (physics or rig-driven) for natural motion during delivery. Two ears (mirrored). Hair/grooms: eyebrows and eyelashes toned to a warm light brown to suit the monochromatic gold look; lips slightly warmed/lightened. Wardrobe: a simple pale/white silk slip dress, barefoot. (Match the reference stills.) Face: built to match my reference stills (soft jaw, fuller lips, slightly larger/softer eyes are the general direction — final look matched to refs). The environment: A simple, characterful lecture space that suits Mu — e.g. a minimalist stage or study with a screen/board behind her, and somewhere for her to stand or sit. Keep the geometry light so renders stay fast and continuity is perfect across many episodes. Include a proper lighting rig (key + fill + sky/HDRI, plus reflection capture) tuned so the gold skin reads well on camera. The reusable template (the core of this job) I want to produce many episodes with identical look and perfect continuity, changing only the lecture content per video. Please deliver: MU, fully assembled, gold, eared, dressed, with a working facial rig, placed in the environment. A master level + a Level Sequence (Sequencer) shot template with: A locked camera, plus 2–3 alternate framings (wide / medium / close-up). An idle/gesture animation track so Mu looks alive while speaking. A facial-performance / lip-sync track. An audio track for the lecture voiceover. Automated audio-driven lip-sync: I will provide a voiceover audio file per episode and need Mu's mouth to sync to it automatically (e.g. UE/MetaHuman audio-to-face or an equivalent audio-to-viseme workflow). Hand-keyed animation is not the goal — the per-episode workflow should be fast and largely push-button. A clear, documented per-episode workflow: "drop in this audio file → run this step → adjust framing → render." A short written guide or screen-recording walkthrough is expected as part of delivery. What I'll do per episode (so you know what the template must support): Replace the audio (voiceover) and regenerate the lip-sync. Optionally swap on-screen text / a backdrop element. Render via Movie Render Queue. Everything else (character, look, lighting, camera) stays fixed. Skills I'm looking for: Unreal Engine 5, MetaHuman (Creator + Animator), character materials/shaders (subsurface skin), Sequencer + cinematic lighting, audio-driven facial animation / lip-sync, Movie Render Queue. Blender experience for the ear mesh / wardrobe is a plus. Bonus: Editor Python / Blueprint scripting to help automate the per-episode setup. To give me an accurate estimate, please address: Your approach to the gold subsurface skin, and how you'd keep it uniform across face/body/ears. Your recommended automated audio-to-lip-sync method in UE 5.7 and how reliable/hands-off it is per episode. How you'd handle the rabbit ears — attachment, gold material match, and whether you'd add flop/physics. Whether you'd build Mu's face in MetaHuman Creator to match my refs, and any limitations I should know about. Your plan for the wardrobe (slip dress) — modeled garment vs. cloth sim. A rough estimate and timeline, and how you'd prefer to structure it (fixed-price milestones or hourly). I have not set a fixed budget — I'm looking for your honest estimate of effort. Relevant portfolio work: MetaHuman characters, stylized/painted skin, and any audio-driven facial animation. Any questions or concerns about feasibility — I'd rather hear them now. Notes: Quality bar: believable in extended close-up, not just from a distance. I value clear documentation and a clean, organized project as much as the visual result — this is a template I'll operate for a long time. Open to your professional recommendations if there's a better way to hit the goal within this pipeline.