Our studio projects have included EA SPORTS FC™ 26, Hogwarts Legacy, Exoborne, Mafia: The Old Country, Alan Wake Remastered, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Vampire The Masquerade - Blood Hunt, Mafia II: Definitive Edition, and Assetto Corsa Competizione. We also work in partnership with our global clients including: Playground Games, EA and Archetype Entertainment.

This opportunity will be a 12 month fixed-term contract (with possible extension) based in either of our UK studio sites (Daresbury or Newcastle), on a hybrid working basis. Working pattern - 3 days per week in the studio: Wednesday, Thursday and another day of your choice.

As a Senior Technical Artist, you will establish and maintain project art pipelines from inception and throughout the project life-cycle. You will support the art and animation team requirements and assist with resolving technical issues. You will create and integrate in-house toolsets and creation of materials/shaders. You will ensure all artwork hits memory and frame rate guidelines/restrictions by means of performance profiling.

You will collaborate with the artists and feedback on how they can improve the performance of the in-game assets while maintaining visual fidelity. You will be able to take ownership of specific features of the game. You will ensure all artwork adheres to guidelines regarding naming conventions, texture layering structures etc. You will keep up to date with industry advancements and technologies and share knowledge with the art team.

You will add to our library of tutorials, documents and technical guides to improve efficiency in the art pipeline and be proactive in finding solutions to technical issues. You will work with a professional and organised approach, adhering to schedules and promptly feedback concerns regarding any aspects of the project.

You will ensure the right tasks are tackled in the right order, updating Jira, communicating progress and helping to manage team deliverables. You will advise the Technical Art Leadership of resourcing concerns and production risks. You will encourage and mentor other members of the Technical Art Team.

You will be self-driven, autonomous and confident, demonstrating responsibility for work quality and processes for both yourself and other members of the tech art team, actively contributing fresh ideas and encouraging the team.

Essential Skills:

• Enjoy the technical challenge and constraints of real-time game art and have some understanding of modern rendering, shading and lighting techniques.
• Must be performance and quality focused.
• Must have an excellent working knowledge and proficiency in Maya and/or 3DS Max and an excellent in-depth knowledge in Python.
• Excellent communication and organisation skills and confident working within a multidisciplinary art team.
• Evidence of being an enthusiastic leader or role model in intermediate art role.
• Able to create materials/shaders and a good understanding of a PBR workflow.
• Excellent understanding of the technical limitations of current console hardware.
• Practical and methodical approach to technical and creative problem-solving.
• Demonstrate dependability and commitment to projects and tasks, and a hunger to learn and improve as a Technical Artist.
• Flexible and calm approach with the ability to adapt to change.
• Ability to deliver quality work within fixed time constraints.
• Strong knowledge of modern game engines such as Unreal Engine Or Unity.
• Excellent knowledge of current game development practices and terminology and a passion for staying up to date with latest technology and embracing new game art techniques.

Desirable Skills:

• Knowledge of other scripting languages is advantageous.
• Knowledge of the Maya API and programming in C++ or C# is advantageous.
• Some understanding of various other tools and software used in development, Photoshop, Substance, Houdini etc is also advantageous.
• Experience of working within game development for at least 4 years At least three published titles.
• At least two full project cycles in an Intermediate Art position.

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