At ArenaNet, we’ve always believed that games are art. They have the power to communicate ideas and tell stories. They can change the way we think, reflect our cultures, and move us. As the developer of the award-winning Guild Wars game series, we’re proud to share our passion for the online worlds we’ve created with over 11 million players worldwide.
ArenaNet develops and publishes games for every kind of person, which means our games need to be built by every kind of person. We believe the best experiences come from working together, celebrating differences, and helping each of our team members shine.
We are seeking a highly experienced technical artist with extensive expertise in collaborating with artists and engineers to establish clear objectives for tool sets, pipelines, and the art development process.
WHAT YOU'LL DO
- Work with Artists and Designers to integrate existing guidelines or establish new ones as needed for module creation and develop tools to support efficient world-building workflows and iteration.
- Support the Environment, Design, and Cinematic teams in setting up complex assets
- Partner with Engineering and Technical Art to define requirements for new technology, test prototypes, and provide feedback
- Work alongside engineering and art leads to establish, define, and create shaders and materials
- Use in-game and external profiling tools to optimize environment for GPU and memory
- Identify opportunities for improved environment asset reuse, organization, and consolidation
- Educate environment artists on new material features, workflows, and techniques
- Write documentation on environment art workflows and best practices
- Contribute to a set of content validation checks to ensure standards are adhered to
- Monitor outsourced content for standard compliance and provide feedback as needed
- Foster positive relationships with creative and technical disciplines, serving as a bridge between them. Collaborate closely with game artists to support new and existing art tools and pipelines while maintaining performance goals defined by you and graphics engineers.
WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO BE SUCCESSFUL
- 12+ years of experience as a Technical Artist within the games industry.
- Significant experience with AAA game titles on PC or console, ideally across both platforms.
- Strong understanding of modern content creation pipelines and workflows, with familiarity in various DCC packages.
- Expertise in Autodesk Maya.
- Experience with multiple DCC tools (e.g., Maya, 3ds Max, Houdini, MotionBuilder, Blender).
- Expertise in Unreal Engine 5
- Expertise in Python and PyQt, with experience in at least one additional scripting or programming language (C++, C#, JavaScript, etc.)
- Proven track record of shipping multiple games, including at least one AAA title.
- Familiarity with multiple game engines.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Strong organizational and time-management abilities.
- Customer-centric approach to tool development with a solid understanding of UX principles.
- Willingness and ability to mentor team members.
PLUSES
- Experience developing for live multiplayer games
- Experience developing for modern consoles
- Experience with at least multiple commercial engines (Unity, Unreal3/4, CryEngine, Lumberyard, etc.)
- Experience in all stages of game development, pre-production through ship
- Experience with PyMel and the Maya Python API
- Experience in other Technical Art Specialties
- Shader Development
- Material Pipelines
- Lighting
- Visual FX
- Rendering
- Proceduralism
- Engine Automation
We are open to remote work from the following states: AZ, CA, CO, FL, GA, ID, IL, MD, NC, NY, OR, TX, UT, WA and WI or onsite/hybrid/flex at our office in Bellevue, WA.
Please note that the pay range listed in this job posting reflects the full salary range for this position. While we provide this range to offer transparency, our target hiring range typically falls between the minimum and the midpoint, allowing for growth potential within the role.
Total compensation is salary plus an annual bonus potential. When determining an offer amount, many things are taken into consideration such as qualifications, experience, internal equity and work location. We strive to provide competitive and equitable compensation packages to all our employees.
This role is also eligible for medical, dental, vision and life insurance, short and long term disability, 401(k), flexible and dependent care spending accounts, PTO, paid holidays and parental leave.
Don’t meet every single requirement on this job post? Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At ArenaNet, we believe diversity in culture, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and backgrounds make us a better team – we celebrate it. So, if you’re excited about this role, but your experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification listed, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.
