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.
Principal Technical Artist (Unannounced Project)
Posted:
about 1 month
Art and Animation
Full-Time
Lead / Principal
$125,000-$219,000
We are ArenaNet, a studio making online worlds infused with innovation, hand-crafted excellence, and creative passion. Our passion is broadly shared; gamers made Guild Wars 2 the fastest selling MMO game in the West with more than 3 million copies sold in its first 9 months, and players and press have consistently called it one of the best MMOs of all time.
Our studio is built on foundations of excellence with a focus on community. We constantly innovate, unlocking the true potential of online role-playing with game-changing titles like Guild Wars 2 and beyond. The status quo isn't good enough for our dedicated worldwide community of players which is why we question the de facto industry conventions and demand more from ourselves as developers.
You are a highly experienced technical artist with significant experience collaborating with artists and engineers to define clear goals for tool sets, pipelines, and art development process. You will drive the initiative and push leading industry standards through innovation when partnering with engineering and art to solve complex problems that impact the project as a whole.
WHAT YOU'LL DO
- You will specialize in Technical art as it pertains to characters, animation and rigging, and be comfortable teaching and sharing your knowledge and experience with others.
- You will work closely with the engineering and art teams to evaluate and implement multiple engine pipelines alongside their necessary tools which enable AAA content development..
- You will lead R&D efforts for tools, content, and new technologies for art development while partnering with tools leads to set strategic visions for content and tools. You will then partner with engineers to develop, or integrate, those cutting edge tools and technology.
- You will foster positive relationships with creative and technical disciplines and act as a bridge between them. You will work 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
- Solid experience on either PC or console AAA game titles, ideally both platforms.
- Strong knowledge of modern content creation pipelines and workflows, including familiarity with a variety of DCC packages
- Deep knowledge in Pipeline and automation with specialization in Technical Art as it pertains to Characters, Animation and Rigging
- Expertise in Autodesk Maya
- Physics and secondary motion rigging for realtime (ragdoll, cloth, hair, jiggly bits ect.)
- Experiencing with pushing high quality character / creature deformations and physics for real-time
- Strong understanding of Anatomy
- Expertise in Unreal E 4+
- Expertise in Python and PYQT, with some experience with at least one other scripting or programming language (C++, C#, JavaScript, etc.)
- Experience shipping multiple games including at least one AAA title
- Experience with multiple game engines
- Excellent written and verbal communications skills
- Excellent organization and time-management skills
- A customer-centric approach to tool development; solid grasp of UX
- Ability and willingness 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.)
- Has 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
About ArenaNet
We’re ArenaNet. We make the games we want to play and infuse them with innovation, hand-crafted detail, and creative passion. As developer and publisher 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.
Game development is an incredible collaboration that brings together expertise and innovation from every discipline. That's why we prize teamwork so highly—each of us offers unique ideas, solutions, and life experiences. Those values extend far beyond our approach to design; we know that we're at our best when people from all backgrounds and walks of life work side by side. It's an integral part of who we are as a studio, and we believe it makes our games that much better.
Our games, and the spaces we create for players to share with each other, are not places for harassment, abuse, or hate. We want to build communities where people are allies—where they lift each other up and make each other's worlds better. In designing games with that in mind—with room for everyone to be a hero—we reward unique strengths. We strive to model these concepts in the real world too, especially here in our studio.
Recognizing the strengths of team members fosters a culture that empowers everyone to embrace their identity. It means striving to recruit talent from marginalized and underrepresented groups. It means standing with our employees, protecting them from harassment, and working to sustain a safe, inclusive environment.
ArenaNet is a diverse and dynamic community of unique individuals. Every day we work to get better at what we do, we have another chance to help make the world a better place.
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