Associate Technical Artist

Light & Wonder • Reno, NV

20h

About The Position

The Associate Technical Artist helps bring games to life by translating between art and engineering. Working under the guidance of technical artists and engineers, this role supports the studio in realizing each game theme’s player-facing vision. The position contributes to content and animation pipeline practices, assists artists and animators with asset implementation, and develops familiarity with current game-industry tools and processes. It requires working knowledge of a modern game engine and its scripting language, solid coding fundamentals, and attention to detail.

The role creates, edits, and implements technical components of artistic visuals and animations according to established pipeline standards. It also helps configure and troubleshoot animation in-engine, modifies assets for technical viability and performance, evaluates rendering and playback, prototypes game functionality and theme dynamics, resolves asset, animation, and code issues, and supports colleagues with routine pipeline questions and documentation. The employee is expected to seek feedback and mentorship to develop technical and pipeline skills.

Because Light & Wonder operates in regulated gaming and lottery businesses, employees may be required to obtain gaming or other licenses, undergo background investigations or security checks, or meet legal, regulatory, or contractual standards applicable to their roles. A due diligence/background investigation may be a prerequisite to employment, to the extent permitted by law.

Requirements

• Bachelor of Arts in art, animation, computer science, or equivalent experience.
• Working knowledge of C#.
• Strong problem-solving skills.
• Excellent organizational skills.
• Ability to interact and collaborate with immediate peers.
• Experience working with a team under tight deadlines.
• Self-motivated and able to work on multiple projects with minimal direction.
• Familiarity with technical documentation.
• Understanding of artistic concepts and pipeline.
• Working knowledge of animation state machines.

Nice To Haves

• Unity familiarity, including Prefabs, Particle Systems, and Materials.
• Fluency in other coding languages, especially JavaScript, MAXScript, and C++.
• Proficiency in Photoshop.
• Familiarity with motion graphics and compositing editors; After Effects preferred.
• Familiarity with 3D animation and rendering applications; 3DS Max preferred.
• Working knowledge of versioning software; Perforce preferred.
• Experience writing art tools.
• Experience writing shaders; Cg preferred.
• Understanding of UI/UX principles across various platforms.
• Familiarity with AI tools.

Responsibilities

• Create, edit, and implement technical components of artistic visual elements and animations used in games, following established pipeline standards for import settings and technical requirements.
• Assist with setting up and troubleshooting in-engine animation, including rigs, skinning, animation clips, state transitions, and playback timing.
• Use programming languages and 3D graphics packages such as 3ds Max and Maya to modify art and animation assets for technical viability and performance.
• Evaluate asset rendering and animation playback, and modify models, rigs, and animations to improve performance, memory footprint, and responsiveness on supported hardware.
• Build and test prototypes of game functionality, animation behavior, and theme dynamics under direction.
• Identify and fix asset, animation, and code errors, escalating complex issues to senior team members.
• Assist artists, animators, and engineers with routine technical issues related to the art and animation pipeline, and help document best practices.
• Actively seek feedback and mentorship to grow technical and pipeline skills.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level