Lead Technical Artist

Epic Games•Cary, NC

6d•$195,869 - $344,728•Remote

About The Position

We're looking for a Lead Technical Artist to guide a team of Technical Artists in building visually compelling, performant game worlds as part of our collaboration with Disney. Working closely with Art, Engineering, and Design, you'll translate project goals into practical tools, workflows, and technical solutions. This is a hands-on leadership role focused on day-to-day execution, team mentorship, and solving production challenges. You'll help deliver the studio's technical art direction.

Requirements

Experience shipping and supporting a live-service game
Strong professional experience in technical art for games, including contributions to a shipped title or comparably complex production
Experience leading or mentoring Technical Artists and coordinating technical work across disciplines
Practical knowledge of real-time rendering, profiling, content optimization, and performance budgets
Experience with world-building pipelines, procedural workflows, LOD systems, and content streaming
Proficiency with Unreal Engine, Unity, or a proprietary game engine
Scripting or programming experience for tool development, using languages such as Python, C#, or C++
Familiarity with shader and material development, alongside tools such as Houdini, Maya, or Blender
Strong problem-solving, communication, and prioritization skills, with an appreciation for artistic quality

Responsibilities

Profile game content and resolve performance bottlenecks in collaboration with Art and Engineering
Optimize geometry, materials, shaders, textures, lighting, foliage, and VFX to meet established performance and memory budgets
Help artists apply best practices for LODS, instancing, streaming, and content scalability across target platforms
Conduct content reviews and develop validation tools to identify technical issues early
Develop and maintain tools that support efficient environment creation, including terrain, foliage, procedural generation, and asset placement
Partner with Environment Art and Level Design to improve world-building workflows and troubleshoot production issues
Implement established standards for modular assets, materials, and content organization
Document tools and workflows, helping artists adopt them effectively
Lead the day-to-day work of a small Technical Art team, coordinating priorities and deliverables with Production and technical leadership
Mentor Technical Artists through feedback, technical reviews, and hands-on problem-solving
Balance individual contributions with delegation, giving team members clear ownership and opportunities to grow
Communicate progress, dependencies, and technical risks to project leadership
Coordinate Initiatives with Tech Art Leads on other projects working in the same development environment
Help establish practical usage guidelines and train artists on approved workflows, following studio policies for intellectual property, licensing, and data security
Evaluate results against quality and efficiency goals, recommending which workflows to refine or expand