Senior Technical Artist

LIGHTSPEED STUDIOS•Los Angeles, CA

1d•$97,500 - $232,300

About The Position

Lightspeed Studios is hiring a Senior Technical Artist for its Art Department, which spans concept design, 3D modeling, animation, VFX, technical art, and cinematics. The team explores how emerging technologies can elevate its craft and improve art quality across its games. The Senior Technical Artist will lead technical solutions for the art team, set high standards, and mentor junior Technical Artists. The role works across Art, Engineering, Production, and other teams to implement and manage in-house and outsourced assets, develop advanced visuals and graphics features, and create more efficient content-production techniques and workflows. It also supports the Art team with tool and game troubleshooting and helps optimize runtime performance and memory use. The position is based in Irvine or Los Angeles, California. The listed annual base pay range is $97,500 to $232,300. Eligible employees may receive a sign-on payment, relocation package, and restricted stock units, evaluated case by case. Benefits include medical, dental, vision, life, and disability coverage; participation in the company 401(k); vacation, holidays, and paid sick leave. Benefits may vary based on location, employment status, duration, and position level.

Requirements

Extensive knowledge of content-creation pipelines, including modeling, UV mapping, texturing, shading, lighting, FX, rigging, and animation.
Demonstrable experience with modern game content-creation workflows.
Proven experience as a Technical Artist on shipped AAA titles.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
Strong problem-solving skills and ability to work independently.
Solid digital-art background, including modeling, shading, lighting, and VFX.
Profound knowledge of Unreal technology, including material creation and Blueprints.
Strong proficiency in linear algebra and calculus for advanced 3D technology applications.
Understanding of real-time physically based materials and rendering (PBR).

Nice To Haves

Experience with the Substance suite and/or Houdini.
Knowledge of lower-level programming languages such as C++.
Understanding of shading languages such as HLSL or GLSL.
Extensive scripting experience for DCC applications, such as Python or C#.

Responsibilities

Spearhead and implement technical solutions for the art team, set high standards, and mentor junior Technical Artists.
Collaborate with teams to facilitate the technical implementation and management of in-house and outsourced assets.
Drive development of visuals that complement and enhance game design.
Prototype and author graphics features requiring high technical expertise.
Develop content-creation techniques and workflows that improve efficiency and quality.
Work with Art, Engineering, and Production to meet dependencies and requirements.
Help the Art team debug tools and game-related issues.
Optimize runtime game performance and memory consumption.