Technical Artist (5-month Contract)

Blackbird Interactive•Vancouver, BC

1d•CA$85,000 - CA$115,000•Remote

About The Position

Blackbird Interactive is seeking a passionate Technical Artist to join their team on an upcoming Third Person Action Shooter. This role involves building stylish and compelling interactive experiences by collaborating with designers, artists, and programmers to create ambitious in-game content that is both beautiful and performant in Unreal Engine 5. The studio is a creative-fueled, future-driven, independent game studio where top talent can grow their careers while working on both world-class IPs and original creations across multiple genres. The team is developing a Third Person Action Shooter and supports remote and hybrid working arrangements across Canada (Vancouver, BC). BBI offers a flexible, forward-thinking environment where creative voices are valued and nurtured.

Requirements

At least 2 years of experience with Unreal Engine as a TA
Strong understanding of real-time content development and game art pipelines
Technical proficiency across one or more art disciplines (eg. animation, modeling, texturing, FX) with a solid grasp of how they interact in-engine
Experience supporting or developing production tools and workflows
Some programming or scripting experience (eg. C++, C#, Python, or similar)
Understanding of asset management and version control practices
Familiarity with animation rigs and game animation systems
Experience working with DCC tools such as Maya
Strong problem-solving skills, curiosity, and a collaborative mindset

Nice To Haves

Understanding of shader development and material systems
Experience with particle systems and real-time visual effects
Knowledge of performance profiling and optimization for real-time content
Experience with Perforce (P4V)
Experience with real-time destruction systems like Unreal Chaos

Responsibilities

Act as a bridge between Art, Engineering, and the game engine, helping teams communicate effectively and solve cross-disciplinary problems
Support artists with art-to-engine integration, including setup, debugging, and optimization of assets and systems, as well as housekeeping and naming conventions
Design, build, and maintain tools, scripts, and workflows that improve artist productivity and content quality
Collaborate with artists on animation, modeling, texturing, shaders, FX, Destruction and other real-time content disciplines
Help identify visual or performance issues and devise high-quality solutions within technical constraints
Contribute to the development and maintenance of art pipelines and production processes
Generate clear, concise documentation for tools, workflows, and pipelines
Take ownership of technical challenges, work with minimal supervision, and proactively propose improvements