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Lead Technical Artist

Irvine, California, United States

Blizzard Entertainment is looking for an individual to serve as lead technical artist for a team focused on next-generation massively multiplayer online (MMO) games. The ideal candidate has a broad range of technical art experience coupled with very strong leadership capabilities. The lead technical artist must possess expert level knowledge on subjects such as Maya tool development, character rigging and pipeline design.   The ideal candidate must be able to manage a large technical art team, and foster an environment of excitement and creativity for a group of peers who are excited about making great games.   The candidate must also be able to establish and maintain a strong technical art vision while managing needs across the entire project.

 

Responsibilities

  • Manage day to day operations of a large technical art team.
  • Able to advance a strategic vision for the entire project incorporating established successful elements.
  • Interface frequently with department leads, key stake holders, and production team members.
  • Oversee schedules, critiquing work, mentoring, and fostering the long term growth for technical artists.

Requirements

  • A minimum of 5 years of experience in game development serving in a technical art role
  • Experience in a lead, or management role
  • Able to manage needs, and expectations for large team based projects
  • Able to effectively collaborate with game designers, artists, and programmers to ensure that the technical art vision is serving project needs
  • Self-motivated, solid communication skills, and a great team-player attitude
  • Excellent problem solving skills
  • Expert knowledge of Maya, Photoshop, and 3D engines in general
  • A thorough understanding of game development pipelines from concept to completion
  • Familiarity with at least one development language such mel, python, c#, or c++
  • A passion for video games

Pluses

  • Have shipped a AAA PC, or console title as a senior, or lead technical artist
  • Experience with visual FX, or particle animation
  • Experience with shader development

Special Instructions for Applicants (Demo or samples required, Design Questions, etc.)