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Character Technical Director

Job Description

Ubisoft Montreal, an industry leading developer of video games, located in the heart of Montreal’s Mile-End, offers a unique environment where creativity, teamwork and cutting-edge technology bring to life critically acclaimed video games and iconic AAA franchises. You will benefit from a competitive compensation package, an open learning environment, and contribute to an international team driving innovation.

Summary

The Character Technical Director (TD) will oversee the quality and technical content of his trade. The incumbent must optimize team productivity through the technical process (pipeline) in order to maximize the player’s experience. This is achieved by adequately identifying the project’s needs, implementing efficient work tools and methods to maximize data integration in the engine and providing technical support to the team.

Responsibilities

The main and routine tasks of the Character TD are to:

• Determine his team’s technical needs to carry out the visions for the game design and level design and/or the artistic direction by validating game features and challenging its interpretation to assess their technical feasibility;
• Help choose the project engine to ensure that his trade’s needs are considered by evaluating existing engines, contributing to the design of a new engine (if applicable) and testing the final engine choice;
• Acquire the best tools in collaboration with the programming team and other Technical directors (TD) of the project to enhance and facilitate his trade’s work by prototyping technological elements, asking for adjustments to existing tools, requesting new tools and validating their efficiency before they are deployed on the project;
• Establish the best work methods and data structures (data and assets) to standardize work methods and ensure the validity and integrity of the data (meet standards and minimize debugging) by writing technical (pipeline) documents, establishing a naming method, training, coaching and supervising users of the process;
• Find improvements and resolve issues in order to provide technical support to his trade by working in close collaboration with programmers and training team members to become specialists resolving tasks and precise problems;
• Stay informed of new technical and technological developments in order to apply them to his project when relevant and share his project’s developments with his peers (TDs on other projects or other trades);
• Help plan the work by collaborating with the planning lead on the scope of each task and the impact on his team in order to find the right compromise between the desired quality and the delivery constraints (time, costs, resources, etc.);
• Follow up on the tasks of the assistant TDs to assess the progress of the deliverables;
• Carry out all other related tasks.
  

Qualifications

Education

College diploma in 3D animation for video games or equivalent.

Relevant experience

• 5 years’ experience in modelling and/or rigging video game characters or equivalent;
• Working experience in his trade in all video game production phases;
• 2 years’ experience as an assistant TD is an asset.

Skills and knowledge

• User oriented;
• Good interpersonal and communication skills;
• Self-Organization skills;
• Good Coaching skills;
• Capacity to Influence;
• Writing skills (technical documents);
• Be visionary;
• Modelling and texturing knowledge;
• Extensive anatomical knowledge;
• Extensive knowledge of the game engine limitations and production needs;
• Extensive knowledge of character modelling;
• Extensive knowledge of shaders, physics and other character related developments;
• Knowledge of programming languages such as Max Script and C Sharp;
• Extensive knowledge of controllers is an asset;
• Animation skills is an asset;
• Extensive knowledge of IK and pivot points is an asset;
• Extensive knowledge of Character Studio/biped is an asset.