Lead Technical Artist

Welcome to Striking Distance Studios!

Driven by people. Inspired by challenges. Relentless to deliver creative excellence.

At the intersection of art, design and technology lies Striking Distance Studios. We are a AAA development studio within the San Ramon Hills of the San Francisco Bay Area. With the release of our first title, The Callisto Protocol, we are excited to continue to grow our studio.

Here at Striking Distance Studios it is amazing people, an immersive experience and a passion for excellence that drives us each day. We are looking for people who push themselves creatively and learn with every new challenge. We give you the setting and the opportunity to do work you are proud of. We’re looking for the best to come join us and become part of a world-class team.

To us excellence is not a skill, but an attitude!

About this position:

The Lead Technical Artist role is responsible for a wide range of areas from tool and workflow design and implementation, to optimization analysis, to shader authoring to visual prototyping. A Jack-of-all-trades, the Lead Technical Artist deploys a wide range of technical skills along with a strong understanding of cutting edge AAA content creation techniques in order to empower content creators to unleash their creativity without being encumbered by technological constraints.

Responsibilities:

• Lead complex tool/pipeline initiatives and drive them to completion
• Help define and communicate budgets and audit game\content performance
• Advise content teams to ensure that assets are authored correctly
• Mentor and develop Jr. team members
• Design and implement internal and external pipelines requiring multi-discipline collaboration.
• Collaborate with artists and engineers to design and create new art workflows and tools
• Support artists and troubleshoot pipeline issues as they arise

Qualifications:

• 7+ years in game development
• 1+ year in a leadership position
• Strong understanding of UE4/UE5
• Shipped one game in a PBR art pipeline in TA or similar role
• Strong knowledge of AAA 3D art production
• Strong knowledge of Maya, Substance, Photoshop
• Experience developing artist tools in DCC applications (Max, Maya, UE)
• Strong knowledge of shader creation via node graph, HLSL or GLSL
• Intermediate skill with Python, C# or C++
• Familiarity with game performance evaluation tools
• Excellent collaboration and communication skills
• Strong problem solving and trouble-shooting skills
• Experience with Houdini a plus

In California, the expected salary range for this position is $155,000-$190,000. The listed expected salary range represents a good faith estimate and the actual pay may depend on a variety of job-related factors that can include experience, education, skills, and location.

Striking Distance Studios provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

Due to recent scams, our recruiters will only reach out to you via @sds.com, @krafton.com or @pubg.com. If you received an email and are unsure you can always email recruiting@sds.com