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Modeling Supervisor: Cinematics Department

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Job Description:

Blizzard’s award-winning Story & Franchise Development has a new opening for a Modeling Supervisor, who will run the day-to-day operations for the Cinematic Modeling Team. This is a full-time staff position and comes with the expectation that this individual will eventually work on-site in Irvine, CA.

WHO ARE WE LOOKING FOR?

We are searching for a hard-working, driven, and optimistic leader who is as passionate as we are for the opportunity to bring Blizzard Cinematics to life. The Modeling Supervisor acts as the majority stakeholder, responsible for team efficiency, tech initiatives and consistency for all Modeling deliverables (both Characters, Environments and Props) across our various Blizzard IPs and their respective pipelines. This individual will work alongside our Principal artists to unify, elevate, and maintain the highest level of quality for our digital assets. The Modeling Supervisor will also run the team by helping set the overall tone for the department and will collaborate closely with a Modeling Department Producer on all deliverables. Together, they manage, inspire, and empower our diverse group of artists to generate their best work while achieving our collective creative studio-level goals on time, within budget and scope. Furthermore, alongside other key team members, this person will also cast, bid, schedule, hire, train and pivot the multitude of daily tasks that occur during production to complete our various projects and goals. The Supervisor also works with both up and downstream departments, Tech, R&D, as well as show based Leadership including Producers, Art Directors, and VFX Supervisors to help ensure that our project’s creative vision is achieved. ABOUT THE TEAM The Blizzard Cinematics Modeling Team is a highly creative, diverse, collaborative, and passionate collection of artists and visual storytellers. We currently operate with over a dozen artists, specializing in both environment and character art. Our team ranges in experience from Junior to Principal level, and we support both staff and contract employees. The Modeling Department is responsible for 3D asset creation across all Blizzard IPs across our various pipelines and visual styles.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Ensure all Cinematic assets, of our various IPs, pipelines, and artistic styles deliver on time while meeting and elevating our established technical and visual standards.
• Work alongside our Principal Character and Environment Artists to provide feedback of the artists’ work through verbal/written comments and digital paint/sculpt overs.
• Partner with the Department Producer to actively prioritize department and project goals on the fly as priorities or resources shift and milestones need to be re-evaluated.
• Collaborate with Department Technical Director to prioritize and triage department needs to improve both current and future tech and tool development. Concisely and directly communicate notes to and from our various clients, game teams, and/or creative leadership to verify the projects’ vision is being realized and executed to the best of our abilities.
• Frequently hold 1 on 1’s with the Modeling Artists to mentor, coach and further develop performance and growth while also assisting in the planning/execution of their unique personal goals and those of the Team and Studio.
• Point person for the team regarding the problem-solving of artistic, interpersonal, technical or pipeline related hurdles.
• Challenge our current workflows, techniques, and processes by continuing to push the department standards to new quality heights which will warrant future success.
• Maintain team morale and inform the team of studio-wide updates regarding policies, procedures, and protocols.
• Assist with strategic planning of show-wide strike teams where we solve the most complicated technical or artistic challenges.
• Conduct interviews, hire, train, assist with on boarding of new team members. Create an Annual Operating Plan for the Department forecasting our team needs for the year ahead.
• Conduct post-mortem strategic meetings with show leadership to problem solve existing workflows with the goal of improving productivity and cross-department optimization on future projects.
• Continually investigate, request, and facilitate the acquisition of new tools, plug-ins and/or software programs for the department.
• Stay current with and continually research breakthrough tools and techniques within our industry with a solid understanding of how they can benefit our team workflows and push innovation.

REQUIREMENTS

• Minimum of 5+ years professional experience leading or supervising a team for VFX, animated feature film, television, or AAA cinematic content.
• Proven track record of creating expert-level assets and a thorough understanding of all technical challenges and limitations required to get the best possible work on screen.
• Expert-level understanding of form, anatomy, proportion, design, shape language and composition.
• Ability to communicate clearly with senior leadership and relay/filter pertinent or sensitive information to the team in a professional manner. Possess a critical eye for quality and understand how to adjust the work to push top-tier assets even further.
• Ability to evaluate digital assets within the full context of their visibility/importance on screen and relevance to the story.
• Excellent visual, verbal, and written communication skills.
• Passion and dedication to not only meet, but surpass industry trends, techniques, software, emerging technologies, and 3D asset standards.
• Ability to stay calm under the pressure of busy schedules, overlapping priorities and unforeseen challenges.
• Strong leadership skills including the capacity to inspire, empathize, delegate, and uphold the trust of the team.
• Enjoy team building, mentoring and career development as well as asset creation workflow/pipeline and efficiency standardizations.
• Skilled at delegating work accordingly to keep productions goals on track and within scope.
• Experience working within creative leadership teams across multiple disciplines including Production, Tech, VFX Supervisors, Art Directors, Directors, and Senior Management.
• Exceptional multitasking and time management skills.
• Able to demonstrate a high-level of professionalism, initiative, autonomy, and self-sufficiency.

PLUSSES

• Knowledge of FACS-based facial pipelines, blend shapes and shot-sculpting workflows.
• Skilled at hair grooming, texturing, shading, and asset look development.
• Possess an in-depth understanding of current real-time game engine pipelines, their technical restrictions, limitations, and how to yield the best visual results to suit our production needs.
• Familiarity with the Blizzard IP’s, fanbase and associated lore.
• Excellent public speaking and presentation skills.

Ability to work on the box when needed to facilitate production needs or resource demands.

SOFTWARE EXPERIENCE USED / PREFERRED Maya, Zbrush/Mudbox, 3Ds Max, Blender, current AAA Real-Time Game Engine (Unreal/Unity equivalent), Quixel, Mari, Marvelous Designer, WrapX, Houdini, Substance, Redshift, Renderman, Miro, PowerPoint, Photoshop

Blizzard Entertainment is a global company committed to growing our employees along with the business. We offer generous benefits and perks with an eye on providing true work / life balance. We’ve worked hard to cultivate an intensely collaborative and creative environment, a diverse and inclusive employee culture, and training and opportunity for professional growth. Our people are everything. Our core values are real, and our mission has never changed. We are dedicated to creating the most epic entertainment experiences…ever. Join us.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status