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Senior Technical Artist (Animation/Rigging Tools & Pipeline)

In 2009, Riot released its debut title League of Legends and has since gone on to become the most played PC game in the world and a key driver of the explosive growth of esports. Delivering visually stunning experiences for a global audience while also building new games gives artists exciting and complex problems to solve. Here, artists are working not only with one another, but also side-by-side with game designers, narrative writers, audio designers, and engineers, to ensure that each piece of content from Riot reaches the level of quality players deserve. From animations to illustrations, cinematics to comics, characters to environments, we work as a team to put players first.

The mission of Technical Art at Riot is to establish and improve the systems, tools, rigs, assets, and workflows that unleash the creativity of our artists and allow the production of the best possible art content for our players. As a Tools and Pipeline Technical Artist, you will build the tools and tech that create art assets within Riot. This will involve building pipelines and workflows for DCC (Digital Content Creation) software, working with engineering in the design of our in-house tools, and consulting with art to discover the best possible solutions to the challenges we face.

As a Senior Technical Artist (Tools and Pipeline) on the Central Creative-Tech team, you will report to the Head of Creative Department. You will help build and establish a common set of tools for Rigging & Animation to unify Riot’s future asset creation for years to come. You will design artist-facing UI's, and the underlying code architecture for creating intuitive tools for generating character-based assets and animation in games, cinematics, music videos, AR/VR, and many other types of projects. You will participate in research, discussions, and reviews with other Tech Artists, Animators, Character & VFX Artists, Engineers, and other disciplines. You will take an active role in writing design documents, code reviews, collecting feedback from end-users, and training people in using the systems you've co-developed with your team. You thrive on the collaborative and ambiguous nature of finding what unites a team around a common set of goals and are able to make that vision a reality.

Responsibilities:

• Create and maintain a Riot centralized suite of 3D Character Rigging and Animation based tools
• I dentify new opportunities to incorporate technology to increase art workflow efficiency and unlock new creative opportunities
• Partner with other Technical Artists at the studio to develop a cohesive vision and shared standards across the Technical Art discipline

Required Qualifications :

• 5+ years of professional experience as a technical artist in games or related industries
• Expertise in industry-standard content creation tools, such as Maya, and commercial game engines (i.e. Unreal, Unity, etc.)
• Fluency in modern scripting languages and related UI frameworks, such as Python and PyQt/PySide
• Experience rigging 3D character bodies and faces for game/film production, scripting automation tools, and designing artists facing UI’s for rigging and animation.
• Experience using version control systems such as Perforce and Github
• Experience problem-solving and communicating with multiple art disciplines and acting as an ambassador between art and engineering

Desired Qualifications :

• Experience in game development using Unreal
• Experience working with motion and facial capture systems
• Experience in working with cloth, hair, and muscle/skin dynamics systems
• Understanding of 3D modeling and materials for modern real-time rendering
• Plugin Development for Maya in Python and/or C++

When submitting your application, please provide a portfolio of your high-quality technical art work - including stylized artwork. And as a part of the application process, you may also be asked to complete a test.

Our Perks:

We offer medical, dental, and vision plans that cover you, your spouse/domestic partner, and children. Life insurance, parental leave, plus short-term and long-term disability coverage are also available. Riot will support your retirement benefits with a company match, and double down on your donations of time and money to non-profit charitable organizations. Balance between work and personal life is encouraged with open paid time off, and a play fund so you can broaden and deepen your personal relationship with games.

It’s our policy to provide equal employment opportunity for all applicants and members of Riot Games, Inc. Riot Games makes reasonable accommodations for handicapped and disabled Rioters and does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, handicap, veteran status, marital status, criminal history, or any other category protected by applicable federal and state law, including the City of Los Angeles’ Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance relating to an applicant's criminal history (LAMC 189.00).