Senior Technical Artist (Generalist)

We are seeking a highly skilled and versatile Senior Generalist Technical Artist with expertise in Unreal Engine to join our Technical Art team. In this role, you will be responsible for bridging the gap between art and technology, ensuring the highest quality visual fidelity while maintaining optimal performance for our AAA games. You will collaborate closely with artists, engineers, designers, and other technical artists to develop and optimize pipelines, tools, and workflows, contributing to all aspects of the game's visual development.

A snapshot of your role:

• Design, develop, and maintain efficient art pipelines and workflows for various disciplines (e.g., environment, character, VFX, lighting) to ensure a smooth content creation process.
• Create and optimize complex shaders and materials using Unreal Engine’s Material Editor and HLSL to achieve cutting-edge visual effects.
• Develop custom tools and scripts (using Python, Blueprint, C++, etc.) to enhance the productivity of the art and design teams and streamline repetitive tasks.
• Diagnose, troubleshoot, and resolve technical issues related to content creation, such as performance bottlenecks, memory usage, and visual artifacts.
• Act as a bridge between art, engineering, and design teams to ensure seamless integration of assets and to maintain visual quality standards while adhering to technical constraints.
• Work closely with engineers to profile and optimize game performance, focusing on rendering, memory usage, and load times without sacrificing visual quality.
• Rapidly prototype new visual features, effects, and tools to enhance the game’s visual quality and provide creative solutions for art and design challenges.
• Implement procedural techniques and tools to improve asset creation processes and enhance scalability for large-scale projects.
• Create clear and concise documentation for pipelines, tools, and workflows to ensure knowledge transfer and consistent practices across the team.

Sound like you? This is what we’re looking for:

• 5+ years of experience as a technical artist in the AAA games industry, with a focus on environment, VFX, character, or props art.
• Proficiency in Unreal Engine 5 is highly desirable, with a deep understanding of shaders, materials, and procedural content generation.
• Strong background in optimizing game assets for performance, with an eye for both technical and artistic quality.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills with a proactive approach to identifying and resolving technical challenges.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with experience working in a cross-functional, collaborative team environment.
• A portfolio showcasing your technical art work, including tools, shaders, optimization examples, and problem-solving techniques.

Nice-to-haves:

• Experience with lighting, visual effects (VFX), Blueprint scripting, and tool development in Unreal Engine.
• Background in both environment art and technical art, or similar experience with VFX/Character/Props art.

And here is why we think you'll love working at SkyBox Labs:

• Annual bonus and up to 3% RRSP matching available
• Comprehensive health benefits, along with a supportive Parental Leave policy
• Flexible hybrid working arrangements: leverage our beautiful studio spaces as needed, and use our $400 work-from-home allowance to make your home office comfortable
• Take care of your mental health with our Employee Assistance Program, 3 weeks of vacation leave, and our free gym at our Burnaby Studio
• We relentlessly support your growth and development! Level up your C++ skills at SkyBox University, explore other disciplines through our Guild Program, and expand your game dev knowledge with Lunch & Learns. You’ll join a culture of empowerment, collaboration, and personal growth.
• Social events! Have fun with the team at trivia nights, karaoke nights, movie nights, and various group activities. Join our soccer team, game jams, or a board game sesh after work. You name it, we’ve got it!
• Get involved with our diverse community through Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) that champion Diversity, Equity & Inclusion initiatives and promote a supportive environment
• You’ll contribute to industry-leading titles, from legendary AAA franchises to Original IP

The base salary range is $107,000 - $147,000. The stated pay scale reflects the range that SkyBox Labs reasonably expects to pay for this position. Your base salary will be determined by various factors including, but not limited to, qualifications, skills, and experience.

Please note, only those who submit a portfolio or reel showcasing relevant work will be considered for the role.

SkyBox Labs is proud to be an equal opportunity employer, committed to developing and maintaining a diverse workforce. You’ll join a collaborative, inclusive culture. One where we succeed together – across the desk and around Canada. Where like-minded people work naturally together to achieve great things (and games!).

Only candidates who reside in Canada or are willing to relocate will be considered for this role. Additionally, although we appreciate all interest, only those candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.