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Senior Technical Artist

Crystal Dynamics, a part of the Square Enix family, is constantly on the hunt for top-tier gaming talent worldwide. We pride ourselves on attracting and developing the best talent available to concept, create, and contribute to the most exciting projects in gaming today. 25+ years of history creating fun and exciting titles for the world to enjoy as well as our studio’s 1000+ years of combined game industry experience provides a rich tapestry of tested and new ideas to draw from as has established us as one of the best studios in the world to work for.

Position Summary:

Crystal Dynamics is seeking a highly qualified Senior Technical Artist with a passion for developing content in the smartest way possible – specifically through the creation and enhancement of flexible content pipelines with a focus on innovation, quality and efficiency. The Senior Technical Artist will also be responsible for improving the tools and pipelines to meet the challenges of our high-fidelity multiplayer experiences. This position will play a significant role in improving and maintaining the production pipelines, optimizing workflows and acting as a Technical Art resource for the team.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

• Works with the Technical Director, and is responsible to evaluate and initiate processes or features needed to improve or streamline production across multiple teams
• Acts as liaison between art, design and programming departments to oversee and enhance the studio’s next generation production pipeline and workflow
• Use scripting languages and custom plug-ins to create art centric toolsets focusing on increasing productivity, aiding workflow and reducing human error
• Communicate and troubleshoot technical art issues with an emphasis on studio wide global solutions
• Assist in educating art staff from a technical, workflow and efficiency standpoint
• Mentor and train other technical artists in studio
• Research and develop software that may assist in improving efficiency and raising the visual quality of the art department
• Build art for testing purposes and develop R&D demonstrations for other teams to use and learn from

Competencies, Knowledge & Skills:

• Exceptional problem solving, analytical, organizational skills
• Self-motivated, prioritizes tasks, tracks and delivers technical solutions while managing multiple requests from different departments
• Has a thorough understanding of general game production, and every aspect of the art, animation and design creation process
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to present ideas, concepts and approaches to both peers and studio management
• Next generation experience and the capability to foresee future tools needs based on this knowledge
• Prior leadership experience a plus

Position Requirements:

• 7+ years of experience in games industry with multiple shipped AAA titles – a history of showing progression from art into technical great to have
• Experience optimizing a AAA game for multiplayer/online performance at high FPS
• Arts or Game Art degree or equivalent experience
• A history of shipping commercially successful products
• A history of defining pipelines and tools in a similar role
• Proven understanding of all standard art tools and plug-ins in that include Maya, Photoshop, 3DMax, and Perforce
• Knowledge of programming languages such as Python/MEL/HLSL
• Understanding of C/C++ a huge plus
• Must show a portfolio that demonstrates both artistic and technical knowledge

Crystal Dynamics is an EOE and M/F/D/V Employer