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Staff Technical Artist, Pokémon GO

Pokémon GO is the global gaming sensation that has been downloaded over 1 billion times and named “Best Mobile Game” by the Game Developers Choice Awards and “Best App of the Year” by TechCrunch. Pokémon GO follows Niantic’s mission of encouraging outdoor exploration, exercise, and significant social interactions, and has grossed over $6B in revenue since its debut in 2016. In order to delight our millions of players across the globe, the Pokémon GO team requires motivated and skilled individuals to develop new features and look for creative ways to optimize a continually growing game.

We are seeking a Staff Technical Artist to set a vision and tackle large-scale, complex challenges that will adapt and scale long-term for Pokémon GO. You will identify and build solutions that support high fidelity visuals while balancing current mobile and project constraints. You are responsible for driving the direction of our growing technology by providing insights and recommendations based on emerging trends around AR and geolocation data. While your role requires you to communicate and collaborate with leads in different departments, you will also provide guidance and mentorship to other Technical Artists of all levels on the team.

Responsibilities

• Proactively identify challenges and problems, research and propose solutions, and seek alignment from the team on execution strategy.
• Collaborate with Technical Art Manager on planning and prioritization on improvements to content, tooling pipelines, and project optimization efforts.
• Steer the direction of the project that is aligned with Niantic’s mission for outdoor exploration, exercise, and meaningful social interactions.
• Represent Art and Design teams in discussions with leadership to help with business and product decisions.
• Research and prototype future features or solutions for the AR and geolocation spaces that will delight Pokémon GO players and push the Niantic Lightship technology.
• Review content creation and existing pipelines to define, document, and maintain best practices across Art and Tech Art teams.
• Lead complex projects or subject areas with deep expertise with the ability to take strategic goals, define features and scope, delegate work, and collaborate cross-functionally.
• Collaborate with cross-functional team members and stakeholders to cultivate strong working relationships with project team members, including regular and reliable attendance and participation in meetings.

Qualifications

• 10+ years as a Technical Artist or similar role.
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, and organizational skills.
• Proficiency in Python, C#, or similar scripting languages.
• Strong understanding of modern 3D game engines.
• Strong understanding of optimization and performance profiling of real-time 3D content and pipelines for mobile platforms.
• Strong foundation across multiple areas of Tech Art such as animation, graphics, pipelines and tooling, scripting gameplay, etc.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced hybrid environment and handle stress appropriately and/or ability to solve practical problems and be sufficiently adaptable to handle dynamic situations with little advance notice.
• Experience working on cross-functional teams with ability to communicate effectively through written and verbal communications, including synchronous interactions with others.

Plus If...

• BS or MS degree in design, games-related or technical field.
• Advanced-level C# scripting within the Unity Game Engine environment.
• Experience writing shaders (HLSL or GLSL) and developing Unity Editor tools.
• Experience with Unity’s Canvas UI System, Animation System or state machine setups.
• Experience with asset pipelines from content creation setup to implementation.

The total compensation package for this position includes a new hire offer base salary range of $176,000 - $228,900 + bonus + equity + benefits.

Individual pay within this salary range is determined by work location and additional factors, including assessed job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Your recruiter can answer any questions about new hire total compensation during the hiring process. An overview of benefit offerings for your location can be found on the careers page.

Join the Niantic team!

Niantic is the world’s leading AR technology company, sparking creative and engaging journeys in the real world. Our products inspire outdoor exploration, exercise, and meaningful social interaction.

Originally formed at Google in 2011, we became an independent company in 2015 with a strong group of investors including Nintendo, The Pokémon Company, and Alsop Louie Partners. Our current consumer titles include pioneering global-control game Ingress, record-breaking AR game Pokémon GO, and Pikmin Bloom. In November 2021, we launched our developer platform, Lightship, enabling creators to build immersive AR experiences around the globe. Niantic is an Equal Opportunity employer.

We believe that cultivating a workplace where our people are supported and included is essential to creating great products our community will love. Our mission emphasizes seeking and hiring diverse voices, including those who are traditionally underrepresented in the technology industry, and we consider this to be one of the most important values we hold close.

Niantic is a hybrid first company. We believe that in person interaction and collaboration is good for Niantic’s culture, and critical to our future success as a company. We support flexibility and know new ways of working are here to stay.

We're a hard-working, fun, and exciting group who value intellectual curiosity and a passion for problem-solving! We have growing offices located in San Francisco, Sunnyvale, Bellevue, Los Angeles, New York, London, Tokyo, Hamburg, and Zurich. #LI-HYBRID