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Technical Art Director - Characters

Technical Art Director - Characters / SKATE

This position is open to qualified individuals anywhere in North America where EA operates as an employer. Relocation to Vancouver is an option for suitable candidates.

Full Circle

Full Circle is an Electronic Arts studio based in Vancouver BC. with team members around the globe, embracing a geo-diverse team and culture. You have flexibility to work from home, in the office, or a hybrid of both.

We're all about having fun and making great games that people want to play with their friends. We prioritize inclusivity and diversity in our studio as we continue the push to be better every day.

We're working on the next evolution of Skate™, and set to deliver an experience that will embrace and build upon everything our community found special about the previous games.

We are looking for an experienced Technical Art Director - Characters to join our Skate team. This is an opportunity to join us in the early stages of development. You will report to Skate’s Director of Tech Art and work in collaboration with Technical Artists, Content Creators, and Engineers working on character systems, features, and content creation techniques.

Responsibilities

• Researches, investigates, and drives the development of ideal character core topologies (body, head, face) that support extensive user-driven customization
• Researches and develops technical solutions for effectively and efficiently creating character clothing and character customization content
• Partner with Design, Engineering, and Art to define technical requirements and evaluate solutions for implementation of character customization systems
• Partners with Animation and Rigging to define requirements and technical challenges for effective character setup, including investigation / development of tech for secondary animation / simulation, cloth and hair authoring tools and technology, and advanced deformer systems.
• Develops and communicates content structures for characters that allow for scalable approaches to both tech and content development.
• Stays Current with and consistently Exhibits a high degree of technical knowledge about current state-of-the-industry in Character content generation approaches and workflows.
• Work with Artists, Technical Artists, Tools Software Engineers & Rendering Software Engineers to convert prototype content generation solutions into production content generation workflows.
• Establish technical standards and production processes to guide the TA and SE team’s work to ensure that their work achieves needed content implementation goals while also meeting performance standards and best practices.
• Attend all planning and team meetings; Build user stories and generate time estimates for project planning.

Qualifications

• At least 6+ years of cinematic/games production experience. The ideal candidate has completed more than 3 AAA games/movies.
• Experience leading Character Technical Artists on at least 1-2 shipped console/PC titles.
• Capability to Model, Skin, Rig, and Texture to support Content/Tool/Tech Prototyping
• Experienced with Cloth and Hair Authoring technologies (Run-Time Solutions ideal)
• Experienced with interacting with / developing content and approaches for Character Customization systems
• Expert in architecture of complex tools and pipelines with a focus on artist friendly workflows.
• Ability to work with other Technical Artists, Artists, and Engineers to ensure scalability of character content across platforms of varying levels of capability.
• Highly adept at communicating with different audiences: artists, engineers, managers and working together with Tools and Rendering SEs to drive technology and tool development.
• Working with external partners, teams, engines developers to co-develop tools and technology.
• Experience with utilizing Automation for content/asset processing is a plus.
• Experience with Photogrammetry techniques applied to production challenges is a plus.
• An aptitude for problem solving, particularly as it pertains to testing and debugging technical issues as it relates to making functional and performant content.
• A willingness to jump into the unknown and solve new problems; the ability to think creatively to resolve technical challenges and limitations.