Technical Terrain Artist

We are seeking an experienced Technical Terrain Artist to join Playdead’s team. The ideal candidate will have experience with creating and managing terrains in 3rd party software and game engines.

Your main responsibilities will be to oversee the production pipeline for the terrain, work closely with the art department to visually deliver the art style and meet technical performance requirements in Unreal Engine 5. This will include managing the terrain materials, making sure the system is intuitive for the Level Artists to use, and iterating from feedback from the production team as a whole. You will be developing the terrain using 3rd party software and generally assisting with all aspects of the terrain pipeline to create a large, third-person, open-world game. For all of these tasks, you will work closely with the artists, programmers and designers here at Playdead. We are particularly looking for a person who enjoys setting their own goals and taking responsibility for their own schedule.

We are working within a highly focused and ambitious vision, which requires adapting to the existing visual style whilst contributing your own ideas to the project. More than anything, we are looking for someone who is excited about all facets of game development.

This is a full-time position at our studio in Copenhagen, Denmark so you will need to be willing to relocate (we offer full relocation support).

What will you be doing?

• Managing the terrain development pipeline using 3rd party software and implementing it in Unreal Engine 5 for a large, open-world, 3rd person project
• Managing the terrain materials alongside a small but dynamic art team
• Collaborating with a dedicated team to meet performance budgets

Required Skills

• Professional working experience with 3D game production (or VFX)
• Experience working with terrains in a production
• Comfortable using various tools and software to create terrains for an open-world game - Houdini, World Machine, Gaia, or other terrain authoring software
• Strong problem solving skills
• Great communication skills to collaborate with others across multiple departments

Desired Skills

• Experience using major game engines - we are especially interested in seeking people with Unreal Engine 5 experience
• Familiarity with Blueprint
• Experience with authoring materials and textures using Substance Designer, ZBrush or any other texture generation software

Who We Are
We are a team of more than 70 creative professionals. We experiment and collaborate with a focus on creating new experiences, and as such we are looking for people who can help us achieve them.

Our approach to development does not include crunching towards arbitrary deadlines - instead, we particularly look for talented people who enjoy managing their own schedule and thrive on working within a friendly, collaborative environment.

We carefully craft games with obsessive attention to detail and are always on the lookout for others who share that passion.