The Head of Environments is a key (show based)  production leadership role responsible for the artistic execution and technical integrity of all digital environments, sets, and props created for a production. This role bridges the gap between artistic vision and 3D technical reality, ensuring that the environmental designs provided by the Art Director and Production Designer are successfully translated into high-quality, production-ready sets. The Head of Environments provides high-level creative and technical leadership for all aspects of environment construction, including modeling, surfacing, and matte painting. Crucially, this role focuses on departmental workflow efficiency and asset-level technical quality, while partnering with the Technical Supervisor to ensure all environment-related technology aligns with the studio’s canonical pipeline standards.

What You’ll Do:

Creative Responsibilities

• Lead the environment assets teams to create 3D stylized environments and matte painting elements that meet the Director’s vision and artistic standards.

• Collaborate with the Art Department and Production Designer to ensure high-level designs are achieved and effectively translated from 2D concepts into 3D environments.

• Drive team reviews and provide detailed creative feedback to the Modeling, Surfacing, and DMP departments to maintain aesthetic consistency across all sets and props.

• Partner with the VFX Supervisor and Production Designer to interpret and develop initial models, helping to define the Director’s vision technically and creatively

Technical Responsibilities

• Ensure all environment assets meet high technical standards and integrate seamlessly with downstream departments, such as Layout, Lighting, and Compositing.

• Partner with the Technical Supervisor to ensure departmental workflows utilize the studio’s canonical pipeline and standardized tools, focusing on optimization and efficiency.

• Define and refine efficient asset-creation processes (Modeling, Surfacing, DMP, and Projection workflows) in collaboration with the Technical Supervisor.

• Help artists adhere to established technical standards, ensuring environments are optimized for render and published properly within the pipeline.

• Provide feedback to the Production Technology and pipeline teams regarding tool requirements, contributing to the development of efficient asset creation processes.

• Oversee the technical health and expert understanding of the digital film pipeline to continually improve environment creation processes.

Bidding & Scheduling Responsibilities

• Partner with the VFX Supervisor, Global Head of Assets, and Production Management to provide accurate bids and estimates for environment construction.

• Monitor project progress to ensure milestones are achieved and environments are delivered on time and within budget.

• Manage deadlines and deliveries effectively, identifying any issues that may impact deliverables and proposing alternative solutions.

Talent & Performance Management Responsibilities

• Oversee (Environment) Modeling, Surfacing, and DMP Supervisors to ensure streamlined communication and departmental synergy.

• Provide leadership, guidance, and career mentoring to artists and supervisors within the environment craft.

• Identify skill gaps and develop training programs to enhance skill sets and entrench clearly defined work practices within the department.

• Foster a collaborative atmosphere built on respect, integrity, and trust.

Communication, Collaboration & Relationship Development Responsibilities

• Communicate relevant technology plans, initiatives, and objectives to productions.

• Collaborate with various work groups and individuals to promote innovative ideas and approaches.

• Foster and support a knowledge-sharing culture.

• Establish and maintain appropriate communication to create an environment of confidence and trust.

• Adapt communication style to individual personalities.

• Ensure conflict is identified early and constructive solutions are implemented; escalate where appropriate.

• Apply considered judgment when making decisions.

What You’ll Need:

Experience

• Minimum 10 years’ experience in Environment asset creation within the film, TV, or games industry.

• Minimum 5-7 years’ experience in a leadership or supervisory role on large-scale animated features or VFX films, with a strong emphasis on feature animation. 

• Proven track record of delivering high-quality environments as demonstrated through a professional portfolio/reel.

Skills/Knowledge

• Expert knowledge of Modeling and Surfacing workflows; deep understanding of 3D environment layout, asset builds, and camera projections.

• Expert knowledge of Maya and ZBrush/Mudbox; proficiency in texturing packages (Substance, Mari, Photoshop) and familiarity with matte painting/projection workflows.

• Expert understanding of digital film pipelines and related technologies, including Katana, RenderMan, and real-time pipelines.

• Strong 2D skills to quickly mock-up and iterate designs; deep understanding of form, volume, and space as they apply to environment design.

• Experience with project management systems such as Flow Production Tracking (ShotGrid).

Communication, Collaboration & Culture

• Ability to work across departments to find synergistic solutions to complex problems.

• Ability to translate complex technical concepts into "plain English" for creative leadership and vice versa.

• Able to discern priorities and make considered judgments under production pressure.

• Highly motivated self-starter with excellent time management and organizational skills.

This role is based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Hybrid Role (Minimum of 3 days a week in the office).

At NAS, we carefully consider a wide range of compensation factors to determine your compensation. We rely on market indicators and consider your specific job family, background, location, skills, and experience.  The overall market range for this role is typically $204k - 279k CAD.  This reflects total compensation; we do not have stock options.

NAS benefits can include medical/dental/vision plans, mental health support, retirement programs, and family-forming benefits, paid leave of absence programs, and paid time away programs to be used for vacation and sick paid time off. See more detail about our benefits here.