Position Summary:AGBO is looking for a Technical Artist, Character to drive the technical quality and pipeline integrity of our characters - from high-resolution sculpts through fully rigged, characters and NPCs. You will partner closely with Character Artists, Animators, Riggers and Engineers to ensure our cast looks and moves exactly as intended.
Key Responsibilities: - Define and maintain workflows for mesh import, LOD generation, skinning, morph targets, and engine integration
- Diagnose and resolve character related technical issues.
- Author character shaders and skin subsurface scattering, hair and strange rendering, eye shaders, cloth, and layered material blending
- Develop and maintain scripts and plugins supporting riggers and animators, including corrective shapes, space switching, and deformer optimization
- Review and optimize skin weights, joint counts, and influence limits across hero and background character tiers
- Configure skeletal meshes, physics assets, LOD chains, Groom assets, and control rig setups into Unreal Engine
- Partner with animators on IK rigs, animation Blueprints, cloth and physics simulations
- Author, maintain and troubleshoot existing character creation workflows and pipeline efficiency to ensure performance and stability
- Interface with internal artist teams and codevelopers to maintain milestone cadences
- Perform all other duties as assigned
Qualifications & Skills:- 3-5 years of professional experience as a Character TD or Character Technical Artist in games/interactive media. Experience working on and shipping AAA preferred.
- Deep knowledge and experience working in Unreal Engine 5 - Skeletal Mesh, Control Rig, Groom, Physical Assets
- Expert-level Maya skills - rigging, skinning, deformers, and Python/MEL scripting
- HLSL shader authoring experience focused on skin, hair, and other character materials
- Deep understanding of PBR texturing for character
- Experience with facial rigging, blend shapes, and FACS-based setups
- Ability to profile and optimize GPU skinning and character rendering costs
Additional Information:- This role is based in Los Angeles, CA or Raleigh, NC and only candidates located in or willing to relocate to the area will be considered.
- Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the U.S.
The typical base salary for this position ranges from $90,000-$110,000 annually. Actual offers will be determined based on experience. Actual offers will be determined using local market data for the identified candidate's geographic area and may vary from the stated range.
The job description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed by the employee(s) incumbent to this position.
