Technical Artist - High Moon Studios

Activision Blizzard, Inc.

$62K — $114K *
Consumer Technology
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 5+ years of experience in technical art or technical animation roles
  • Excellent communication skills for both engineers and artists
  • Deep knowledge of content creation tools like Photoshop, Maya, Max, Houdini, and Substance Designer
  • Strong time management with task prioritization abilities
  • Proficiency in object-oriented software design using Python, C#, C++, or similar languages
  • Bachelor's degree in a related field or equivalent work experience

Responsibilities

  • Define technical quality standards and oversee art pipeline development
  • Contribute to artistic techniques and processes for product visual style
  • Provide technical input for artistic goals throughout game development
  • Create tools for environment art, VFX, destruction simulations, and lighting
  • Stay updated on industry-standard content creation techniques
  • Maintain technical documentation
  • Collaborate with tech artists/engineers for art-pipeline optimizations
  • Assist with game profiling and asset budget reports

Benefits

  • Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance
  • 401(k) with Company match and tuition reimbursement
  • Paid holidays, vacation, sick time, and parental leave
  • Mental health and wellbeing programs, fitness programs
  • Relocation assistance if applicable
Full Job Description
Job Title:
Technical Artist - High Moon Studios

Requisition ID:
R027379

Job Description:

As a Technical Artist at High Moon you'll be joining a team that's passionate about high-quality content creation, who think outside the box, and are dedicated to creating optimal pipeline and optimization tools in different areas of content development. The areas of content development can be physically correct art development, lighting and shaders, rigging, animation, or effects.

Our team is a multidisciplinary group serving as a bridge between art, design, and engineering. We provide our teams with effective implementation tools, complex assets templates, and final content which must not only meet the high-quality standard but also be optimized to be as efficient as possible. Our team is also responsible for analyzing content performance, advise on, and provide processes to ensure the final content runs at the expected frame rate.

This role is based in our Carlsbad, CA office and follows an onsite work schedule of four days per week. Work arrangements may change at the company's discretion to meet business needs.

What you'll do...
  • Help define the technical quality standards, overseeing the development of art pipelines
  • Contribute to the development of artistic techniques and processes utilized to define and achieve a product's visual style and encourage artistic technical evolution within the studio
  • Provides input on the technical methods to achieve the artistic goals and vision through all phases of the game development cycle
  • Create tools and processes that assist in authoring environment art, VFX, destruction simulations, animation, lighting, and post process effects
  • Stays current on industry standard content creation tools and techniques
  • Create and maintain technical documentation
  • Work with other tech artists/engineers to identify and implement art-pipeline optimizations and to create technical benchmarks to be used in production
  • Offer technical support to the art team in day-by-day production issues
  • Assist in game profiling and generating report to help content creators get their assets within budget

To succeed you should have...
  • 5+ years' experience working in technical art or technical animation roles
  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills catering to engineers and artists as needed
  • Thorough knowledge of content creation tools with the ability to create both content and tools to expedite content creation, these can include Photoshop, Maya, Max, Houdini, Substance Designer, etc.
  • Excellent time management skills, with the ability to break down tasks and assignments and prioritize them into workable pieces on a daily, weekly basis
  • Object oriented software design skills using Python, C#, C++, or similar languages.
  • Bachelor's degree in a related field or equivalent work experience

We'd love it if you also have...
  • Working knowledge of linear algebra (vector math) as it pertains to 3d environments
  • Programming experience in Python and C++
  • Experience building Houdini assets

We love hearing from anyone who is enthusiastic about changing the games industry. Not sure you meet all qualifications? Let us decide! Research shows that women and members of other under-represented groups tend to not apply to jobs when they think they may not meet every qualification, when, in fact, they often do! At Activision Blizzard, we are committed to crafting a diverse and inclusive environment and strongly encourage you to apply.

High Moon Studios

Founded in 2002, High Moon Studios is an award-winning studio developing for the Call of Duty® franchise, with past development on over 15 titles including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, Black Ops Cold War and Warzone 2.0, Bungie's Destiny 2: Forsaken, and Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. We employ more than 170 people in Carlsbad, CA, a seaside city in San Diego County.

Our pride is our people and the experiences we have optimally crafted for our fans. High Moon's talent is comprised of gifted entertainment and technology professionals responsible for some of the most successful games ever made. We have award-winning developers, published artists and specialists recognized as among the best in their fields. Our studio has a history of using innovative techniques crafted to boost efficiency and product quality, which in turn enhances our studio's quality of life.

High Moon Studios is wholly owned by Activision. To learn more about our studio, please visit us at www.highmoonstudios.com.

Rewards

We provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well-being for 'Every World' - we've got our employees covered! Subject to eligibility requirements, the Company offers comprehensive benefits including:
  • Medical, dental, vision, health savings account or health reimbursement account, healthcare spending accounts, dependent care spending accounts, life and AD&D insurance, disability insurance;
  • 401(k) with Company match, tuition reimbursement, charitable donation matching;
  • Paid holidays and vacation, paid sick time, floating holidays, compassion and bereavement leaves, parental leave;
  • Mental health & wellbeing programs, fitness programs, free and discounted games, and a variety of other voluntary benefit programs like supplemental life & disability, legal service, ID protection, rental insurance, and others;
  • If the Company requires that you move geographic locations for the job, then you may also be eligible for relocation assistance.


Eligibility to participate in these benefits may vary for part time and temporary full-time employees and interns with the Company. You can learn more by visiting https://www.benefitsforeveryworld.com/.

In the U.S., the standard base pay range for this role is $29.81 - $55.14 Hourly. These values reflect the expected base pay range of new hires across all U.S. locations. Ultimately, your specific range and offer will be based on several factors, including relevant experience, performance, and work location. Your Talent Professional can share this role's range details for your local geography during the hiring process. In addition to a competitive base pay, employees in this role may be eligible for incentive compensation. Incentive compensation is not guaranteed. While we strive to provide competitive offers to successful candidates, new hire compensation is negotiable.

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