Senior Technical Artist

Description

SUMMARY OF POSITION

The creative team that brought the Mortal Kombat franchise to life is now NetherRealm Studios, part of the Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment family. With over 20 years of creation under our belts, NetherRealm’s mission remains the same; to create cutting edge entertainment and deliver industry leading tech, game art and overall gaming experiences. 

NetherRealm Studios is a collaborative and creative environment, constantly striving to up the ante on what is possible in interactive entertainment. We encompass the best of both worlds – a team of dedicated professionals with years of experience, who are also at the forefront of an industry taking over the entertainment landscape. The passion and energy that made Mortal Kombat a reality is still on display every day in our offices, our hallways and most definitely the studio’s arcade room!

NetherRealm studios is seeking a passionate problem-solver to drive and evangelize creative, cutting-edge tools and pipelines. A senior technical artist at NetherRealm studios is a driving force in recognizing innovative trends and tools, finding creative solutions to complicated problems, defining and constantly improving pipelines, and empowering artists with tools and techniques to push the boundaries of what is possible. 

Whether it is R&D towards overall visual improvements, new ways to rig or animate, cutting-edge shader research, or new hair and cloth techniques, the senior technical artist will have an understanding and a constant passion for learning and evangelizing ways of making the impossible possible.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES

• Proactively seeking and implementing new techniques, scripts, and tools to give content creators the best possible pipeline to deliver world-class video game art.


• Preparing assets and pipelines for game systems that support content creators in creating best in class assets for the game.


• Working with discipline leads, directors, and production to identify and evangelize ways to refine or even redefine the way we create assets for games.

JOB REQUIREMENTS

• BA in art or related field or equivalent experience.


• 5+ years experience in the industry.


• At least one published AAA game.


• Fluent knowledge of Maya, with a core understanding of the inner workings of the tool.


• Excellent knowledge and experience with common scripting languages such as MEL script and Python.


• A good understanding and working comfort in a variety of software packages such as Maya, Max, Motion Builder, and Z-Brush.


• Able to grasp and enjoy highly technical work. Key areas of interest and experience will include shaders, especially PBR shading models, as well as complex rigging and animation problems.


• Experience with cloth, hair, facial animation or other specialized areas of technical art is highly desirable.


• Solid experience and understanding of art and animation pipelines, including character and environment set up and creation.


• Strong understanding of methods of optimizing game art assets for game engines.


• Strong understanding of modern rendering techniques.


• Able to learn new packages and proprietary tools – a passion for learning and new techniques.


• Enjoys collaboration, both internally to the disciple as well as with team members across the studio. Experience working with external partners a plus.


• Excellent communication skills, especially in terms of communicating and evangelizing complex technical issues in a way that anyone can understand, regardless of experience.

The Warner Bros. Entertainment Group of Companies is an equal opportunity employer and considers all candidates for employment regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, citizenship, age, disability, marital status, military or veteran's status (including protected veterans, as may be required by federal law), sexual orientation or any other category protected by law.