Principal Technical Artist

Job Description

Finding great talent and supporting our studios to be the best place for people to make a difference is central to our philosophy. This is the principle behind our newly formed Seattle Studio, Cliffhanger Games, focusing on open-world action-adventure games and pioneering next-generation emergent storytelling. Join us to pursue your passion to build unique, groundbreaking and inclusive games that empower players to create incredible stories of heroic adventure. Become a foundational part of respectful and diverse team as we are looking for a Principal Technical Artist to join our team.

Reporting to the Director of Technical Art you will focus on the environment construction pipeline, from start to finish, helping us build a AAA open world action RPG with an emphasis on procedural narratives. As a Principal Technical Artist you will collaborate with the team's Directors and other technical leaders, to help the world of Wakanda and stories it contains, come to life. You will design and help build a modern environment pipeline in Unreal, using procedural content tools and open world best practices.

Your responsibilities include:
• You will research state-of-the-art technologies around environment and procedural game creation.
• You will work with the Technical Directors, building the tools to support the environment construction pipeline.
• You will collaborate with other internal EA teams and external partners to create and own, modern environment workflows.
• You will work with the Technical Directors to harden prototyped pipelines and troubleshoot issues with existing workflows
• Advocate for the Environment teams needs. Remove roadblocks, raise red flags, while working towards the groups goals.

Qualifications
• 8+ years of experience, with a shipped AAA title, with a focus on procedural content generation.
• Advanced experience with Houdini (vex and Python) or similar procedural workflows.
• In-depth expertise on relevant 3D and 2D software packages (such as Blender, Maya, Substance, etc.)
• Experience designing and building workflows in unreal, including editor utility widgets, the PCG framework and Python workflows.
• Experience with C++, performance and memory tracking and rudimentary modelling and texturing skills a big bonus.

We encourage you to apply, even if you don't match every qualification listed above. Let us know why this role appeals to you, why you will be great, what unique perspectives you will bring, and which requirements will challenge you to grow.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS The ranges listed below are what EA in good faith expects to pay applicants for this role in these locations at the time of this posting. If you reside in a different location, a recruiter will advise on the applicable range and benefits. Pay offered will be determined based on a number of relevant business and candidate factors (e.g. education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, or business needs). BASE SALARY RANGES
• British Columbia (depending on location e.g. Vancouver vs. Victoria)
• $151,800 - $208,900 CAD
• California (depending on location e.g. Los Angeles vs. Sacramento)
• $170,500 - $259,300 USD
• Washington (depending on location e.g. Seattle vs. Spokane)
• $167,300 - $238,500 USD

In the US, we offer a package of benefits including paid time off (3 weeks per year to start), 80 hours per year of sick time, 16 paid company holidays per year, 10 weeks paid time off to bond with baby, medical/dental/vision insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, and 401(k) to regular full-time employees. Certain roles may also be eligible for bonus and equity.

In British Columbia, we offer a package of benefits including vacation (3 weeks per year to start), 10 days per year of sick time, paid top-up to EI/QPIP benefits up to 100% of base salary when you welcome a new child (12 weeks for maternity, and 4 weeks for parental/adoption leave), extended health/dental/vision coverage, life insurance, disability insurance, retirement plan to regular full-time employees. Certain roles may also be eligible for bonus and equity.

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-rn2j25-18-119-132-189-42 in your application.