Senior II, 3D Artist - Hearthstone | Irvine, CA

Your Mission  

Pull up a chair and join us by the hearth. The Hearthstone team is seeking a dedicated and well-rounded Senior II, 3D Artist. As a 3D artist, you will create beautiful 3D assets in a variety of different areas such as environments, props, and character creation, taking the assets from conceptualization to final model completion. Experience switching between the needs of several workflow pipelines (environments, props and characters) will empower our ability to create the most engaging experience possible. 

For this opportunity, we are looking for a creative, agile, and passionate 3D artist who has a strong sense of asset readability. Our team is small but big on ambition, and we’re hoping to find someone comfortable with multi-discipline 3D work. If you feel you could be a great fit for this opportunity, we’d love to hear from you!  

This role is anticipated to be a hybrid work position, with some work on-site and some work-from-home. The potential home studio for this role is Irvine, CA.  

Responsibilities:  

Priorities can often change in a fast-paced environment like ours, so this role includes, but is not limited to, the following responsibilities:  

• Collaborate with art direction, design, engineering, and tech art to solve creative problems  

• Model, sculpt, and texture high-quality assets that help set the visual benchmark  

• Animate environments, props, characters, and creatures  

• Integrate visual effects to scenes and events, including weather effects, haze, billowing dust, steam vents, explosions, etc.  

• Prototype and solve problems for both creative and technical issues 

• Work within Unity to implement and finalize in-game art assets 

• You will develop relationships and collaborate with the design, engineering, UI/UX, and outsource/external partners to help maintain a “Gameplay First” approach to game development. 

Requirements:  

Experience  

• Minimum 5 years of experience or equivalent as 3D artist in professional game dev environment.  

• Proven ability to model and texture hard surface/rigid objects within a range of styles (painterly to realistic). 

• Knowledge and practical experience in creating optimized game characters for multiple release platforms, including rigging and animation.  

• Experience with game art optimization (using mesh topology, sculpting, and texture methods)  

Knowledge & Skills  

• Experience making aesthetically beautiful and performant 3D game assets. 

• High level of technical proficiency with in-depth experience of implementation, and creative iteration in Unity engine. Previous experience with Playmaker and/or Mecanim. 

• High proficiency level with Maya (preferred), 3DS Max, ZBrush, 3D Coat Substance Painter, and Photoshop  

• Creative and technical problem solving in game development across new features and/or games. 

• Strong collaborative skills with multiple groups in game development (design, engineering, production, QA, etc.)  

• A passionate, positive, and problem-solving attitude to game development 

Extra Points  

• Experience working with AAA game engines such as Unity, Unreal, etc.  

• Experience with mobile game development  

• Experience shipping a game (any platform)  

• 2D concepts skills  

• Knowledge and familiarity with Blizzard’s art styles  

Required Application Materials:  

• Resume  

• Online portfolio of professional 3D work (personal work is also a plus)  

• Must be willing to take an art test if requested to do so  

Your Platform  

Best known for iconic video game universes including Warcraft®, Overwatch®, Diablo®, and StarCraft®, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (www.blizzard.com), a division of Activision Blizzard, which was acquired by Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment experiences. Blizzard Entertainment has created some of the industry’s most critically acclaimed and genre-defining games over the last 30 years, with a track record that includes multiple Game of the Year awards. Blizzard Entertainment engages tens of millions of players around the world with titles available on PC via Battle.net®, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android.  

Our World  

Activision Blizzard, Inc., is one of the world's largest and most successful interactive entertainment companies and is at the intersection of media, technology and entertainment. We are home to some of the most beloved entertainment franchises including Call of Duty®, World of Warcraft®, Overwatch®, Diablo®, Candy Crush™ and Bubble Witch™. Our combined entertainment network delights hundreds of millions of monthly active users in 196 countries, making us the largest gaming network on the planet!  

Our ability to build immersive and innovative worlds is only enhanced by diverse teams working in an inclusive environment. We aspire to have a culture where everyone can thrive in order to connect and engage the world through epic entertainment. We provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well-being for ‘Every World’ - we’ve got our employees covered!  

The videogame industry and therefore our business is fast-paced and will continue to evolve. As such, the duties and responsibilities of this role may be changed as directed by the Company at any time to promote and support our business and relationships with industry partners.  

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! We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment and strongly encourage you to apply.