Blackbird Interactive is looking for a passionate and experienced Senior Technical Artist to join our team and play a key role at the intersection of art and engineering. Do you want to build stylish and compelling interactive experiences? Do you enjoy collaborating with designers, artists, and programmers to create ambitious in-game content that is both visually compelling and performant?
You will be part of a small, high-performing team that can rapidly explore ideas and deliver elegant solutions to complex technical and creative challenges. As a Senior Technical Artist, you will work closely with art and engineering to support content creation, improve workflows and pipelines, and help push the visual quality of our games while working within technical constraints.
Responsibilities
Act as a bridge between Art, Engineering, and the game engine, helping teams communicate effectively and solve cross-disciplinary problems
Support artists with art-to-engine integration, including asset setup, debugging, and optimization
Design, build, and maintain tools, scripts, and workflows that improve artist productivity and content quality
Collaborate with artists across animation, modeling, texturing, shaders, VFX, and other real-time content disciplines
Identify visual and performance issues and develop high-quality solutions within technical constraints
Contribute to the development and maintenance of procedural tools, art pipelines, and production processes
Create clear, concise documentation for tools, workflows, and pipelines
Take ownership of technical challenges, work with minimal supervision, and proactively identify opportunities for improvement
Requirements
Strong understanding of real-time content development and game art pipelines
Technical proficiency in one or more art disciplines (e.g., animation, modeling, texturing, or VFX), with a solid understanding of how they interact within a game engine
Professional experience working in Unreal Engine 5
Experience with procedural workflows and content creation using tools such as Unreal Engine PCG and Houdini
Experience supporting or developing production tools and workflows
Experience working with DCC tools such as Maya
Programming or scripting experience using C++, C#, Python, or a similar language
Understanding of asset management and version control practices
Strong problem-solving skills, curiosity, and a collaborative mindset
Pluses
Understanding of shader development and material systems
Experience with particle systems and real-time visual effects
Familiarity with animation rigs and game animation systems
Knowledge of performance profiling and optimization for real-time content
Experience with Perforce (P4V)
Strong interest in video game culture, art, and design
Skills Required
- Legally eligible to work in Canada and residing within Canada
- Strong understanding of real-time content development and game art pipelines
- Technical proficiency in one or more art disciplines, such as animation, modeling, texturing, or VFX
- Professional experience working in Unreal Engine 5
- Experience with procedural workflows and content creation using Unreal Engine PCG and Houdini
- Experience supporting or developing production tools and workflows
- Experience working with DCC tools such as Maya
- Programming or scripting experience using C++, C#, Python, or a similar language
- Understanding of asset management and version control practices
- Strong problem-solving skills, curiosity, and a collaborative mindset
- Understanding of shader development and material systems
- Experience with particle systems and real-time visual effects
- Familiarity with animation rigs and game animation systems
- Knowledge of performance profiling and optimization for real-time content
- Experience with Perforce P4V
- Strong interest in video game culture, art, and design
What We Do
Blackbird Interactive (BBI) is a creative-fueled, future-driven, independent studio - behind such games as Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak, Hardspace: Shipbreaker, and the upcoming Homeworld 3, Minecraft Legends, and Crossfire: Legion. Founded by Rob Cunningham, Yossarian King, and Aaron Kambeitz in 2010, the award-winning Vancouver studio boast its own internal CG cinematics department, led by the founder of Pixar Canada, and has also been involved in various game-adjacent projects over the years - such as Project Eagle with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and other initiatives with the eatART Foundation and Sanctuary AI.
