Senior Technical Artist

Responsibilities:

Welcome to Lightspeed LA, the first U.S.-based, AAA game development studio for Tencent Games. Lightspeed LA is focused on building open-world games that emphasize an ambitious living world, sophisticated player-driven gameplay, and mature, thoughtful storytelling. We are developing the first in a series of genre-defining titles.
 

Why join Lightspeed LA?

For us, it’s not only about the exciting, new AAA open world game we’re developing but also about team values and studio culture. We foster an open and transparent environment where everyone feels comfortable providing constructive feedback about all aspects of our games.

• We encourage the showing of work that’s still in progress.
• We don’t attack or question unfinished work, we celebrate its promise.
• We have a No Blame Culture where we blame the problem, not the person.
   

This is a safe place to fail, and we don't view failure as a negative, but as the natural result of pushing boundaries and trying new things. We create together. We face Challenges Together. We succeed together.
 

About this position at Lightspeed LA

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced and passionate Senior Technical Artist to join our in-house team at Lightspeed LA and contribute to the creation of world-class visuals and technical art solutions for a new and exciting open-world AAA game. We are seeking a dynamic individual who can bring their passion and expertise to the role, collaborating closely with artists, engineers, and other disciplinary teams, to create innovative and efficient workflows and techniques for our game development. Below is an outline of responsibilities and some of the qualities we look for in the ideal teammate.

Responsibilities:

• Spearhead and implement technical solutions for the art team, setting high standards and mentoring junior Technical Artists.
• Collaborate with different teams to facilitate the technical implementation and management of in-house and outsourced assets.
• Drive the development of state-of-the-art visuals that complement and enhance the game design.
• Prototype and author graphics features requiring high technical expertise.
• Develop novel content creation techniques and workflows to enhance efficiency and quality.
• Work closely with the Art, Engineering, and Production departments to meet all dependencies and requirements.
• Support the Art team in debugging tools and game-related issues.
• Optimize the game’s run-time performance and memory consumption.

Requirements:

• Extensive knowledge of the content creation pipeline, including modeling, UV mapping, texturing, shading, lighting, FX, rigging, and animation.
• Demonstrable experience with modern game content creation workflows.
• Proven experience as a Technical Artist on shipped AAA titles.
• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written.
• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to work independently.
• Solid background in digital art (modeling, shading, lighting, VFX).
• Profound knowledge of Unreal Tech, including material creation and Blueprints.
• Strong proficiency in Linear Algebra and Calculus, essential for advanced 3D technology applications.
• Understanding of real-time physically based materials and rendering (PBR).

Desirable Skills & Experience:

• Experience with the Substance suite and/or Houdini.
• Knowledge of lower-level programming languages such as C++.
• Understanding of shading languages, e.g. HLSL or GLSL.
• Extensive scripting experience for DCC applications, e.g. Python or C#.

Location State(s)

California

The base pay range for this position in the state(s) above is $87,600 to $196,690 per year. Actual pay is based on market location and may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. A sign on payment, relocation package, and restricted stock units may be provided as part of the compensation package, as well as other medical, financial, and/or other benefits, dependent on the specific position offered.