UE5 Senior Technical Artist

An independent game development studio based in Montreal, Canada, building a high-fidelity real-time fighting game for console and PC. The team is composed of experienced AAA veterans and creative specialists working in a focused, collaborative environment. The studio is in active production on its debut title, targeting next-generation platforms with a commitment to cinematic visual quality and performance-driven development.

Role Overview

We are looking for an experienced Senior Technical Artist to join the core team developing a high-fidelity combat sports game in Unreal Engine 5. You will bridge the gap between artistic vision and technical execution, building tools, shaders, and pipelines that deliver cinematic realism at 60 FPS across console and PC. You will collaborate closely with art, animation, physics, and engineering teams to ensure that every strike, secondary motion effect, and arena lighting element feels authentic and performs flawlessly.

You will be instrumental in shaping both the visual identity and the technical foundation of the game, ensuring the content pipeline, materials, and VFX are production-ready, performant, and scalable.

Core Responsibilities

Technical Art and Pipeline Development
- Design, build, and maintain real-time art and animation pipelines for characters, environments, and VFX.
- Develop shader networks, material functions, and lighting workflows leveraging UE5 features including Lumen, Nanite, and Virtual Shadow Maps.
- Collaborate with animation and tools engineers to streamline motion capture to runtime integration using Control Rig, Motion Matching, and procedural blending.
- Support the physics team with cloth, muscle, and secondary motion systems including Chaos Cloth, hair, and accessories.
- Implement and optimize facial animation and deformation systems, including MetaHuman integration.
- Automate complex export and import tasks via Python or Blueprint scripting.
- Build tools for artists to preview, optimize, and debug content in-engine.

Optimization and Performance
- Profile and optimize materials, lighting, and VFX for PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC.
- Ensure LOD systems, texture streaming, and memory budgets meet performance targets.
- Collaborate with rendering engineers to balance quality against performance budgets.
- Support AI-driven animation blending and procedural FX synchronization including sweat, impact, and secondary effects to maintain visual consistency.

Cross-Team Collaboration
- Work closely with Technical Animation, Physics, and Rendering teams to ensure data and tools compatibility.
- Collaborate with Art Direction to translate stylistic goals into achievable technical solutions.
- Partner with Engineering to prototype and integrate new features into the production pipeline.
- Provide documentation, best practices, and mentorship for artists and junior technical artists.

Success Indicators (First 6 to 12 Months)
- Art and animation pipelines fully automated, stable, and integrated into CI builds.
- Character materials and shaders delivering next-generation fidelity at target performance budgets.
- Real-time lighting and arena environments optimized for both console and PC.
- Procedural and physics-based elements including cloth, sweat, and impact effects fully synchronized with animation and gameplay.
- Artist-facing tools documented and adopted across the production team.
- Technical art guidelines established and enforced across the studio.

Required Qualifications
- 5 or more years of professional experience as a Technical Artist or equivalent role in AAA or high-fidelity real-time production.
- Deep expertise in Unreal Engine 4 and 5, including materials, shaders, Blueprints, lighting, and rendering.
- Strong understanding of animation pipelines, rigging, skinning, and deformation systems.
- Proficiency in Python scripting and/or Unreal Editor scripting for tools automation.
- Solid understanding of PBR materials, lighting models, and performance profiling.
- Excellent communication skills and a collaborative, cross-disciplinary mindset.

Preferred and Bonus Skills
- Experience with Control Rig, Chaos Physics, Motion Warping, and Pose Search integration.
- Familiarity with AI-driven animation blending and procedural motion systems.
- Experience authoring or supporting MetaHumans and facial animation workflows.
- Strong knowledge of Houdini or procedural asset generation.
- Familiarity with character VFX including sweat, skin wetness, dynamic effects, and muscle simulation.
- Experience developing or integrating custom shader pipelines using HLSL or Material Functions.
- Working knowledge of Niagara VFX for combat-driven particle systems.
- Prior experience shipping titles on PS5 or Xbox Series X/S.

Work Type: Full-time, on-site or hybrid in Montreal, Quebec.

Eligibility: Candidates must be legally authorized to work in Canada. Quebec residency or eligibility to work in Quebec is required. The studio is unable to sponsor work permits at this time.

Perks and Benefits: Competitive salary commensurate with AAA industry experience. Opportunity to work on a next-generation title from the ground up. Small, senior-focused team with significant individual impact. Collaborative studio culture with direct access to leadership and creative decision-makers. Modern development environment using the latest UE5 toolset and next-generation platform hardware.

Recruitment for this role is supported by E+E Consulting/Consultation, a Montreal-based HR and talent acquisition firm specializing in Technology, Software, AI, Video Games, VFX, and Fintech.
More information can be found here: https://eeconsulting-consultation.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/e-plus-e-consulting-consultation/