Lead Character Artist (BioShock)

Location: Remote within the United States; the position is associated with Novato, California. Candidates located in Quebec must have professional proficiency in both French and English.

Salary: $150,400–$180,000 USD per year at the start of employment in California. Total compensation may also include a bonus, equity awards, and participation in the 401(k) plan and Employee Stock Purchase Program.

Company

Developing evocative, immersive BioShock games through collaboration across design, art, engineering, animation, and audio.

What you will do

• Manage, coach, and mentor a team of character artists.
• Establish artistic standards, workflows, and exemplary reference assets in Unreal Engine.
• Collaborate with art, design, gameplay, environment, concept, animation, and director teams to prototype character assets.
• Coordinate character asset assignments and schedules with external development partners.
• Contribute to material pipelines, track team output, supervise bug distribution, and provide input on custom tools.

Requirements

• 10+ years of professional video game industry experience.
• At least two shipped titles as a character artist, preferably including a first-person title.
• Proven experience managing, guiding, and mentoring character artists.
• Expert proficiency with 3ds Max, Maya, ZBrush, Substance Painter, Marvelous Designer, and Unreal Engine.
• Mastery of the PBR texture pipeline, including baking tools, Substance Painter, and Photoshop.
• Expert understanding of anatomy, composition, proportion, volume, light, and color, plus strong cross-disciplinary communication skills.

Culture & Benefits

• Collaborative work across design, art, engineering, animation, and audio disciplines.
• Medical, dental, vision, and basic life insurance coverage for eligible full-time employees.
• 14 paid holidays, paid vacation or discretionary time off, and up to 10 paid sick days annually.
• Paid parental and compassionate leave, mental health and wellness support, and family planning support.
• Commuter benefits, fitness expense reimbursements, bonus opportunities, equity awards, and retirement plan participation.