Technical Art Director – Central Creative Team
| Company | Riot Games |
|---|---|
| Location | Los Angeles, CA, USA |
| Salary | $Not Provided – $Not Provided |
| Type | Full-Time |
| Degrees | |
| Experience Level | Senior, Expert or higher |
Requirements
- 12+ years of experience as a technical artist or rendering engineer who has deep Digital Content Creation and Tools Development Knowledge in games or related industries
- 8+ years experience in leadership in games or related industries
- Experience bringing stakeholders together to drive alignment on strategy and vision
- Experience building strategic visions and working with leadership in large organizations
- Capability to act as an ambassador between art and engineering
- Mastery in at least one industry established game engine (e.g. Unreal, Unity, Frostbite or Cry Engine) or a mature proprietary engine that supports AAA games at scale
- Experience with and commitment to building long-term maintainable, testable, portable, easy to use, and stable systems
- Experience in multiple aspects of 3D pipelines (rigging, modeling, texturing and look development)
- Proficiency with one or more programming or scripting languages (e.g. python, C++, C#)
Responsibilities
- Design and execute strategy for implementation & refinement of art pipelines that leverage automation and procedural generation techniques to reduce manual work and improve production efficiency.
- Explore and champion internal processes through which teams across Riot can benefit from shared tooling innovation and refinement
- Collaborate with software engineers, tool developers, and production teams to build efficient workflows for asset creation, integration, and management.
- Identify opportunities to integrate AI and machine learning (ML) tools to automate repetitive tasks, such as asset generation, procedural content creation, texture generation, or animation.
- Develop strategies for the deployment of AI tools across various stages of production, from concept art to final rendering.
- Act as the bridge between the art department, engineering teams, and production management, ensuring that artistic needs are met while technical solutions are feasible and effective.
- Collaborate closely with Art Directors, VFX Supervisors, and other key stakeholders to align on creative goals and identify areas where technology can enhance the vision.
- Continuously assess and improve existing production pipelines, identifying bottlenecks or inefficiencies and implementing solutions to streamline processes.
- Document workflows, standards, and best practices to ensure consistency and scalability across teams.
- Use technical expertise to consult on project timelines and resource allocation in order to optimize production schedules.
- Stay up-to-date with the latest advancements in AI, ML, and automation within the art and entertainment industries, identifying emerging trends and technologies that can enhance production quality and efficiency.
- Partner with the internal Production AI team to lead R&D efforts to prototype new tools, workflows, and techniques that can be integrated into future projects.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience developing relationships and influencing DCC providers (e.g. Adobe, Autodesk, Zbrush, etc.)
- Experience with ZBrush, Substance, Houdini and Simplygon pipelines
- Experience working with external vendors and technology partners
- Experience with software engineering, tools development and computer graphics
- Experience in rendering and shader development (e.g. HLSL and GLSL)