Character Artist (External Development)

3 Weeks ago • 2-5 Years • Technical Art

Job Summary

Job Description

Santa Monica Studio, the award-winning team behind God of War, seeks a Character Artist to support their External Development (ExDev) team. This role involves reviewing and providing feedback on outsourced character assets, ensuring they meet high quality standards and integrate smoothly into their pipeline. Collaboration with external partners, internal stakeholders (concept artists, technical artists, animators), and the ExDev team is crucial. Responsibilities include providing detailed feedback, maintaining understanding of artistic direction and technical requirements, troubleshooting asset integration, and maintaining documentation. The ideal candidate possesses a strong foundation in character modeling, sculpting, and texturing, experience with outsourced content, and excellent communication skills.
Must have:
  • 2+ years 3D Character Artist exp.
  • Outsourcing workflow experience
  • Modeling, sculpting, texturing skills
  • Maya, ZBrush, Photoshop, Substance Painter proficiency
  • Anatomy, topology, UV layout understanding
  • Real-time rendering optimization
Good to have:
  • ExDev/outsourcing support role
  • Proprietary game engine familiarity
  • Rigging, animation understanding
  • Photogrammetry experience
  • Mandarin language skills
Perks:
  • Medical, dental, and vision benefits

Job Details

Why PlayStation?

PlayStation isn’t just the Best Place to Play — it’s also the Best Place to Work. Today, we’re recognized as a global leader in entertainment producing The PlayStation family of products and services including PlayStation®5, PlayStation®4, PlayStation®VR, PlayStation®Plus, acclaimed PlayStation software titles from PlayStation Studios, and more.

PlayStation also strives to create an inclusive environment that empowers employees and embraces diversity. We welcome and encourage everyone who has a passion and curiosity for innovation, technology, and play to explore our open positions and join our growing global team.

The PlayStation brand falls under Sony Interactive Entertainment, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation.

Join the award-winning team that created God of War

Santa Monica Studio is seeking a Character Artist to assist our External Development (ExDev) Senior Character Artist in managing and reviewing outsourced character assets for our upcoming title.

In this role, you will review and provide feedback on external character art assets, ensuring they meet our high-quality standards and integrate seamlessly into our production pipeline. You will work closely with external partners, internal stakeholders, and the ExDev team to help deliver visually compelling characters while maintaining the project's artistic vision.

The ideal candidate has a strong foundation in character modeling, sculpting, and texturing and experience working with outsourced content and external teams. A keen eye for detail, excellent communication skills, and an understanding of real-time game pipelines are essential for success in this role.

Responsibilities

  • Collaborate with the ExDev Senior Character Artist to review and provide detailed feedback on outsourced character art assets, ensuring visual consistency and quality

  • Maintain a thorough understanding of the game's artistic direction, technical requirements, and production guidelines to assist external teams effectively - assist in troubleshooting integrating and refining outsourced character assets to align with in-house standards

  • Partner with internal stakeholders, including concept artists, technical artists, and animation teams, to ensure smooth asset delivery and implementation

  • Maintain up-to-date documentation and feedback templates to streamline communication with external partners

  • Provide artistic support where needed, including but not limited to asset cleanup, material adjustments, and polish passes

  • Research industry trends, tools, and techniques to improve ExDev workflows and enhance outsourced asset quality

Requirements

  • 2+ years of experience as a 3D Character Artist, with exposure to outsourcing workflows preferred

  • Experience reviewing and providing feedback on outsourced character assets

  • Strong understanding of character modeling, sculpting, texturing, and material setup in a real-time game engine

  • Proficiency in industry-standard software such as Maya, ZBrush, Photoshop, and Substance Painter/Designer

  • Solid understanding of anatomy, proportion, topology, UV layout, and PBR workflows

  • Experience working within a game development pipeline, including optimization techniques for real-time rendering

  • Strong communication and organizational skills, with the ability to provide clear and actionable feedback

  • Ability to collaborate across disciplines and maintain constructive relationships with external teams

  • Self-motivated with strong time management and prioritization skills to handle multiple assignments

Preferred Experience

  • Experience in an ExDev or outsourcing support role at a game studio• Familiarity with proprietary game engines and the technical constraints of AAA console development

  • Understanding rigging, animation requirements, and best practices for character deformation

  • Experience with photogrammetry, scan data cleanup, or procedural workflows

  • The ability to speak Mandarin is a plus, as some outsourcing partners may speak Mandarin

Please refer to our Candidate Privacy Notice for more information about how we process your personal information, and your data protection rights.

At SIE, working with our partners, we consider several factors when setting each role’s base pay range, including the competitive benchmarking data for the market and geographic location.

Please note that the individual base pay range may vary based on job-related factors which may include knowledge, skills, experience, and location.

In addition, this role is eligible for benefit offerings that include medical, dental, and vision. Click here to learn more.

The estimated base pay range for this role is listed below, this is an hourly rate.

$44.14 - $66.16 USD

Equal Opportunity Statement:

Sony is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All persons will receive consideration for employment without regard to gender (including gender identity, gender expression and gender reassignment), race (including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin), religion or belief, marital or civil partnership status, disability, age, sexual orientation, pregnancy, maternity or parental status, trade union membership or membership in any other legally protected category.

We strive to create an inclusive environment, empower employees and embrace diversity. We encourage everyone to respond.

PlayStation is a Fair Chance employer and qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records will be considered for employment.

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About The Company

Our studio is composed of a group of diverse, ambitious, highly collaborative creatives who empower one another, while working as a team to deliver high quality narrative-driven PlayStation experiences. With origins spanning the globe - from Brazil to Poland to small town USA, we are home to over 250 world class developers who strive to push the medium forward with every creative decision.


Every team has a story and, at the heart of our story, we are committed to greatness and steadfast in our craft of developing unforgettable in-game experiences that inspire our players. Beyond that, though, we are driven by something much larger…by a desire to develop “stories” of greatness for each and every team member. Making a game is a massive undertaking. Between QA, Art, Design, Programming, Production, Sound and every department in between, we are all responsible for connecting with each other's greatest skills, while working towards a common vision.


Together, we sow seeds of possibility. Whether you are an intern or an industry veteran, creativity rules here. At our studio we recognize that great ideas can come from anyone. Traversing a new mythological world on a boat. A single camera shot for an entire game. A powerful recalling axe. A companion AI known as “boy” fighting like a god. These are just some of the bold ideas that were not simply lit by an individual light bulb...they were forged from idea, to paper, to code in a collaborative effort by creatives of all disciplines on a journey to reinvent a franchise.

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