Lead Environment Artist

Giant Skull is a new independent studio dedicated to building stunning single-player, gameplay-driven, action-adventures in captivating worlds. Our small team is composed of highly experienced and passionate developers, and we are building a new IP that we are incredibly excited about. We are just embarking on our journey, and we invite you to explore the opportunity of building something remarkable with us from the ground up.

The Role:

As the Lead Environment Artist you will be responsible for overseeing the creation of stunning and immersive game environments. You will help provide vision and inspiration for what is artistically possible with building our worlds. You will build and lead a team of environment artists, collaborate closely with other disciplines and leaders, help establish both internal and external pipelines, and lead the creation of high quality environments and biomes.

Impact and Ownership

• Working with the Art Director you will help define the artistic vision and direction for game environments, ensuring consistency with the game's overall aesthetic and narrative and help establish the world as a character
• You will lead and mentor a team of environment artists, providing guidance, feedback, and support to help them achieve their full potential
• As a people manager, you will nurture positive team morale and help ensure a highly motivated and effective team, as well as participate in initiatives related to hiring talent, feedback culture, and performance management
• As part of the game development leadership team, you will help build the foundation of collaborative processes between environment art and other disciplines such as level design, concept art, engineering, and production
• You will be hands-on with art development, creating high-quality environmental assets, including landscapes, buildings, props, and foliage, using a combination of 3D modeling, texturing, and other techniques
• You will collaborate closely with level designers to create visually compelling and gameplay-driven environments that enhance the player experience
• You will help establish and maintain efficient workflows, tools, and processes for environment art production, ensuring high productivity and quality standards
• You will stay updated on industry trends, tools, and techniques, and explore new artistic styles and approaches to push the boundaries of visual storytelling in games
• You will conduct regular reviews and critiques of environment art assets to ensure they meet artistic and technical standards, and provide constructive feedback for improvement
  
  
  
  
  

Qualifications:

• You have at least 8 years of experience as an environment artist in the game industry with at least 2 years in a people leadership role
• You have extensive experience with 3D modeling and texturing software such as 3ds Max, Maya, ZBrush, Substance Design/ Painter, and Photoshop. You may have experience with tools such as Houdini, Gaia, World Generator, or other software, and ideally you have relevant experience with Unreal 5 Engine
• You bring excellent leadership and communication skills, with the ability to inspire and motivate a team
• You are team-focused and care deeply about empowering the people you manage, helping them grow in ways that interest and excite them, and ensuring positive team health and collaboration. You value nurturing inclusion and a sense of belonging for every team member.
• You have a strong understanding of environmental design principles, composition, lighting, and color theory. Your portfolio demonstrates high quality artistic and creative skills
• You have experience mentoring and growing artists to become stronger in their craft
• Your experience with environment art pipelines and workflows can help ensure the team builds and delivers efficiently
• You have a history of helping resolve issues and problems when team members get stuck, whether technical or team related
• You may have experience contributing to level design or scripting
• You have a keen eye for detail and a passion for creating visually stunning and immersive game environments
  
  
  
  
  

Why Join Giant Skull:

• At Giant Skull you will work on exciting and ambitious gaming projects with a talented and passionate team of AAA veterans coming from studios such as Epic, Respawn, Rocksteady, Riot and others
• Our approach to game development is focused on inclusive teamwork as well as individual autonomy. We aspire for every team member at Giant Skull to feel their impact across the game, studio, and team - to freely contribute their ideas and feedback - and to make their mark on the game we create together
• We offer competitive compensation, access to cutting edge technology and resources to support your work, and opportunities for career growth as well as professional and personal development
• We value extending trust and choice to our team members. To help support each individual’s unique circumstances, we offer remote and hybrid work options as well as open PTO. Our developers have the flexibility and support to help ensure a healthy balance between their work and personal lives
• Your ultimate impact is unconstrained by your focus areas. You will have the opportunity to shape not only the game we are making but the foundation of our studio and development cultures, best practices, team collaboration, and beyond
• We are deeply committed to creating and nurturing an inclusive, diverse workplace where all team members feel valued and respected
  
  
  
  
  

We are a hybrid studio with a physical space in Encino, California. Our target base salary range for this position is 150k to 225k. Base salary doesn't tell the whole story, we also have a bonus plan and other benefits, and the salary range may expand based on experience and location. We are happy to discuss more about compensation at Giant Skull during our interview process.