Technical Art Director

Welcome to Striking Distance Studios!

Driven by people. Inspired by challenges. Relentless to deliver creative excellence.

At the intersection of art, design and technology lies Striking Distance Studios. We are a AAA development studio within the San Ramon Hills of the San Francisco Bay Area. With the release of our first title, The Callisto Protocol, we are excited to continue to grow our studio.

Here at Striking Distance Studios it is amazing people, an immersive experience and a passion for excellence that drives us each day. We are looking for people who push themselves creatively and learn with every new challenge. We give you the setting and the opportunity to do work you are proud of. We’re looking for the best to come join us and become part of a world-class team.

To us excellence is not a skill, but an attitude!

What we are looking for: 

Responsibilities: 

• Lead a team of technical artists to elevate the intersection of art and technology within our games.

• Set up and maintain frameworks to allow artists the most creative freedom, while hitting quality and performance requirements.

• Determine technical feasibility, risk assesment, and approve technical specifications.

• Represent the entire art team in technical discussions.

• Troubleshoot and solve technical art, production, animation and enviroment issues.

• Assess existing tools, and work with both our programming and tools teams to develop tools that streamline our art processes, workflows and pipelines.

• Act as an intermediary between the animation and technical teams to elucidate the workflows, needs, and terminologies of each team.

• Bring forward new and emerging technologies to the team for consideration and lead the R&D on technologies of interest.

• Foster a culture of open, honest, and respectful communication across all disciplines.

Qualifications:

• At least 10+ years of games industry experience and preferably 3 years or more in a similar role.

• At least 1 year of experience with Unreal Engine highly preferable.

• Experience shipping games on current generation consoles (PS5 or XSX) and PC.

• Advanced Python skills, C++ skills preferable.

• Expert knowledge of 2D and 3D art software: Maya and Photoshop required. Expert Substance and Houdini knowledge is preferable.

• Experience in adopting production pipelines, and following guidelines and system requirements.

• Expert understanding of asset optimization challenges and techniques.

• Knowledge of performance and memory constraints as they relate to game development.

• Knowledge of photoreal pipelines including physically based materials, and asset capture.

• Knowledge of graphics pipelines and rendering techniques.

• Knowledge of animation techniques.

• Eye for photorealism and taste for aesthetics. Attention to detail and curiosity.

• Positive and enthusiastic to engage new challenges. Critical thinking. Highly innovative, empathetic and solution-oriented spirit.

• Advanced verbal and written communications skills with different audiences: artists, engineers and managers.

• A demonstrable love / passion for playing and making video games.

• A highly communicative and collaborative disposition.

In California, the expected salary range for this position is $190,000 - $250,000. The listed expected salary range represents a good faith estimate and the actual pay may depend on a variety of job-related factors that can include experience, education, skills, and location.

Striking Distance Studios provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

Due to recent scams, our recruiters will only reach out to you via @sds.com, @krafton.com or @pubg.com. If you received an email and are unsure you can always email recruiting@sds.com.