Lead Environment Artist

1 Month ago • 4-5 Years • Technical Art • $77,000 PA - $143,000 PA

Job Summary

Job Description

Lead Environment Artist at NetherRealm Studios will collaborate with Art Directors, Leads, and external partners to shape the vision and execution of game environments. Responsibilities include mentoring a team, creating benchmark assets, ensuring quality and technical implementation, prototyping, and collaborating across departments. The role requires significant AAA game development experience, expertise in environment design, and proficiency in tools like Substance Painter and Designer, Unreal Engine, and PBR. The successful candidate will be a creative, collaborative team player with excellent communication skills, capable of managing tasks and deadlines effectively.
Must have:
  • 4-5 years AAA game dev experience (Lead level)
  • Proficiency in environment design, layout, composition
  • Expert in Adobe Substance tools, PBR, Unreal Engine
  • Strong team leadership and mentorship skills
  • Excellent communication and collaboration skills
Good to have:
  • Familiarity with Mortal Kombat/Injustice
  • Experience with procedural content creation
Perks:
  • Competitive salary and benefits
  • Annual bonuses, short and long-term incentives
  • Health insurance, wellness program, retirement plan
  • Paid holidays, sick time, and vacation

Job Details

Welcome to Warner Bros. Discovery… the stuff dreams are made of.

Who We Are…

When we say, “the stuff dreams are made of,” we’re not just referring to the world of wizards, dragons and superheroes, or even to the wonders of Planet Earth. Behind WBD’s vast portfolio of iconic content and beloved brands, are the storytellers bringing our characters to life, the creators bringing them to your living rooms and the dreamers creating what’s next…

From brilliant creatives, to technology trailblazers, across the globe, WBD offers career defining opportunities, thoughtfully curated benefits, and the tools to explore and grow into your best selves. Here you are supported, here you are celebrated, here you can thrive.

The creative team that brought Mortal Kombat and Injustice to life is now NetherRealm Studios, part of the Warner Bros. Games family. With over 20 years of creation under our belts, NetherRealm’s mission remains the same: to create cutting edge entertainment and deliver industry leading tech, game art and overall gaming experiences. NetherRealm Studios is a collaborative and creative environment, constantly striving to up the ante on what is possible in interactive entertainment. Our team is comprised of dedicated professionals with years of experience who are at the forefront of the gaming industry. The passion and energy that made Mortal Kombat a reality is still on display every day in our offices, our hallways and most definitely the studio’s arcade room.

NetherRealm Studios is on the lookout for a Lead Environment Artist to help create standout, next-level game worlds. You’ll work with the Art Director, Art Leads, and Tech Leads to set the look and feel for our environments, pushing both the art and tech boundaries. As Lead, you’ll guide a team of artists and collaborate with external partners to make sure everything we create hits our high standards. We're looking for someone who’s all about finding ways to make the game even better, values feedback and loves working in a team to bring amazing, and sometimes brutal, ideas to life.

**Please Note: Position is hybrid from studio in Chicago

  • Work with the Art Director, Art and Technical Leads to shape and maintain the overall vision for environments and environment-adjacent systems.
  • Mentor, support, and give regular feedback to build and maintain a strong, cohesive team.
  • Promote skill-sharing through training sessions, clear documentation, and both written and video tutorials.
  • Estimate tasks, coordinate with production, and ensure that environment goals align with other departments.  
  • Collaborate closely with the team during prototyping to enable quick iterations on environment assets and game systems.
  • Create benchmark quality assets from concept art and breakouts to demonstrate visual and technical quality as a reference for the environment team.
  • Regularly review assets to maintain quality and ensure proper technical implementation.

The Essentials

  • At least 4-5 years of video games development experience with significant involvement in 2 published AAA games, with at least one project at the Lead level or equivalent experience.
  • Ability to quickly prototype and iterate in collaboration with other departments.
  • Strong skills in environmental design, layout, composition, and storytelling.
  • Great sense of scale and proportion.
  • Expert knowledge of Adobe Substance tools like Painter and Designer.
  • Knowledge of physically based rendering (PBR).
  • Experience with Unreal Engine 4 or newer
  • Self-motivated and proactive with a strong work ethic.
  • A creative, empathetic, and collaborative approach to teamwork.
  • Excellent oral and written communication skills.

The Nice to Haves

  • Familiar with Mortal Kombat, Injustice, and other fighting game properties
  • Experience with procedural content creation packages

How We Get Things Done…

This last bit is probably the most important! Here at WBD, our guiding principles are the core values by which we operate and are central to how we get things done. You can find them at www.wbd.com/guiding-principles/ along with some insights from the team on what they mean and how they show up in their day to day. We hope they resonate with you and look forward to discussing them during your interview.

Championing Inclusion at WBD

Warner Bros. Discovery embraces the opportunity to build a workforce that reflects a wide array of perspectives, backgrounds and experiences. Being an equal opportunity employer means that we take seriously our responsibility to consider qualified candidates on the basis of merit, without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, mental or physical disability, and genetic information, marital status, citizenship status, military status, protected veteran status or any other category protected by law.

If you’re a qualified candidate with a disability and you require adjustments or accommodations during the job application and/or recruitment process, please visit our accessibility page for instructions to submit your request.

In compliance with local law, we are disclosing the compensation, or a range thereof, for roles in locations where legally required. Actual salaries will vary based on several factors, including but not limited to external market data, internal equity, location, skill set, experience, and/or performance. Base pay is just one component of Warner Bros. Discovery’s total compensation package for employees. Pay Range: $77,000.00 - $143,000.00 salary per year. Other rewards may include annual bonuses, short- and long-term incentives, and program-specific awards. In addition, Warner Bros. Discovery provides a variety of benefits to employees, including health insurance coverage, an employee wellness program, life and disability insurance, a retirement savings plan, paid holidays and sick time and vacation.

Similar Jobs

bytedance - Optical Design Intern (PICO-Lab) 2023 Fall (BS)

bytedance

San Jose, California, United States (On-Site)
7 Months ago
Firesprite - Principal Gameplay Animator

Firesprite

Liverpool, England, United Kingdom (Hybrid)
2 Months ago
Epic Games - Senior User Interface (UI) Artist

Epic Games

Montreal, Quebec, Canada (On-Site)
2 Weeks ago
Ion - Senior UX Designer -  Italy

Ion

Pisa, Tuscany, Italy (On-Site)
7 Months ago
Demiurge Studios - Lead Game Designer, Open World RPG

Demiurge Studios

Boston, Massachusetts, United States (Remote)
4 Weeks ago
Gunzilla - Lead VFX Artist

Gunzilla

Frankfurt Am Main, Hessen, Germany (On-Site)
1 Month ago
Playdead - Experienced VFX Artist

Playdead

Copenhagen, Denmark (On-Site)
9 Months ago
Inwave - VFX Game Artist

Inwave

(On-Site)
3 Months ago
Ubisoft - Lead FX Artist

Ubisoft

Montpellier, Occitanie, France (On-Site)
1 Month ago
Kepler Interactive - Senior Environment Tech Artist

Kepler Interactive

Montréal, Occitanie, France (Hybrid)
3 Months ago

Get notifed when new similar jobs are uploaded

Similar Skill Jobs

Zelis  - UX Designer

Zelis

St. Petersburg, Florida, United States (Hybrid)
2 Weeks ago
WebTech Corporation - Lead Engineer- Group D&D

WebTech Corporation

Bengaluru, Karnataka, India (On-Site)
1 Week ago
Playdead - Gameplay Designer

Playdead

Copenhagen, Denmark (On-Site)
9 Months ago
Dream Sports - Senior Product Designer

Dream Sports

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India (On-Site)
4 Months ago
PwC - Senior Security Engineers (Entra ID/AD)

PwC

Sofia, Sofia City Province, Bulgaria (On-Site)
8 Months ago
miniclip - Game Designer

miniclip

Netherlands (On-Site)
1 Month ago
Philips - Internship: Bench Testing Blood Pressure cuffs

Philips

Eindhoven, North Brabant, Netherlands (On-Site)
3 Weeks ago
Triple dot studios - Senior Game Designer

Triple dot studios

Minsk, Minsk Region, Belarus (Hybrid)
3 Months ago
PayPal - Fraud Science Data Engineer

PayPal

Scottsdale, Arizona, United States (Hybrid)
3 Days ago
Hudl - Solutions Consultant

Hudl

Lincoln, Nebraska, United States (On-Site)
2 Weeks ago

Get notifed when new similar jobs are uploaded

Jobs in Chicago, Illinois, United States

Next Level Business Services - Java Tech Lead

Next Level Business Services

Chicago, Illinois, United States (On-Site)
7 Months ago
The Walt Disney Company - Program Manager, Value Chain Emissions

The Walt Disney Company

Burbank, California, United States (On-Site)
1 Month ago
Activate Games - Game Facilitator (Store Associate)

Activate Games

Tustin, California, United States (On-Site)
3 Days ago
bytedance - Software Engineer Intern (Cloud Native Infrastructure)

bytedance

San Jose, California, United States (On-Site)
2 Months ago
TFL Group - PHP Developer

TFL Group

Overland Park, Kansas, United States (On-Site)
4 Months ago
Perplexity AI - Backend Software Engineer - Product

Perplexity AI

San Francisco, California, United States (On-Site)
2 Weeks ago
Cadence - Lead Product Engineer (Circuit Simulation)

Cadence

San Jose, California, United States (On-Site)
3 Days ago
bytedance - Student Researcher (Doubao (Seed) - Foundation Model - Vision and Language) - 2025 Start (PhD)

bytedance

San Jose, California, United States (On-Site)
7 Months ago
Motive - Field Reliability Tester

Motive

San Francisco, California, United States (Remote)
1 Week ago
bytedance - Senior Backend Software Engineer - Global E-Commerce Warehousing

bytedance

Seattle, Washington, United States (On-Site)
7 Months ago

Get notifed when new similar jobs are uploaded

Technical Art Jobs

Ubisoft - Senior Rigger

Ubisoft

Montreal, Quebec, Canada (Hybrid)
1 Month ago
The Walt Disney Company - Senior Lighting Technical Director

The Walt Disney Company

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (Hybrid)
1 Month ago
Ingenuity Studios, LLC - VFX Supervisor

Ingenuity Studios, LLC

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (Remote)
2 Months ago
Keywords Studios - Senior/Lead VFX Artist - 2025 Opportunities (UKI)

Keywords Studios

Brighton And Hove, England, United Kingdom (Remote)
2 Months ago
Techland - Art Director (Dying Light Univere)

Techland

Warsaw, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland (On-Site)
9 Months ago
magnopus - Technical Artist

magnopus

St Albans, England, United Kingdom (Remote)
1 Month ago
Studio Wildcard - Technical Artist

Studio Wildcard

Redmond, Washington, United States (Hybrid)
4 Months ago
Ubisoft - Senior Real-time Cinematic FX Artist

Ubisoft

Montpellier, Occitanie, France (On-Site)
2 Months ago
Ubisoft - Lead Artist - AAA The Division Resurgence

Ubisoft

Saint-Mandé, Île-de-France, France (Hybrid)
3 Months ago
Azra Games - Senior/Principle Technical Artist

Azra Games

California, United States (Hybrid)
2 Months ago

Get notifed when new similar jobs are uploaded

About The Company

We’re a leader in the games industry across all game platforms and mobile devices. Our diverse and inclusive workforce creates and brings to life the most beloved characters, franchises, heroes, and wizards in the world. We are fans of what we make and proud of what we do. We have studios and offices across the globe.

Salt Lake City, Utah, United States (Hybrid)

Burbank, California, United States (Hybrid)

Île-de-France, France (On-Site)

Burbank, California, United States (Hybrid)

Atlanta, Georgia, United States (On-Site)

Hyderabad, Telangana, India (Hybrid)

Bengaluru, Karnataka, India (Hybrid)

Neuilly-sur-Seine, Île-de-France, France (On-Site)

Atlanta, Georgia, United States (On-Site)

View All Jobs

Get notified when new jobs are added by warner bros games

Level Up Your Career in Game Development!

Transform Your Passion into Profession with Our Comprehensive Courses for Aspiring Game Developers.

Job Common Plug