Tech Art Director

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.

Role Description:

We are seeking a highly skilled Technical Art Director to join our Firesprite studio, working on a dark, story-driven 'Narrative Adventure' with genre defining goals. The ideal candidate will bridge the gap between art and technology, ensuring the visual quality and performance of our games meet the highest standards. You will work closely with production, artists, designers, and engineers to develop and implement processes and tools that improve our game development pipelines and deliver the creative vision of the team.

Ideally, we would love individuals to be based in the studio for 1-3 days per week, but we may consider those who have a preference for remote working in the UK.

What you'll be doing:

• Lead and mentor a team of technical artists, providing guidance and support to achieve artistic and technical goals.
• Collaborate with art directors, designers and engineers to define and implement the visual style and technical requirements of the game.
• Build and maintain tools and pipelines that streamline the art production process and improve efficiency.
• Troubleshoot and solve technical issues related to art production, ensuring smooth integration of assets into engine.
• Identify industry trends and technologies and integrate to improve production pipelines and the visual quality of our game.
• Communicate with cross-functional teams to ensure alignment and collaboration throughout the development process.
• Find opportunities for future cycles where improvements should be made beyond the current project timeline.
• Facilitate the creation and maintenance of documentation standards and practices for in-game technical art pipelines.
• Develop a positive and upbeat team culture.
• Support the production team to ensure a realistic project scope that can be met against team capacity.
• Raise project risks with production and leadership teams, providing alternative solutions to reach resolution.

What we're looking for:

• Experience as a Technical Art Director or similar role in the video game industry.
• Strong understanding of game development pipelines, tools and processes.
• Proficient in industry-standard software, Maya, Substance Designer, Houdini, etc.
• Proficient in UE5 or similar engines and performance optimisations.
• Excellent leadership and communication skills, with the ability to inspire, empower, and mentor a team.
• Experienced in identifying inefficiencies within workflows and can devise a credible plan to increase efficiency.
• A good understanding of both art and programming.
• Ability to work well with others in cross-discipline teams.
• A passion for games and game creation.

Desirable Skills:

• Knowledge of procedural content generation techniques.
• Knowledge in shader development, visual effects and real-time rendering techniques.
• 3D maths and problem-solving skills.
• Experience with scripting languages such as Python or C#.
• Experience with profiling and identifying CPU & GPU bottlenecks using industry standard tools.

Benefits:

• Discretionary bonus opportunity
• Hybrid Working (within Flexmodes)
• Private Medical Insurance
• Dental Scheme
• 25 days holiday per year
• Access to cycle garage and showers

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.