Senior Technical Artist (7-month contract)

Blackbird Interactive is a creative-fueled, future-driven, independent game studio where the best talent in the industry can find long-term careers to help grow their abilities while working on a wide range of projects, which encompass world-class IPs as well as our own creations across multiple genres.
 
Our studio operates as a remote-first workplace, offering flexible work arrangements.
 
PLEASE NOTE: At this time, we are only able to hire candidates who are legally eligible to work in Canada and reside within Canada.

Responsibilities

- Act as a bridge between Art, Engineering, and the game engine, helping teams communicate effectively and solve cross-disciplinary problems

- Support artists with art-to-engine integration, including asset setup, debugging, and optimization

- Design, build, and maintain tools, scripts, and workflows that improve artist productivity and content quality

- Collaborate with artists across animation, modeling, texturing, shaders, VFX, and other real-time content disciplines

- Identify visual and performance issues and develop high-quality solutions within technical constraints

- Contribute to the development and maintenance of procedural tools, art pipelines, and production processes

- Create clear, concise documentation for tools, workflows, and pipelines

- Take ownership of technical challenges, work with minimal supervision, and proactively identify opportunities for improvement

Requirements

- Strong understanding of real-time content development and game art pipelines

- Technical proficiency in one or more art disciplines (e.g., animation, modeling, texturing, or VFX), with a solid understanding of how they interact within a game engine

- Professional experience working in Unreal Engine 5

- Experience with procedural workflows and content creation using tools such as Unreal Engine PCG and Houdini

- Experience supporting or developing production tools and workflows

- Experience working with DCC tools such as Maya

- Programming or scripting experience using C++, C#, Python, or a similar language

- Understanding of asset management and version control practices

- Strong problem-solving skills, curiosity, and a collaborative mindset

Pluses

- Understanding of shader development and material systems

- Experience with particle systems and real-time visual effects

- Familiarity with animation rigs and game animation systems

- Knowledge of performance profiling and optimization for real-time content

- Experience with Perforce (P4V)

- Strong interest in video game culture, art, and design