Senior Environment Artist

We're seeking a Senior Environment Artist to join our team! As a senior, production-focused role with leadership responsibility, you'll create game-ready environment art end-to-end: planning and kit strategy → modeling → materials/textures → set dressing → implementation in a proprietary or commercial engine. You'll set a quality bar, establish standards, run reviews, direct workflows, help align environment art across teams and client expectations, mentor other artists, and proactively unblock production.

90-day success looks like

Within your first 90 days, you'll work effectively and efficiently in UE5, or quickly ramp up in a proprietary engine and deliver high-quality work within its constraints. You'll deliver a set of polished, shippable environment content (a modular kit, hero set, or key scene slice) that matches the project's art direction and performance targets. You'll establish trust as a senior: provide clear feedback, create reusable examples/templates, and improve team consistency and throughput. You'll identify environment risks early (scope, workflow gaps, perf constraints) and propose practical solutions with Art Direction, Tech Art, and Production.

Day-to-day responsibilities

• Create high-quality environment assets and scenes (architecture, organic environment, kits, hero props, set dressing) built for real-time performance.
• Drive material quality: trim sheets, tileables, layered materials, vertex blends, and reusable material functions as appropriate.
• Own scene/asset optimization: LOD strategy, streaming considerations, draw calls, memory, lightmap constraints, and platform targets.
• Lead execution for a small pod or strike team: break down tasks, set short-term priorities, and keep deliverables moving.
• Provide reviews and mentorship: actionable notes, paintovers/blockouts as needed, and consistent standards for “definition of done.”
• Collaborate cross-discipline (Design, Lighting, Tech Art, Engineering) to ensure environments support gameplay readability and performance.
• Support client-facing communication when needed: clarify requirements, share WIP, align on standards, and reduce rework through early alignment.
• Contribute to pipeline/process improvements: naming conventions, template scenes, kit documentation, and onboarding guides.

Requirements

• Minimum 8-years of professional game industry experience with at least one shipped title.
• Experience working with industry standard tools such as Maya, 3DS Max, Blender, Substance Painter, Substance Designer, ZBrush, etc
• Proven experience shipping or delivering real-time environment work in Unreal Engine 4 or 5.
• Strong environment art fundamentals: composition, mood, scale, material definition, and cohesion.
• Strong modeling skills (architectural/modular, hard-surface, and organic); solid UV and baking fundamentals.
• Strong texturing/material skills (Photoshop + Substance Painter; Designer/trim workflows strongly preferred).
• Demonstrated optimization knowledge (LODs, texel density, streaming, draw calls, memory budgets).
• Leadership-level communication: clear written and verbal updates, actionable feedback, strong collaboration habits.
• Experience mentoring or guiding other artists (formal lead title not required, but leadership behaviors are).
• Can work Central (CT) core hours with possible overlap hours with Pacific (PT) or Eastern (ET).
• Work options are flexible: remote / hybrid / onsite.

Nice-to-have

• Houdini experience (procedural kits, scattering, tools).
• Foliage/organic workflows (SpeedTree, ZBrush, photogrammetry).
• Lighting/post-process experience (can support look targets and debug scene issues).
• Experience owning a small slice of a level/biome from planning to delivery.
• Comfort working across stylized and realistic pipelines; strong reference analysis skills.
• Scripting/tooling familiarity (Python, editor scripting, or simple pipeline automation).

Portfolio requirements

Your portfolio must include:

• Real-time environments showing strong composition, material definition, and scene cohesion.
• Evidence of production thinking: modularity, reuse, consistency, and optimization awareness.
• At least one in-engine example (video walkthrough or gameplay capture preferred).
• Bonus (strongly preferred): evidence of leadership impact—mentorship examples, consistent kits built across multiple assets, documentation/templates, or before/after improvements.