Description
Electronic Arts is seeking a Senior Technical Artist to join the EA SPORTS Technology team. The successful candidate will work in either Vancouver, BC or Orlando, FL, with a hybrid onsite arrangement.
The EA SPORTS Tech Art team provides specialized technology teams working on modern character articulation and motion, content pipelines and workflows, machine learning, game security, dev ops, as well as long lead feature and technology development for all EA SPORTS titles.
The Senior Technical Artist will act as a force multiplier for art teams across sports titles, designing scalable art pipelines, optimizing real-time performance, and developing innovative workflows for characters, environments, lighting, or VFX.
Key responsibilities include:
- Pipeline & Tool Development: Architect, build, and maintain robust, scalable art creation and content integration pipelines using Python, C#, or DCC scripting (Maya, Houdini, Blender).
- Performance & Optimization: Lead runtime performance profiling (GPU/CPU, memory, draw calls) across current and next-gen hardware platforms, establishing performance budgets and best practices for art teams.
- Engine Integration: Deeply integrate procedural workflows, complex shaders, rigging systems, and visual effects into the proprietary engine.
- Cross-Discipline Collaboration: Work as a primary liaison between artists and software engineers,translating creative needs into technical specifications and engineering requirements into user-friendly art tools.
- Technical Leadership & Mentorship: Guide and mentor mid and junior-level technical artists, advocate for best practices, and contribute to standardizing technical art workflows across the Sports Tech organization.
- R&D & Innovation: Prototype new rendering techniques, procedural content generation setups, and digital human or apparel workflows to elevate visual realism across titles.
The ideal candidate will have:
- 6+ years of professional experience in video game production or visual effects, with at least 3+ years in a Technical Art role.
- Deep experience working with modern game engines (e.g., Unreal Engine, Unity, or proprietary AAA engines) with a strong understanding of rendering pipelines, lighting, materials, and asset assembly.
- Advanced expertise in Maya and/or Houdini, including scripting and tool creation.
- Strong skills in Python (PySide/PyQt for GUI development is a plus) and familiarity with HLSL/GLSL shader languages or visual shader graphs.
- Proven track record of optimizing game performance using profiling tools (RenderDoc, PIX, Razor, or engine-native profilers).
Desirable skills include:
- Experience with procedural workflows (Houdini Engine / PCG).
- Experience with character technical art (rigging, skinning, cloth dynamics, or facial pipelines).
- Familiarity with modern sports tech domains (stadium generation, dynamic crowd systems, realistic biomechanics, or apparel capture).
- Background in C++ development or extending DCC plugins.
Electronic Arts offers a comprehensive benefits package, including health care services, mental wellness support, retirement savings, paid time off, family leave, free games, and more. The company values diversity, equity, and inclusion, and is committed to creating an environment where all employees can thrive.