Lead Character Artist

Arcanaut Studios; Edmonton, Kelowna; Hybrid; CAD 110,000 - 182,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical and dental coverage

Retirement contributions

Flex Benefit program

3 weeks vacation + studio breaks

Job summary

Arcanaut Studios in Canada is hiring a Senior/Lead Character Artist for a full-time role open to BC or Alberta. You will define the character look for a sci-fi game, collaborating across disciplines to set a high standard of quality.

Responsibilities include sculpting, texturing, and look development for humans and creatures in Unreal Engine 4+, mentoring teammates, and defining asset pipelines in a flexible from-home/in-office/remote setup.

Qualifications

• 10+ years’ experience or, at least three shipped titles as a Character Artist - at leastone as a Senior Character Artist
• Strong portfolio demonstrating high-quality, realistic characters and creatures
• Broad 3D game-art skills including Unreal Engine 4+, photogrammetry, shader editors, cloth simulation, rigging, and animation
• Discerning eye for detail and anatomy
• Ability to optimize render quality while maintaining clean topology
• Self-motivated with proactive communication and collaboration
• Experience with customizable, modular character systems and MetaHuman is a bonus

Responsibilities

• Ideate and adapt aesthetic concepts into real 3D game characters in collaboration with directors
• Create high-quality Unreal Engine characters including sculpting and texturing of humans and aliens
• Assist in achieving final render quality through color theory, articulation, and silhouette
• Document and share asset creation best practices
• Mentor creative and technical abilities of team members
• Define standards for character art and support outsourced assets
• Stay up to date with new technologies to improve pipelines and processes
• Build believable, expressive characters that drive gameplay and narrative

Skills

Character art

Texturing

Mentoring

Art direction

Look development

Tools

Unreal Engine 4+

Photogrammetry

Shader editors

Cloth simulation

Rigging

Animation basics

MetaHuman

Job description

full-time . May 4, 2026

Description

ARCANAUT STUDIOS Senior/Lead Character Artist FULL-TIME | BC OR ALBERTA

(REMOTE FRIENDLY) OUR ARC

Arcanaut Studios is ateam of seasoned developersfounded on the axiom that creative freedom and independence lead to better, more innovative games. We believe in the power of small, agile teams.We are decision makers with consistent collaboration across disciplinesthat drive the project vision and create a seamless player experience.

Arcanaut Studios isa Canadian company with offices inEdmonton, AB and Kelowna, BC.We offer a flexible work environment combining from-home, in-office, and remote work as well ascompetitiveindustry compensation and benefits. By joiningus, you will be welcomed into a diverse team of talented developers creating an immersive universe of story, character, and discovery.

YOUR ARC

As a Lead Character Artist, you will bring some of the very first characters in our new Sci-Fi game to life. Working alongside multiple disciplines, you will explore and define the aesthetic and set a gold standard for quality of character art. Your work will span prototyping, look development andcreatinghumans and creatures for the game at final quality.

Responsibilities

• Work with the Creative, Art, and Narrative directors to ideate and adapt aesthetic, gameplay, and narrative concepts into real 3D game characters
• Create all aspects of high-quality characters for Unreal Engine including sculpting and texturing human and alien forms, faces, and hair, as well as both soft andhard surfaceclothing
• Assistwith defining and achieving the finalrenderquality through a keen eye for color theory, articulation, surface response, shape language, and silhouette
• Create, document, and share asset creation best practices
• Actively mentor creative and technical abilities of team members
• Define standards for character art and support the integration and feedback of outsourced assets
• Stay up to date with new and innovative technologies, proactively incorporating and improving pipelines and processes
• Build believable, expressive, visually stunning characters thatvalidateand further drive gameplay and narrative ambitions
• Collaborate with other team members to ensure art is integrated seamlessly with otherfacetsof the game
• Listen to feedback from stakeholders and translateitinto actionable plans whenappropriate.

Qualifications and Experience

• 10+ years’ experience or, at least three shipped titles as a Character Artist - at leastone as a Senior Character Artist
• A strong portfolio,demonstratingyour masterful ability to create high-quality, realistic, and emotive characters and creatures
• Broad 3D game-art skills including experience with Unreal Engine 4 or higher,photogrammetry, shader editors, cloth simulation, rigging, and animation
• A discerning eye for detail and anatomy
• The ability tooptimizethe overallrenderquality of a character to a high standardwhile supporting clean topology necessary for articulation and deformation
• Self-motivated, with proactive communication skills and the ability to collaboratewell with team members of all development disciplines
• A passion forutilizingart as a storytelling medium to build compelling worlds
• Prior experience with customizable and modular character systems,MetaHuman, and/or high-tech industrial and product design is a bonus

BENEFITS

• We offer a rewards package to help you live your best lifewhile doing your best work, including medicaland dentalcoverage,retirement savings contributionsandaFlexBenefitprogramthathasawidearray ofcoverage tobestfit your personal situation.
• We offer 3 weeks of vacation per year in addition to summer and winter studio breaks that are each two weeks long.
• The hiring range for this position is $110,000–$182,000 CDNin addition to a bi-yearlyperformance-basedbonus.
• The base pay may vary depending on the candidate’s region, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.

Compensation

$110,000.00 - $182,000.00 per year