Senior Character Artist

31st Union; Burnaby; On-site; CAD 78,000 - 116,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus

Equity awards

Job summary

2K Sports Lab is seeking a Senior Professional Character Artist in Vancouver to lead character creation, grooming, and asset integration with the art director and lead character artist. You will craft high-quality, believable characters that players can enjoy for years, collaborating with cross-functional teams to push visual fidelity.

The role focuses on building industry-leading hair Grooming, using XGen and Ornatrix, and delivering optimized assets in Unreal Engine 5 while adhering to

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in games, film, or animation.
• Experience shipping at least 1 AAA title.
• Proficient in Maya, Unreal Engine, Substance Painter/Designer, PBR workflow, ZBrush.
• Experience with 3D scanned assets.
• Ability to build believable groom hair using XGen and Ornatrix.
• Strong communication and collaboration with art teams.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with leadership to set visual targets and push quality of character assets.
• Work with animators, artists, and technical artists to ensure assets integrate smoothly.
• Build high-quality digital sculpts, textures and groom hair.
• Work in Unreal Engine 5 and adapt to pipeline developments while balancing performance.
• Assemble character assets for in-game use.
• Create industry-leading grooms using XGen/Ornatrix and optimize hair for real-time rendering.

Skills

5+ years experience

Strong communication

Self-starter

Ability to take feedback

Collaboration with concept artists

Tools

Maya

Unreal Engine

Substance Painter

Substance Designer

ZBrush

Marvelous Designer

Photoshop

XGen

Ornatrix

Job description

Who We Are

Founded in 2023, 2K Sports Lab is the newest stand alone studio at 2K looking to push game development boundaries to bring 2K's next groundbreaking sports franchise to life. We're building a world-class team at our new Vancouver, BC location where our goal is to deliver an exceptional experience through bold ideas, technical excellence, and creative collaboration. We're seeking passionate and driven professionals across all areas of game development to help shape this ambitious vision. If you're interested in tackling unique challenges and think you have what it takes to level up our team,

What We Need

As a Senior Professional Character Artist at 2K Sports Lab, you will have a key role collaborating closely with our Art Director and Lead Character Artist to help bring our visions to life and forge authentic and believable characters that the players can enjoy for many years to come. You enjoy being responsible for crafting the highest quality, industry leading, characters that will make an everlasting impact for the game.

What You’ll Do

• Collaborate with leadership to establish visual targets and push boundaries on quality of character assets.
• Work closely with other departments (animators, artists, and technical artists) to ensure art assets are working well and build an excellent player experience.
• Build high quality digital sculpts, textures and groom hair.
• Work in Unreal Engine 5, while actively following development of character creation and pipelines in the industry while balancing performance.
• Assemble character assets to be used in the game engine.
• Create Industry-Leading Grooms: Procedurally groom realistic hair using industry-standard tools (XGen, Ornatrix), as well as author highly optimized hair cards for real-time rendering.

What Will Make You a Great Fit

• 5+ years of experience in the games, film, or animation industry.
• Previous experience shipping at least 1 AAA title.
• Ability to build believable groom hair using dedicated tools (XGen, Ornatrix).
• Knowledge of Maya, Unreal Engine, Substance Painter/Designer, PBR Workflow, zBrush, Marvelous Designer and Photoshop.
• Experience working with 3d scanned assets.
• Aesthetic ability to improve details with minimal concept and art direction.
• Have a proven understanding of human anatomy and clothing construction.
• Have a good understanding working with blendshapes and facial animation.
• Self-starter and independent, able to take feedback and run with it.
• Follow and collaborate with concept artists.
• Strong communication skills.

As an equal opportunity employer, we are committed to ensuring that qualified individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform their essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us if you need reasonable accommodation.

The pay range for this position in British Columbia at the start of employment is expected to be between $78,400 and $116,020 per Year. However, base pay offered is based on market location, and may vary further depending on individualized factors for job candidates, such as job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and other objective business considerations. Subject to those same considerations, the total compensation package for employees in regular roles may also include other elements, including a bonus and/or equity awards, in addition to a full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits, provided that temporary or intern roles will not be eligible for many of these payments or benefits. Details of participation in compensation and benefit plans (if applicable) will be provided if an employee receives an offer of employment.

Please note that 2K Games and its studios never uses instant messaging apps or personal email accounts to contact prospective employees or conduct interviews and when emailing, only use 2K.com accounts.