Principal Technical Artist

Media-Molecule; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 95,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days holiday

8 bank holidays

Flexitime

Free car parking

Onsite canteen

Cycle garage and showers

Job summary

Media Molecule, a Guildford-based studio, seeks a Principal Technical Artist for a short-term contingent engagement through Yoh Services, running until July 2027. Hybrid and remote UK work is allowed, with a preference for one day onsite in Guildford.

The role focuses on elevating the art department through best practices, tooling, and leadership across the project. The ideal candidate brings deep experience in technical art, modern pipelines, and tools like Blender/Substance, plus C++/Python

Qualifications

• Previous experience in a senior technical art role.
• Expertise in modern art pipelines including materials, lighting, grading and environmental art.
• Extensive knowledge of 3D content creation tools (Blender, Substance).
• Experience with performance analysis tools (heatmaps, frame-time graphs).
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Proactive, pragmatic and collaborative problem solving.
• Experience with C++ and/or Python to build tools for creative disciplines.

Responsibilities

• Refine, document and champion best practices for artistic content creation.
• Partner with art and technology teams to identify fidelity and performance issues and implement solutions.
• Support and educate artists to maximise efficient use of tools and workflows.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to define benchmarks and target configurations/platforms.

Skills

Technical art leadership

Art pipelines

3D content tools

Performance analysis tools

Communication

Problem solving

C++/Python tools

Tools

Blender

Substance

Job description

We are Media Molecule, a Guildford based game developer proudly part of the PlayStation Studios group. We have a history of creating Award winning games such as LittleBigPlanet, Tearaway and Dreams.

It’s a fantastic time to join us as we embark on our next adventure, defining and executing the vision for our next ambitious project based out of our studio in central Guildford. We are now searching for an exceptional Principal Technical Artist to join us!

This will be a short-term contingent engagement through our staffing partner, Yoh Services which we anticipate will run until the end of July 2027. We are therefore open to hybrid and remote working in the UK with a preference for 1 day a week onsite in Guildford.

Role Overview:

This role offers an exciting opportunity to serve as a subject-matter expert for the Art Department, applying knowledge gained through prior experience to drive quality, technical excellence and best practices across the project. While there may be some moments of direct contribution to tools, VFX, and/or art, the role’s greatest impact will come from collaboratively elevating the wider team’s work through analysis, documentation and education, solving complex challenges and driving improvements through collaboration and guidance.

What you'll be doing:

• Refine, document and champion best practices for artistic content creation.
• Partner with art and technology teams to identify fidelity and performance issues and suggest/implement suitable solutions.
• Support and educate artists to maximise efficient use of tools and workflows.
• Collaborate with key stakeholders to define suitable benchmarks and settings for target configurations / platforms.

What we are looking for:

• Previous experience in a similar level in technical art role.
• Expertise in modern art pipelines, particularly with respect to materials, lighting, grading and/or environmental art.
• Extensive knowledge of 3D digital content creation tools, such as Blender or Substance.
• Competence with performance analysis tools, such as heatmaps and/or frame-time graphs.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Proactive, pragmatic and collaborative approach to problem solving.
• Experience with C++ and/or Python to build tools for creative disciplines.
• 25 days holiday and 8 bank holidays per year
• Flexitime working (where approved)
• Free car parking facilities
• Onsite canteen
• Access to cycle garage and showers

Please note, Sony Interactive Entertainment conducts background checks at the offer stage for all new employees (which may include criminal background checks for some roles) and will need to process personal information to support these checks.

Please refer to our ?Candidate Privacy Notice for more information about what personal information we collect, how we use it, who we share it with, and your data protection rights.

People of all backgrounds, experiences, abilities and perspectives are encouraged to apply. Media Molecule is committed to creating an inclusive and safe work environment that reflects the diversity of the world around us. We are an equal opportunity employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to their race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age or disability status.

Tips for getting hired!

Embrace collaboration. Media Molecule loves a game jam, so we need team members that can work well together – sometimes across departments that don’t traditionally overlap. Maybe you already work on a team, or manage a guild or play in a band – we’d love to hear how you get on collaborating with others.

Be yourself. We are a studio that encourages our team think creatively, to play with new technology and jam on individual ideas. We love seeing the personality of everyone at Media Molecule so it’s YOU and YOUR STYLE that we are interested in learning about.

What you get

On top of all the things we already mentioned, you’ll also get to be part of a talented, diverse team of people, get a tip top benefits package, including private health and life insurance, income protection and all that jazz, a competitive salary, a winning bonus scheme, a personal development fund, being a name and not a number, free lunches, organic fruit, and really comfy chairs. Our main studio is based in Guildford, and we now also have a small office in Brighton.