Environment Art Outsource Lead

Epic Games; Cary (NC); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Dental, Vision coverage

401(k) with match

Mental health program

Unlimited PTO and company-wide breaks

Sabbatical after 7 years

Job summary

Epic Games seeks an experienced Environment Outsource Lead to supervise art content from external partners. You will provide frontline feedback, ensure assets meet engine requirements, and maintain documentation of pipelines while guiding a hands-on artist through outsourcing workflows.

You will collaborate with internal teams and external partners to optimize asset production, mentor vendors, and help push the quality of environment art across AAA projects.

Qualifications

• Experience in shipping AAA titles across multiple platforms.
• Hands-on art background with Environment focus and pipeline experience.
• Excellent communication to mentor external partners and document pipelines.

Responsibilities

• Work with the Lead and Director to establish visual direction for outsourcing vendors.
• Collect and organize documentation, references, and examples of asset production and engine requirements.
• Clearly communicate feedback to outsource partners and monitor progress with leadership when needed.
• Collaborate with artists, designers, and production to understand props needs and goals.
• Make fixes to keep assets game-ready and within technical constraints.
• Provide prototype meshes with accurate scale and pivot placement and proper texture setup.

Skills

Environment Art

Outsourcing

AAA Titles

Unreal Engine 5

Substance Painter

Marmoset

Perforce

3D Modeling

Communication Skills

PBR Textures

Tools

Unreal Engine 5

Substance Painter

Marmoset Toolbag

Perforce

3D modeling packages

Job description

WHAT MAKES US EPIC?

At the core of Epic’s success are talented, passionate people. Epic prides itself on creating a collaborative, welcoming, and creative environment. Whether it’s building award-winning games or crafting engine technology that enables others to make visually stunning interactive experiences, we’re always innovating.

Being Epic means being a part of a team that continually strives to do right by our community and users. We’re constantly innovating to raise the bar of engine and game development.

ART

What We Do

Push your artistic talent to the limit on a team of world-class environment, character and concept artists who strive to innovate and inspire.

What You'll Do

Epic Games is searching for an experienced Environment Outsource Lead to support and supervise creative content provided by our outsource partners. The Outsource Lead will provide front-line creative feedback for work submitted to Epic for review. Though the role will be mainly supervisory, the individual should be an experienced artist. They should have experience working in game studio pipelines, with a solid hands-on art background, especially in Environment Art. The ideal candidate would be a talented artist who can effectively communicate with outsource partners, maintain documentation of existing pipelines, collect or create benchmark and technical example assets, collect photo references, create asset blockouts, create simple block-out paint overs, and finally package all files to send off to the external artists.

In this role, you will

• Work with the Lead and Director level to establish visual direction for our outsourcing vendors
• Collect or generate detailed documentation, video references, and examples of art asset production, procedures, and engine requirements to support our external vendors
• Clearly communicate feedback to outsource partners, and ensure those creative notes and goals are met, informing leadership in the event that isn't happening
• Communicate cross-discipline with artists, level designers, game designers, and production to understand the needs and goals of props being created
• Make any needed fixes to keep assets consistent and technically game-ready as they're handed off from the outsource partner
• Provide prototype meshes with accurate scale and pivot placement, with understanding of the technical constraints, including vert count management, material setup, and PBR texture creation
• Explore and leverage emerging tools and workflows to improve efficiency, quality, and consistency across outsourced environment art production
• Collaborate with internal teams and external partners to identify opportunities to integrate new creative technologies into existing art pipelines

What we're looking for

• Experience in shipping AAA titles across multiple platforms
• Experienced in shipping production assets for games, specifically within the Environment discipline
• Strong understanding of the latest toolsets in game art creation, including but not limited to Unreal Engine 5, Substance Painter, Marmoset, Perforce, and 3D modeling packages
• Familiarity with emerging creative technologies and evolving art production workflows, with a willingness to explore new approaches to and participate in content creation
• Must be highly organized, self-driven, customer-focused, and a great team player
• Ability to critique, mentor, and improve art through written feedback loops
• A keen understanding of technical hurdles, the ability to autonomously make choices to further art quality, with excellent communication skills being a must
• Experience working within a team and a high-pressure production environment

EPIC JOB + EPIC BENEFITS = EPIC LIFE

Our intent is to cover all things that are medically necessary and improve the quality of life. We pay 100% of the premiums for both you and your dependents. Our coverage includes Medical, Dental, a Vision HRA, Long Term Disability, Life Insurance & a 401k with competitive match. We also offer a robust mental well-being program through Modern Health, which provides free therapy and coaching for employees & dependents. Throughout the year we celebrate our employees with events and company-wide paid breaks. We offer unlimited PTO and sick time and recognize individuals for 7 years of employment with a paid sabbatical.

ABOUT US

Epic Games is a leading interactive entertainment company. For over 30 years we've been making award-winning games and engine technology that empowers others to make visually stunning games and 3D content that bring environments to life like never before. Epic's award-winning Unreal Engine technology not only provides game developers the ability to build high-fidelity, interactive experiences for PC, console, mobile, and VR, it is also a tool being embraced by content creators across a variety of industries such as media and entertainment, automotive, and architectural design. As we continue to build our Engine technology and develop remarkable games, we strive to build teams of world-class talent.

Like what you hear? Come be a part of something Epic!

Epic Games deeply values diverse teams and an inclusive work culture, and we are proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer. Learn more about our Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Policy here.