Lead Environmental Artist

Xsolla Inc.; United States; Remote; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Unlimited Flexible Time Off

Personalized career roadmap

Professional development opportunities

Job summary

Xsolla is seeking a Lead Environmental Artist to craft production-ready game environments that balance visual quality with real-time performance. You will lead a team, set pipelines, and partner with engineers, designers, and art directors to translate the creative vision into optimized, modular environments.

You will drive profiling, asset budgets, and shader and lighting decisions while mentoring junior artists. This role offers the opportunity to shape live production and future projects.

Qualifications

• Senior or Lead Environment Artist in game development.
• Portfolio demonstrating production-ready environments.
• Real-time optimization and trade-offs between fidelity and performance.
• Experience with environment production pipelines, modular workflows, LODs, materials, shaders, and texture optimization.
• Proficiency with Unreal Engine and/or Unity.
• Strong lighting, composition, color, and environmental storytelling.
• Ability to profile environments and collaborate with technical teams.
• Leadership and mentoring experience.
• Strong communication and cross-functional collaboration skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead the creation of high-quality environments from concept through final implementation.
• Maintain the visual quality bar for environments while meeting technical and performance targets.
• Create optimized environment assets including modular kits, architecture, terrain, props, materials, and set dressing.
• Collaborate with Technical Artists, Level Designers, Lighting Artists, and Engineers to balance visuals and performance.
• Define and maintain environment art pipelines, workflows, and technical standards.
• Identify and resolve performance issues related to geometry, materials, textures, lighting, draw calls, memory usage, LODs, and asset complexity.
• Review and mentor Environment Artists to support their growth and output.
• Translate artistic vision into scalable and technically achievable environments.
• Participate in profiling and optimization throughout production.

Skills

Real-time optimization

Environment art

Leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Artistic vision

Tools

Unreal Engine

Unity

3D modeling software

Job description

ABOUT YOU

We are looking for a Lead Environmental Artist who combines a strong artistic eye with solid technical expertise. This role is not only about creating visually impressive environments — we need someone who understands how to build high-quality, optimized, production-ready environments that perform efficiently in a real-time game engine.

ABOUT US

Xsolla is a global commerce company with robust tools and services to help developers solve the inherent challenges of the video game industry. From indie to AAA, companies partner with Xsolla to help them fund, distribute, market, and monetize their games. Grounded in the belief in the future of video games, Xsolla is resolute in the mission to bring opportunities together, and continually make new resources available to creators. Headquartered and incorporated in Los Angeles, California, Xsolla operates as the merchant of record and has helped over 1,500+ game developers to reach more players and grow their businesses around the world. With more paths to profits and ways to win, developers have all the things needed to enjoy the game.

For more information, visit xsolla.com.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead the creation of high-quality environments from concept through final implementation.
• Establish and maintain the visual quality bar for environments while ensuring technical and performance requirements are met.
• Create optimized environment assets, including modular kits, architecture, terrain, props, materials, and set dressing.
• Work closely with Technical Artists, Level Designers, Lighting Artists, and Engineers to balance visual quality with performance.
• Define and maintain environment art pipelines, workflows, and technical standards.
• Identify and resolve performance issues related to geometry, materials, textures, lighting, draw calls, memory usage, LODs, and asset complexity.
• Review and provide feedback on the work of Environment Artists and support their professional development.
• Collaborate with Art Direction to translate the artistic vision into scalable and technically achievable environments.
• Participate in profiling and optimization throughout production rather than treating optimization as a final-stage task.

REQUIREMENTS

• Strong professional experience as a Senior or Lead Environment Artist in game development.
• Excellent portfolio demonstrating visually compelling, production-ready environments.
• Strong understanding of real-time optimization and the ability to make informed trade-offs between visual fidelity and performance.
• Advanced knowledge of environment production pipelines, modular workflows, LODs, materials, shaders, texture optimization, and asset budgets.
• Strong proficiency with industry-standard 3D tools and experience working in Unreal Engine and/or Unity.
• Good understanding of lighting, composition, scale, color, and environmental storytelling.
• Ability to profile environments, identify technical bottlenecks, and collaborate with technical teams to resolve them.
• Leadership and mentoring experience, with the ability to provide clear and constructive artistic and technical feedback.
• Strong communication and cross-functional collaboration skills.

Benefits

We are passionate about fostering a supportive environment for our team, so we prioritize the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of our employees through a comprehensive Benefits Program. This includes unlimited Flexible Time Off and a personalized career roadmap for each employee. By investing in professional development through training and educational opportunities, we ensure that our team thrives both personally and professionally. Together, we’re not just building a business; we’re cultivating a community that values creativity, collaboration, and the transformative power of play.

The duties and responsibilities of this position may evolve over time to support the organization’s goals and individual growth. This job description is intended to outline the general nature and level of work being performed and is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required.

By submitting your application, you consent to Xsolla conducting background checks, where permitted by law, after the final interview stage. All checks will comply with local regulations, and your information will be handled confidentially.

Xsolla takes your privacy seriously and will not sell or externally distribute any personal data received during the hiring process. In accordance with applicable data protection laws, Xsolla is committed to protecting your personal information and respecting your privacy.

For any inquiries related to data privacy, please contact: [e-mail]

Explore more opportunities at: https://xsolla.com/careers