Lead Technical Artist — Real-Time Shaders & Pipelines

AGBO; Raleigh (NC); On-site; USD 100,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

AGBO is seeking a Lead Technical Artist to join our Interactive team in Raleigh, NC. This hands-on leadership role bridges art and engineering—troubleshooting shaders, optimizing a character rig, refining lighting setup, and building tools that make the entire art team faster and more effective.

You will set technical direction and establish best practices. You will mentor artists, collaborate with engineering, art direction, and production to define standards and workflows, balancing visual

Qualifications

• Proven experience as a Technical Artist with a generalist background across lighting, character, and environment art.
• Lead experience strongly preferred.
• Hands-on shader development experience (HLSL/GLSL or engine shaders).
• Experience building tools and pipelines to support art workflows.
• Familiarity with Unreal Engine and common DCC tools (Maya, Blender, Houdini, Substance).
• Understanding rigging, lighting, and optimization for real-time rendering.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Technical Artist team with mentorship, code/workflow reviews, and day-to-day guidance.
• Provide generalist technical art support across lighting, character, environment, VFX, and animation.
• Design, build, and maintain shaders balancing fidelity with real-time performance.
• Develop and maintain custom tools/pipelines to improve artist workflows and production efficiency.
• Define technical standards, budgets, and best practices with engineering and production.
• Diagnose and resolve technical art issues related to rigging, shading, lighting, and optimization.
• Own the technical art pipeline end-to-end, identifying bottlenecks and building solutions.
• Collaborate cross-functionally to ensure technical feasibility.

Skills

Lead Technical Artist

Shader development

Unreal Engine

Tools pipelines

Mentoring

Tools

Unreal Engine

Maya

Blender

Houdini

Substance

Job description

AGBO is seeking a Lead Technical Artist to join our Interactive team in Raleigh, NC. This hands-on leadership role bridges art and engineering—troubleshooting shaders, optimizing a character rig, refining lighting setup, and building tools that make the entire art team faster and more effective.

You will set technical direction and establish best practices. You will mentor artists, collaborate with engineering, art direction, and production to define standards and workflows, balancing visual