Lead Technical Artist: Real-Time Shaders & Tools

AGBO; Raleigh (NC); On-site; USD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

AGBO is seeking a Lead Technical Artist to join our Interactive team. This hands-on leadership role blends art and engineering, from troubleshooting shaders to refining lighting setups and building production tools.

You will set technical direction, establish best practices, mentor other artists, and collaborate with engineering and production to balance visual fidelity with real-time performance. This position offers the opportunity to shape pipelines across disciplines while delivering

Qualifications

• Proven experience as a Technical Artist with a generalist background across lighting, character, and environment art; leadership preferred.
• Strong hands-on shader development experience (HLSL/GLSL or engine shaders).
• Experience building custom tools and pipelines to support art workflows.
• Deep familiarity with Unreal Engine and standard DCC tools (Maya, Blender, Houdini, Substance, ZBrush).
• Solid understanding of rigging, lighting workflows, and real-time optimization.
• Experience leading or mentoring a team of technical artists.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Technical Artist team with mentorship and day-to-day guidance.
• Provide generalist technical art support across lighting, character, environment, VFX and animation.
• Design, build, and maintain shaders balancing fidelity and real-time performance.
• Develop and maintain custom tools and pipelines to improve workflows.
• Define technical standards, budgets, and best practices across disciplines.
• Diagnose and resolve rigging, shading, lighting, and asset optimization issues.
• Own end-to-end technical art pipeline and proactively build solutions.
• Collaborate with art, engineering, and production leads on feasibility.

Skills

Technical Artist

Shader Development

Unreal Engine

Rigging

Lighting

Tools & Pipelines

Collaboration

Character Art

Tools

Maya

Blender

Houdini

Substance

ZBrush

Job description

AGBO is seeking a Lead Technical Artist to join our Interactive team. This hands-on leadership role blends art and engineering, from troubleshooting shaders to refining lighting setups and building production tools.

You will set technical direction, establish best practices, mentor other artists, and collaborate with engineering and production to balance visual fidelity with real-time performance. This position offers the opportunity to shape pipelines across disciplines while delivering