Principal Environment Artist - GameSim - Pipeline

Keywords Studios Plc; Orlando (FL); Hybrid; CAD 120,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote/hybrid and in-office options

3 weeks paid leave

Medical, dental, vision benefits

Sick leave

Job summary

GameSim is seeking a Principal Environment Artist to elevate environment-art production across projects. You will lead strategic and hands-on work, setting benchmarks, guiding teams, and solving complex artistic and technical challenges with internal and partner studios.

You will collaborate with Art Directors, Production, and Engineering to translate creative goals into actionable environment-art strategies, mentoring teams and driving consistent quality across diverse project scopes.

Qualifications

• Extensive professional experience in game development or real-time production.
• Multiple shipped games or comparable real-time projects.
• A portfolio demonstrating high-quality environment-art with strong production judgment.
• Strong understanding of composition, scale, visual hierarchy, and environmental storytelling.
• Advanced experience creating modular environments, architecture, props, terrain, materials, and reusable asset systems.
• Experience developing environments in Unreal Engine or another modern real-time engine.
• Ability to balance quality, scope, schedule, technical requirements, and resources.

Responsibilities

• Create high-quality real-time environments, architecture, modular kits, hero assets, materials, terrain, foliage, and world-building content.
• Produce benchmark assets and scenes that communicate expectations for composition, scale, visual hierarchy, material quality, and storytelling.
• Translate art direction and client feedback into clear production goals.
• Establish environment-art strategies for modular construction and asset reuse.
• Maintain hands-on contribution while setting quality standards and solving problems.
• Evaluate environment artwork and provide actionable feedback through reviews and in-engine examples.

Skills

Environment art

Leadership

Mentorship

Client communication

Portfolio review

Tools

Maya/Blender/3ds Max

ZBrush

Substance Painter/Designer

Photoshop

Unreal Engine 5

Perforce

Jira/Confluence/Miro

Job description

[English, French to follow]

GameSim is a game development studio that partners with clients to build games across PC/console and a range of art styles. We care about craftsmanship, collaboration, and shipping work we’re proud to put our names on. If you love building environments and believable spaces we’d like to meet you. Our headquarters is based in Orlando, FL!

We are seeking a Principal Environment Artist to help define and elevate the quality, efficiency, and consistency of environment‑art production across GameSim projects.

This is a high level senior individual‑contributor position for an experienced artist who can operate at both the strategic and hands‑on levels. You will create benchmark‑quality work, establish practical production standards, solve complex artistic and technical problems, and provide direction to environment teams working across different projects, engines, styles, and partner studios.

You will work closely with Art Directors, project leads, Technical Art, Production, Design, Engineering, clients, and partner studios to translate creative goals into clear and achievable environment‑art strategies.

This role requires strong leadership, sound judgment, clear communication, and the ability to influence teams through expertise, example, and collaboration.

What Success Looks Like

Within your first 90 days, you will:

• Develop a strong understanding of GameSim’s projects, clients, production structure, and environment‑art capabilities.
• Build trust with artists, project leadership, clients, and partner studios through clear communication and reliable decision‑making.
• Create or guide the development of benchmark work that establishes a clear visual and technical quality bar.
• Identify a meaningful artistic, technical, or workflow challenge and help implement a practical improvement.
• Provide feedback and mentorship that improves the quality, consistency, and effectiveness of the environment team.

Responsibilities

Artistic Leadership and Execution

• Create high‑quality real‑time environments, architecture, modular kits, hero assets, materials, terrain, foliage, and world‑building content.
• Produce benchmark assets and scenes that communicate expectations for composition, scale, visual hierarchy, material quality, environmental storytelling, and final polish.
• Translate art direction, concept art, reference material, design requirements, and client feedback into clear production goals.
• Establish environment‑art strategies for modular construction, asset reuse, trim sheets, material systems, terrain, foliage, set dressing, and world building.
• Maintain a strong hands‑on contribution when establishing quality bars, validating workflows, solving difficult problems, or supporting critical deliverables.
• Evaluate environment artwork objectively and provide specific, actionable feedback through reviews, paintovers, blockouts, reference boards, documentation, or in‑engine examples.

Production and Pipeline Development

• Partner with Art Direction, Production, and Technical Art to define environment workflows that balance visual quality, scope, schedule, and technical requirements.
• Identify artistic, technical, and production risks early and recommend practical solutions.
• Help teams break down broad or incomplete direction into understandable tasks, milestones, priorities, and acceptance criteria.
• Improve environment‑art pipelines through reusable workflows, templates, documentation, example assets, and production standards.
• Support planning and estimation by evaluating asset complexity, dependencies, staffing needs, and production risks.
• Troubleshoot challenging issues related to asset construction, materials, world building, optimization, engine implementation, or content integration.
• Help ensure environments meet project requirements for performance, memory, streaming, draw calls, shader complexity, collision, LODs, and platform limitations.

Team and Project Influence

• Guide environment artists across internal teams, partner studios, and external development groups.
• Mentor senior artists and emerging leads in artistic judgment, communication, planning, review practices, and decision‑making.
• Collaborate with Art Directors to maintain a consistent visual direction across teams and deliverables.
• Participate in client meetings, milestone reviews, art reviews, and project‑planning discussions when senior environment‑art representation is needed.
• Communicate risks, tradeoffs, priorities, and recommendations clearly to artistic and non‑artistic stakeholders.
• Help align teams working across different studios, disciplines, cultures, and time zones.
• Support prototypes, art tests, project pitches, preproduction efforts, and early pipeline development.
• Contribute to the continued growth of GameSim’s environment‑art discipline through mentorship, hiring support, portfolio reviews, documentation, and capability planning.

Requirements

• Extensive professional experience in game development, real‑time production, or a closely related field.
• Multiple shipped games or comparable professional real‑time projects.
• A portfolio demonstrating exceptional environment‑art quality and strong production judgment.
• Expert understanding of composition, scale, proportion, visual hierarchy, shape language, material definition, lighting response, environmental storytelling, and scene cohesion.
• Advanced experience creating modular environments, architecture, props, terrain, materials, and reusable asset systems.
• Strong understanding of modeling, UVs, baking, texel density, trim sheets, tileable materials, decals, vertex blending, and real‑time material workflows.
• Professional experience developing environments in Unreal Engine or another modern real‑time engine.
• Strong understanding of environment optimization, including LODs, memory, streaming, draw calls, collision, shader complexity, and platform constraints.
• Experience establishing visual benchmarks, environment pipelines, asset standards, or production workflows.
• Demonstrated ability to solve complex artistic, technical, and production problems with limited supervision.
• Experience guiding senior artists, leads, distributed teams, external partners, or vendors.
• Ability to provide clear, constructive, and actionable artistic feedback.
• Strong understanding of how to balance quality, scope, schedule, technical requirements, and available resources.
• Strong written, verbal, presentation, and interpersonal communication skills.
• Experience collaborating with Art Direction, Production, Technical Art, Design, Engineering, Lighting, VFX, and other development disciplines.
• Ability to adapt to different projects, visual styles, engines, pipelines, and client expectations.
• Comfort participating in client‑facing discussions and representing environment‑art decisions professionally.

Tools and Technical Experience

Candidates should have advanced experience with a professional environment‑art toolset. This may include:

• Maya, Blender, 3ds Max, or a comparable 3D content‑creation package
• ZBrush or an equivalent sculpting application
• Substance 3D Painter and Substance 3D Designer
• Photoshop or comparable image‑editing software
• Unreal Engine 5 or another modern real‑time engine
• Perforce or another production source‑control system
• Jira, Confluence, Miro, or comparable planning and documentation tools

Expertise with every listed application is not required. We are primarily interested in candidates who demonstrate strong fundamentals, adaptability, and the ability to choose appropriate tools for the production problem.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working in co‑development, outsourcing, consulting, or work‑for‑hire game production.
• Experience contributing to AAA PC or console titles.
• Experience working across both realistic and stylized visual pipelines.
• Experience supporting multiple projects or teams at a studio or discipline level.
• Experience owning a level, biome, world region, or major environment feature from early planning through final delivery.
• Experience with Unreal Engine systems such as World Partition, Nanite, virtual texturing, procedural content generation, landscape tools, material functions, Blueprints, or profiling tools.
• Houdini experience involving procedural modeling, terrain generation, scattering, modular construction, or artist‑facing tools.
• Experience with foliage workflows, SpeedTree, photogrammetry, procedural generation, or organic‑environment production.
• Experience with lighting and post‑processing sufficient to establish visual targets and diagnose presentation issues.
• Familiarity with Python, editor scripting, automation, or technical‑art tool development.
• Experience contributing to project scoping, staffing recommendations, bidding, hiring, or portfolio evaluation.

Portfolio requirements

Your portfolio must demonstrate:

• High‑quality real‑time environments with strong composition, scale, material definition, environmental storytelling, and scene cohesion.
• Work presented with a commercial, proprietary, or modern real‑time engine.
• Clear explanations of your individual contribution, responsibilities, workflow, and production decisions.
• Modular kits, reusable asset systems, trim‑sheet workflows, material libraries, or scalable world‑building solutions.
• Understanding of optimization, maintainability, resource reuse, and production constraints.
• At least one example in which you established or significantly influenced the visual quality bar for a scene, level, biome, or project.
• Ability to work from concepts, references, maquettes, design requirements, or incomplete creative direction.
• Adaptability across projects, genres, or visual styles.
• We also encourage applicants to include examples of:
• Work created by a team under their artistic or technical guidance.
• Before‑and‑after comparisons showing how they improved an environment, workflow, or production outcome.
• Reference resources, style guides, documentation, pipeline documents, paintovers, or models created for other artists.
• Please clearly identify your individual contribution to collaborative work.

Candidates may be asked to participate in a portfolio review, technical discussion, leadership interview, or art assessment as part of the selection process.

This position is currently open to candidates residing in the following Canada Provinces: Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, or British Columbia.

Salary Range: $120,000 CAD to $130,000 CAD

What's in it for you?

• Opportunities to contribute to a variety of projects, clients, genres, platforms, and visual styles.
• The ability to influence environment‑art quality and production practices across multiple teams.
• Collaboration with experienced developers and studios across the Keywords Studios organization.
• Professional‑development and mentorship opportunities.
• Flexible remote, hybrid, and in‑office work arrangements where available.
• 3 weeks of paid leave
• Benefits package including medical, dental and vision
• Sick Leave
• Disability Coverage
• Corporate holidays
• Professional Development

GameSim is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome applicants of all backgrounds and identities and evaluate candidates based on skills, experience, and alignment with the role.

Keywords Studios is dedicated to following a well‑established Equal Opportunities Policy. We endeavor to create a workplace which provides for equal opportunities for all employees and potential employees.

Artiste en chef en environnements - GameSim - Vivier de talents

GameSim est un studio de développement vidéoludique qui collabore avec des clients afin de créer des jeux aux styles artistiques variés, que ce soit sur PC ou sur console. Nous avons à cœur le savoir‑faire, la collaboration et la livraison de produits auxquels nous sommes fiers d’être associés. Si vous aimez élaborer des environnements et des espaces crédibles, nous souhaitons vous rencontrer. Notre siège social est situé à Orlando, en Floride!

Nous sommes à la recherche d’un(e) artiste en chef en environnements pour aider à définir et à améliorer la qualité, l’efficacité et la cohérence de la production artistique environnementale à travers les projets GameSim.

Il s’agit d’un poste de collaborateur(-trice) individuel(le) senior de haut niveau pour un(e) artiste expérimenté(e) capable d’œuvrer tant au niveau stratégique qu’opérationnel. Vous effectuerez un travail de qualité exemplaire, établirez des normes de production pratiques, résoudrez des problèmes artistiques et techniques complexes, et guiderez les équipes en environnements travaillant sur différents projets, moteurs, styles et studios partenaires.

Vous travaillerez en étroite collaboration avec les directeurs artistiques, les gestionnaires de projet, les équipes d’art technique, de production, de conception et d’ingénierie, les clients et les studios partenaires pour traduire des objectifs créatifs en stratégies claires et réalisables pour l’art des environnements.

Ce rôle exige une grande capacité de leadership, un esprit critique, une aptitude à communiquer clairement, et la capacité à influencer les équipes par l’expertise, l’exemple et la collaboration.

Définition du succès

Au cours de vos 90premiers jours de travail…

• vous développerez une solide compréhension des projets, des clients, de la structure de production et des capacités en matière d’art des environnements de GameSim;
• vous bâtirez une relation de confiance avec les artistes, les responsables de projet, les clients et les studios partenaires grâce à une communication claire et à une prise de décision fiable;
• vous créerez ou guiderez le développement d’un travail de qualité exemplaire qui établit un niveau visuel et technique clair;
• vous identifierez un défi artistique, technique ou lié aux flux des travaux significatif, et contribuerez à la mise en œuvre d’une amélioration concrète;
• vous fournirez des commentaires et du mentorat qui améliorent la qualité, la cohérence et l’efficacité de l’équipe des environnements.

Responsabilités

Exécution et leadership artistique

• Créer des environnements en temps réel de haute qualité, de l’architecture, des kits modulaires, des éléments vedettes, des matériaux, des terrains, de la végétation et du contenu de construction de monde.
• Produire des éléments et des scènes de référence qui communiquent les attentes en matière de composition, d’échelle, de hiérarchie visuelle, de qualité des matériaux, de narration environnementale et de peaufinage final.
• Traduire la direction artistique, l’art conceptuel, les documents de référence, les exigences de conception, les commentaires des clients en objectifs de production clairs.
• Établir des stratégies d’art des environnements pour la construction modulaire, la réutilisation des éléments, les planches de textures, les systèmes de matériaux, le terrain, la végétation, l’agencement et la création des mondes.
• Maintenir une contribution pratique significative lors de l’établissement des normes de qualité, de la validation des flux des travaux, de la résolution de problèmes complexes ou du soutien aux livrables essentiels.
• Évaluer objectivement les créations des environnements et fournir des commentaires précis et exploitables par le biais de revues, de corrections graphiques, de maquettes, de planches de référence, de documentation ou d’exemples intégrés au moteur.

Développement de la production et des pipelines

• Collaborer avec la direction artistique, la production et l’équipe d’art technique pour définir des flux des travaux des environnements qui équilibrent qualité visuelle, champ d’application, calendrier et exigences techniques.
• Identifier tôt dans le processus les risques artistiques, techniques et de production, et recommander des solutions pratiques.
• Aider les équipes à décomposer instructions générales ou incomplètes en tâches, étapes, priorités et critères d’acceptation compréhensibles.
• Améliorer les pipelines de création des environnements artistiques grâce à des flux des travaux réutilisables, des modèles, de la documentation, des exemples d’éléments et des normes de production.
• Soutenir la planification et l’estimation en évaluant la complexité des actifs, les dépendances, les besoins en personnel et les risques de production.
• Résoudre des problèmes complexes liés à la construction d’éléments, aux matériaux, à la création de mondes, à l’optimisation, à la mise en œuvre du moteur ou à l’intégration du contenu.
• Aider à s’assurer que les environnements répondent aux exigences du projet en matière de performances, de mémoire, de streaming, d’appels de rendu, de complexité des nuanceurs, de collisions, de niveaux de détail, et de limitations de la plateforme.

Influence de l’équipe et du projet

• Guider les artistes en environnements au sein des équipes internes, des studios partenaires, et des groupes de développement externes.
• Encadrer les artistes seniors et les responsables en devenir en matière de jugement artistique, de communication, de planification, de pratiques de révision, et de prise de décision.
• Collaborer avec les directeurs artistiques pour maintenir une orientation visuelle cohérente entre les équipes et les livrables.
• Participer aux réunions avec les clients, aux bilans d’étapes, aux évaluations artistiques, et aux discussions de planification de projet lorsque la présence d’un représentant senior en art des environnements est nécessaire.
• Communiquer clairement les risques, les compromis, les priorités, et les recommandations aux parties prenantes, artistiques ou non‑artistes.
• Contribuer à l’harmonisation des équipes travaillant dans différents