Principal Technical Art Director — Real-Time Graphics

Aechelon Technology; San Mateo (CA); On-site; USD 210,000 - 315,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Profit sharing

401k

Health benefits

Job summary

Aechelon Technology, a Shield AI company, seeks a Principal, Technical Art Direction to own runtime art direction for our simulation products, guiding visual quality within real-time constraints. Reporting to the VP of Product, you translate artistic intent into actionable guidance for engineers and artists.

The ideal candidate combines a sharp eye for realism with deep real-time graphics knowledge, leading through influence, aligning cross-functional teams with strict acceptance criteria, and

Qualifications

• Degree or equivalent professional experience in art or graphics.
• 10+ years in game art or real-time graphics with senior visual quality responsibility.
• Strong eye for realism in 3D art, lighting, materials, and perceptual cues.
• Ability to give precise feedback to artists and engineers based on references.

Responsibilities

• Tune existing runtime features to improve visual quality.
• Stay current with graphics techniques and work with engineers to evaluate visual benefit and practical limitations.
• Guide graphics engineers through visual reviews of prototypes and implemented features. Evaluate rendered scenes, identify what looks wrong and why, and communicate specific improvements through reference imagery, annotated comparisons, and demonstrations using 3D, 2D and engine tools.
• Translate runtime visual goals into clear requirements and acceptance criteria that describe what done looks like.
• Prioritize runtime visual improvements with Product Management and Engineering, weighing their impact on realism against implementation effort and performance constraints.
• Partner with the Database Art Director to review content in the runtime and identify improvements to content quality and authoring practices. Help distinguish content issues from limitations requiring engineering changes.
• Help QA’s perceptual image diff comparison pipeline to determine when visual anomalies are intended or not intended.

Skills

Visual judgment

Feedback to engineers

Collaboration

Rendering knowledge

Education

Degree in art, computer graphics, technical art, or related discipline

10+ years in game art or real-time graphics

Tools

Maya

Photoshop

Job description

Aechelon Technology, a Shield AI company, seeks a Principal, Technical Art Direction to own runtime art direction for our simulation products, guiding visual quality within real-time constraints. Reporting to the VP of Product, you translate artistic intent into actionable guidance for engineers and artists.

The ideal candidate combines a sharp eye for realism with deep real-time graphics knowledge, leading through influence, aligning cross-functional teams with strict acceptance criteria, and