Principal Technical Artist - Tools (Apex Legends)

Respawn Entertainment; Madison (WI); On-site; USD 165,000 - 256,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Paid time off (3 weeks)

Medical/dental/vision insurance

401(k) plan

Job summary

Respawn Entertainment, based in Madison, Wisconsin, is seeking a Principal Technical Artist to enhance content creation workflows for the Apex Legends team. You will be responsible for collaborating with end-users to define solutions, developing and maintaining art pipelines, and providing technical support.

The ideal candidate will possess over 8 years of game development experience and a strong background in tool design and DCC programming. Join us to shape the future of gaming with innovative processes and substantial impact on game quality.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional game development experience.
• Expertise in designing and implementing tools and workflows.
• High level of proficiency in DCC programming languages.

Responsibilities

• Collaboration with end-users to identify opportunities.
• Design, build, and maintain art pipelines and tools.
• Troubleshoot issues and provide technical support.

Skills

Game development experience

DCC programming (Python, MEL, C#)

Tool and workflow design

Third-party software (Autodesk Maya, Adobe Creative Cloud)

Job description

Description

Electronic Arts creates next-level entertainment experiences that inspire players and fans around the world. Here, everyone is part of the story. A team where everyone makes play happen.

Overview

Respawn Entertainment, founded in 2010, focuses on creative freedom to deliver extraordinary games. We are the Academy Award‑winning studio behind Apex Legends, Titanfall, Titanfall 2, Star Wars A0Jedi: Fallen Order, Star Wars A0Jedi: Survivor, and Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond. We are a collective of creative developers who love what we do and want to share our passion with players worldwide. We are looking for a Principal Technical Artist to join the Apex Legends team to help design and deliver future-forward content creation workflows.

As a Principal Technical Artist on the project, you will work within the technical art team’s pipeline group, focusing on fielding requests for new workflows from customers and collaborating with stakeholders and engineering to design, build, test, and integrate solutions back into the wider art team for support and maintenance. The ideal candidate will be able to take on larger projects, acting as an accomplished project manager who can drive initiatives from conception to production.

Why Join Us?

• Opportunity to participate on a future-looking team focused on the long-term health of our customers and game.
• As a principal, you will drive a wide variety of initiatives impacting content creation.
• Significant impact on how we make our product and on the wider team and players.

Core Roles And Responsibilities

• Collaboration:
  • Meet with end-users regularly to discuss challenges and identify opportunities.
  • Educate the team on how to leverage and use the system, set best practices, and encourage adoption.
  • Build and drive multi-disciplinary coalitions to pursue solutions across organizational boundaries.
• Pipeline and Tool Development:
  • Design, build, and maintain art pipelines and custom tools.
  • Automate testing and validation of workflows.
  • Optimize slow processes and procedures.
• Technical Support:
  • Learn proprietary systems and make them accessible to others.
  • Troubleshoot unknown issues and resolve challenges in a timely manner.
• Asset Management:
  • Help teams transition content from old to newer workflows and automate adapting content to meet new requirements when needed.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional game development experience.
• Expertise in designing and implementing tools and workflows from upstream content creation applications through to runtime.
• High level of proficiency with programming in DCC (Python, MEL, C#) or similar languages and UI frameworks (Qt).
• Familiar with third-party software used to make content (Autodesk Maya, Adobe Creative Cloud).
• Interest in content creation workflows, techniques, and innovation.
• Has built a large workflow/tool and supported it through the ship of a title or season.

Pay Transparency

Compensation And Benefits

The ranges listed below are what EA in good faith expects to pay applicants for this role in these locations at the time of this posting. If you reside in a different location, a recruiter will advise on the applicable range and benefits. Pay offered will be determined based on relevant factors including education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, or business needs.

• California (depending on location e.g. Los Angeles vs. San Francisco) — $165,000 - $256,000 USD.

Pay is just one part of the overall compensation at EA. In the US, we offer a package of benefits including paid time off (3 weeks per year to start), 80 hours per year of sick time, 16 paid company holidays per year, 10 weeks paid time off to bond with a new baby, medical/dental/vision insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, and a 401(k) plan for regular full-time employees. Certain roles may also be eligible for bonus and equity.

About Electronic Arts

We are proud to have an extensive portfolio of games and experiences, locations around the world, and opportunities across EA. We value adaptability, resilience, creativity, and curiosity. We empower you to do great work and pursue opportunities for growth. We adopt a holistic approach to our benefits programs, emphasizing physical, emotional, financial, career, and community wellness to support a balanced life. Our packages may include healthcare coverage, mental well-being support, retirement savings, paid time off, family leaves, complimentary games, and more. We nurture environments where our teams can always bring their best to what they do.

Equal Opportunity

Electronic Arts is an equal opportunity employer. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, genetic information, religion, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, marital status, family status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We will also consider applicants with criminal records in accordance with applicable law. EA also makes workplace accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities as required by applicable law.