Head Technical Artist - Lead Real-Time Art Pipelines

Placements24; Bloemfontein; On-site; ZAR 900,000 - 1,300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Health and wellness benefits

Career advancement opportunities

Team events

State-of-the-art technology

Professional development stipends

Conferences attendance support

Job summary

Placements24 is seeking a Lead Technical Artist for our Bloemfontein studio. You will bridge art and technology, guiding a team to optimize assets for real-time rendering across platforms and ensure seamless engine integration.

You will develop and refine art pipelines, create tools, and collaborate with art and engineering teams to resolve technical challenges while advancing visual fidelity in our growing game projects.

Qualifications

• 7+ years in technical art for video games, with at least 3 years in a lead or senior role.
• Proficient in 3D modeling and texturing tools (Maya/3ds Max/Blender, Substance Painter, Photoshop).
• Strong understanding of real-time rendering, shaders, and materials.
• Experience with Unreal Engine or Unity and asset pipelines.
• Scripting in Python or MEL for tool development.
• Excellent problem-solving, leadership and mentoring abilities.
• Portfolio demonstrating technical art skills and pipeline development.

Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor a team of technical artists on asset optimization and workflow.
• Develop and maintain art pipelines and tools for 3D asset creation and integration.
• Collaborate with art and engineering teams to resolve technical issues in assets.
• Optimize models, textures, shaders, and animations for real-time rendering.
• Manage art asset workflows within Unreal Engine/Unity.
• Create and maintain technical art documentation and best practices.
• Research new technologies to improve art performance and fidelity.
• Contribute to shader development and material creation.
• Perform regular performance profiling of art assets.
• Assist in art asset creation when needed.

Skills

Leadership

Problem-solving

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Graphics, Game Design, or related field

Tools

Maya

3ds Max

Blender

Substance Painter

Photoshop

Unreal Engine

Unity

Python

Job description

Placements24 is seeking a Lead Technical Artist for our Bloemfontein studio. You will bridge art and technology, guiding a team to optimize assets for real-time rendering across platforms and ensure seamless engine integration.

You will develop and refine art pipelines, create tools, and collaborate with art and engineering teams to resolve technical challenges while advancing visual fidelity in our growing game projects.