Lead Environment Artist

Serviceplan Group; Wes-Kaap; On-site; ZAR 400 000 - 500 000; Full time

Job summary

A creative visualization studio in South Africa seeks a skilled Lead Environment Artist to guide and mentor a team in crafting stunning environments using Unreal Engine. You will own the design process, ensuring a balance between visual quality and performance. The ideal candidate should have 8+ years of experience in environment art, demonstrating strong leadership and communication skills. Familiarity with asset creation workflows and a portfolio showcasing your expertise is essential for this role.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional experience as an environment artist with a strong portfolio.
• Proven leadership experience guiding and mentoring a team.
• Strong understanding of Unreal Engine's environment and rendering systems.

Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor a team of environment artists.
• Take ownership of creating immersive and visually compelling environments.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to understand project needs.

Skills

Team Leadership

Unreal Engine Expertise

Problem-Solving

Environment Design

Asset Creation Workflows

Tools

Maya

Blender

3DSMAX

Houdini

Substance

Job description

Lead Environment Artist - Unreal Engine We are seeking an experienced and highly motivated Lead Environment Artist with deep expertise in Unreal Engine to join our growing visualization team. In this leadership role, you will be responsible for guiding and mentoring a team of artists while creating stunning, immersive virtual environments used in our Virtual Production pipeline. Your leadership will drive the artistic vision and quality of our projects, ensuring assets are crafted efficiently and creatively, while maintaining technical excellence. You'll collaborate with technical artists, guiding assets through the entire production pipeline and ensuring their high-quality execution.

Responsibilities

• Team Leadership & Guidance: Lead and mentor a team of environment artists, providing direction, feedback, and support to ensure high-quality output. Foster a collaborative, creative, and productive environment while helping the team members grow their skills.
• Environment Design: Take ownership of creating highly immersive and visually compelling environments from scratch for Unreal Engine, with an emphasis on quality, performance, and optimization.
• Continuous Improvement: Stay up-to-date with new tools, techniques, and best practices in environment creation and Unreal Engine. Promote innovative solutions and continuously push the boundaries of what can be achieved with virtual production.
• Stakeholder Communication: Collaborate with stakeholders to understand project needs, providing regular progress updates and ensuring the artistic vision aligns with client expectations.
• Quality Control & Performance Optimization: Maintain a balance between visual fidelity and performance. Ensure that assets are optimized for rendering without compromising on visual quality.

Requirements

• 8+ years of professional experience as an environment artist, with a strong portfolio showcasing a range of environments and asset creation work in Unreal Engine.
• Proven leadership experience, with the ability to guide, motivate, and mentor a team of artists, providing constructive feedback and fostering professional growth.
• Expertise in asset creation workflows, including modeling, high poly to low poly, texturing, geometry optimization, and material creation in any of the traditional software packages (Maya, Blender, 3DSMAX, or similar).
• Strong understanding of Unreal Engine’s environment and rendering systems, and how they integrate with virtual production pipelines.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to collaborate effectively with both technical and creative teams.
• Strong problem-solving abilities, with a passion for innovation and pushing the boundaries of virtual production.
• Experience with the creation of photorealistic renderings.

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced knowledge of lighting, post-processing, and optimization within Unreal Engine.
• Experience in one of the following packages (Houdini, Substance)