Lead Technical Artist: Hybrid Real-Time Engine Optimization

Placements24; Noord-Kaap; Hybrid; ZAR 900,000 - 1,300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Dental coverage

Retirement plan

Hybrid work flexibility

Professional growth

Job summary

Placements24 is seeking a Lead Technical Artist in Kimberley, Northern Cape to optimize art pipelines, accelerate asset workflows, and mentor a team of technical artists. The role requires deep engine knowledge (Unreal or Unity), shader development, and strong scripting capability for toolkit automation.

You will bridge art and technology to maintain high visual fidelity within performance budgets while collaborating with designers, programmers, and the art team.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience in CG/CS.
• 7+ years as a Technical Artist in games with shipped titles.
• Expertise in Unreal Engine or Unity and pipelines.
• Strong 3D modeling/texturing with Maya/3ds Max and Substance.
• Shader development (HLSL/GLSL) and material authoring.
• Experience with Python, C#, or Blueprint for tools.
• Knowledge of profiling across PC/Console.
• Excellent problem solving and leadership.

Responsibilities

• Develop, implement, and maintain efficient art pipelines.
• Optimize 3D assets, textures, shaders, and lighting for real-time rendering.
• Create and manage custom shaders, tools, and scripts.
• Collaborate with designers, programmers, and art team to fix issues.
• Profile and analyze performance to improve frame rates.
• Mentor junior technical artists.
• Research and evaluate new technologies to improve production.
• Ensure technical art standards throughout the project lifecycle.
• Troubleshoot technical art problems across platforms.

Skills

Technical leadership

Unreal Engine

Unity

Shader development

Python

C#

Performance profiling

Mentoring

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Graphics, Game Development, Computer Science

Tools

Maya

3ds Max

Substance Suite

HLSL/GLSL

Job description

Placements24 is seeking a Lead Technical Artist in Kimberley, Northern Cape to optimize art pipelines, accelerate asset workflows, and mentor a team of technical artists. The role requires deep engine knowledge (Unreal or Unity), shader development, and strong scripting capability for toolkit automation.

You will bridge art and technology to maintain high visual fidelity within performance budgets while collaborating with designers, programmers, and the art team.