Lead Technical Artist - Harry Potter

Careers Category: Art & Animation

Careers location: Austin, TX; Bay Area, CA; Carlsbad, CA; Chicago, IL; Eugene, OR; Toronto, Canada

Connected Worker Type: Connected

Requisition Id: R_112476

Position Overview

Zynga is looking for a Lead Technical Artist to join us on one of our most successful mobile games, Harry Potter: Puzzles and Spells! The Lead Technical Artist will support our team and project health and partner with the Art Director to ensure our technical processes across the board are efficient and executed well.

Main Responsibilities

• Oversee the Tech Art team as they work closely with the Art, Animation, UI/UX and Engineering teams to construct and implement game assets in Unity.

• Manage and mentor your reports, developing their skills and providing opportunities for growth

• Define and enforce optimal performance and efficiency of the game's final visual assets, as well as work to effectively solve any art-related bugs or hitches that may arise during production.

• Develop a foundational understanding of all systems in the game that touch art assets and effectively maintain these systems while rapidly addressing issues before they become problems.

• Define, maintain, enhance and troubleshoot pipeline for in game assets.

• Develop and maintain tools for the production pipeline, particularly for animation and technical art tasks.

• Create, maintain, and communicate technical art guidelines and implementation techniques with other team members.

• Maintain a clean, optimized project, periodically auditing assets and sprite atlases, etc.

• Provide solutions to address performance issues.

• Be confident and comfortable providing original ideas and solutions to challenging issues in the game production environment.

• Act as a go-to source of knowledge and provide training to other team members.

• Create and manage Jira tasks for the Tech Art team.

• Work with Production to plan features and define schedules and tasking.

• Our ideal candidate is very passionate about their craft. You seek to innovate, are a clear communicator, possess a deep knowledge of all things Unity, and have a strong grasp of asset optimization and mobile game performance. You are a contributor of ideas, overseer of pipelines, and collaborator across discipline lines. You thrive when collaborating with others, providing expertise while drawing from a wide range of skills, to deliver the best achievable results.

Desired Skills and Experience

• Highly skilled at communication with team members across disciplines, including the written documentation of pipeline processes

• Driven to stay knowledgeable of industry trends and technologies and share those learnings with the larger technical artist community

• Deep understanding of technical requirements of mobile game development

• 5+ years of experience with Unity

• Proficient at 3D modeling, rigging and UV texturing with professional 3D software such as Maya or ZBrush

• Scripting with C#

• Working knowledge of MVVM software architectural pattern

• Experience with C++ or Python tool creation

• Proficient with optimizing 3D and 2D assets for memory and performance considerations

• Proficient with Photoshop

• Technical background in developing scripts, Photoshop actions, and other automation tools necessary for art implementation and optimization

• Proficient with profiling tools

• Collaborative and self motivated

• Ability to support the game team with troubleshooting and technical assistance.

• Strong problem-solving methodology.

• 6+ years experience in game development, with shipped titles.

• A passion for mobile games.

• Prior experience with version control software such as Perforce and Git.

• Animation and VFX proficiency is a plus

What we offer you:

• Competitive salary, bonus plan and ESPP (Employee Stock Purchase Plan)

• 401K Company Match Contribution (US)

• RRSP/DPSP company match contribution (Canada)

• Health coverage, dental, disability, critical illness, EAP, and life insurance (Canada)

• Medical, dental, vision, EAP, life insurance, and disability benefits (US)

• Virtual mental health and neurodiversity support programs

• Global Fitness reimbursement program

• Global Wellbeing Program

• Financial wellness program with unlimited access to certified financial planners

• Discretionary Time Off policy for many employees

• Family planning support program

• Generous paid parental, pregnancy-related disability, caregiver, and compassionate leaves

• Subsidized Back-up child care

• Zynga happy hours and frequent employee events

• Flexible working hours on many teams

• Culture of diversity and inclusion including employee resource groups

• Work with cool people and impact millions of daily players

We are an equal opportunity employer and we are committed to building a diverse and talented workforce. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, medical condition, disability, or any other class or characteristic protected by applicable law. We welcome job-seekers, players, employees, and partners from all backgrounds to join us!

We will consider all qualified job-seekers with criminal histories in a manner consistent with applicable law.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with physical or mental disabilities in order to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us at AccommodationRequest@zynga.com to request an accommodation associated with your application for an open position.

The pay range for this position in California at the start of employment is expected to be between $105,000 and $155,000 per year.

However, base pay offered is based on market location, and may vary further depending on individualized factors for job candidates, such as job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and other objective business considerations. Subject to those same considerations, the total compensation package for this position may also include other elements, including a bonus and/or equity awards, in addition to a full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits. Details of participation in these benefit plans will be provided if an employee receives an offer of employment. If hired, employee will be in an "at-will position" and the Company reserves the right to modify base salary (as well as any other discretionary payment or compensation or benefit program) at any time, including for reasons related to individual performance, Company or individual department/team performance, and market factors.

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Zynga does not engage in financial exchanges during the recruitment or onboarding process. We do not conduct job interviews over third-party messaging apps such as Telegram, WhatsApp or others. We will never ask you for your personal or financial information over unofficial chat channels. Our in-house recruitment team only contacts individuals via official company email addresses (i.e., via a zynga.com or naturalmotion.com email domain).

If you believe you have been the victim of a scam, you may wish to contact the authorities. In the United States, you may file a complaint with the FBI. More information is available here: https://www.ic3.gov.