Principal Environment Artist – Talent Pipeline

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in Canada.

📋 Description

• Develop high-quality real-time environments, architectural elements, modular kits, key assets, materials, terrain, vegetation, and world-building components.

• Create benchmark assets and scenes that effectively communicate expectations for composition, scale, visual hierarchy, material quality, environmental storytelling, and final polish.

• Convert art direction, concept art, reference materials, design specifications, and client feedback into clear production objectives.

• Formulate environment-art strategies for modular construction, asset reuse, trim sheets, material systems, terrain, foliage, set dressing, and world building.

• Actively contribute to establishing quality standards, validating workflows, resolving complex issues, or supporting critical deliverables.

• Assess environment artwork objectively and provide specific, actionable feedback through reviews, paintovers, blockouts, reference boards, documentation, or in-engine examples.

• Collaborate with Art Direction, Production, and Technical Art to define environment workflows that align visual quality with scope, schedule, and technical requirements.

• Identify artistic, technical, and production risks early on and suggest practical solutions.

• Assist teams in breaking down broad or incomplete directives into clear tasks, milestones, priorities, and acceptance criteria.

• Enhance environment-art pipelines through reusable workflows, templates, documentation, example assets, and production standards.

• Support planning and estimation by assessing asset complexity, dependencies, staffing requirements, and production risks.

• Troubleshoot complex issues related to asset construction, materials, world building, optimization, engine implementation, or content integration.

• Ensure environments meet project specifications for performance, memory, streaming, draw calls, shader complexity, collision, LODs, and platform constraints.

• Guide environment artists across internal teams, partner studios, and external development teams.

• Mentor senior artists and emerging leads in artistic judgment, communication, planning, review practices, and decision-making.

• Work with Art Directors to maintain a consistent visual direction across teams and deliverables.

• Participate in client meetings, milestone reviews, art reviews, and project-planning discussions requiring senior environment-art representation.

• Clearly communicate risks, tradeoffs, priorities, and recommendations to both artistic and non-artistic stakeholders.

• Aid in aligning teams operating across different studios, disciplines, cultures, and time zones.

• Support prototypes, art tests, project pitches, preproduction efforts, and early pipeline development.

• Contribute to the ongoing growth of GameSim’s environment-art discipline through mentorship, hiring assistance, portfolio reviews, documentation, and capability planning.

⛳️ Requirements

• Extensive professional experience in game development, real-time production, or a closely related domain.

• Multiple shipped games or equivalent professional real-time projects.

• A portfolio showcasing exceptional environment-art quality and strong production judgment.

• Expert knowledge of composition, scale, proportion, visual hierarchy, shape language, material definition, lighting response, environmental storytelling, and scene cohesion.

• Advanced experience in creating modular environments, architecture, props, terrain, materials, and reusable asset systems.

• Strong understanding of modeling, UV mapping, baking, texel density, trim sheets, tileable materials, decals, vertex blending, and real-time material workflows.

• Professional experience in developing environments using Unreal Engine or another contemporary real-time engine.

• Solid understanding of environment optimization, including LODs, memory, streaming, draw calls, collision, shader complexity, and platform limitations.

• Experience in establishing visual benchmarks, environment pipelines, asset standards, or production workflows.

• Proven ability to resolve complex artistic, technical, and production challenges with minimal supervision.

• Experience in guiding senior artists, leads, distributed teams, external partners, or vendors.

• Ability to deliver clear, constructive, and actionable artistic feedback.

• Strong understanding of how to balance quality, scope, schedule, technical requirements, and available resources.

• Excellent written, verbal, presentation, and interpersonal communication skills.

• Experience collaborating with Art Direction, Production, Technical Art, Design, Engineering, Lighting, VFX, and other development disciplines.

• Ability to adapt to diverse projects, visual styles, engines, pipelines, and client expectations.

• Comfort in participating in client-facing discussions and professionally representing environment-art decisions.

🏝️ Benefits

• Opportunities to contribute to a variety of projects, clients, genres, platforms, and visual styles.

• The capacity to influence environment-art quality and production practices across multiple teams.

• Collaboration with seasoned developers and studios within the Keywords Studios organization.

• Professional development and mentorship opportunities.

• Flexible remote, hybrid, and in-office work arrangements when available.

• 3 weeks of paid leave.

• Comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental, and vision coverage.

• Sick Leave.

• Disability Coverage.

• Corporate holidays.

• Professional Development.