Technical Art Director - Sports Art

Job Description

EA SPORTS is one of the leading sports entertainment brands in the world, with top-selling videogame franchises, award-winning interactive technology, fan programs, and cross-platform digital experiences. EA SPORTS creates connected experiences that ignite the emotion of sport through industry-leading sports video games, including Madden NFL football, FIFA soccer, NHL® hockey, and EA SPORTS UFC.

The EA SPORTS ART team is a global community of content creators, fueled by imagination and a unified passion to grow the love of sports for players worldwide through inspiring visuals and immersive experiences. We push visual boundaries and create leading edge content across multiple disciplines. Serving our broad portfolio of sports titles, and across multiple art styles, we craft amazing games for hundreds of millions of sports fans worldwide.

EA SPORTS ART encompasses Characters, Environments, Lighting, Project Management, Technical Art, and Visual Effects. We are a diverse group that encourages team members to bring their unique perspectives and expertise to the table.

The Technical Art team combines creativity and imagination with technical expertise. We are the bridge between artists, engineers and designers responsible for data design and content production workflows.

Role Overview:

The Technical Art Director is a lead position within the Technical Art team. As a TAD, your mission is to direct, define, design and implement efficient, high-quality content production workflows, technologies, and visuals for our EA SPORTS ART-supported projects.

Technical Art Directors oversee large projects, which can include entire game areas/domains. As a contributor, you are an expert in the technical art field, with main responsibilities including content production workflows, tools, pipelines, asset optimization, visual scripting/logic ('schematics') and shader development.

Technical Art Directors are expected to assume ownership over any technical issues that arise on their project and bring them to resolution. This will include delegation to, and empowerment of, senior, intermediate, and junior Technical Art staff on the team. You can be from an Art, Design, Mathematics, Engineering or Computer Science background; however, you must demonstrate a comfort level in working with both art and science. The Technical Art Director reports to the Director of Technical Art for EA SPORTS ART Orlando.

Role Responsibilities:
• Work alongside peers on Tech Art team and with Tech Art Director to support game and studio vision, reach consensus, provide/receive feedback, innovate, and cultivate ideas, with the goal of creating performant assets of high visual quality and technologies that move EA into the future.
• Collaborate and communicate with content creators using a service-minded attitude, seeking to understand issues and/or requirements and offer support (via time, training, documentation, or other forms) as necessary.
• Assess, design, implement, and maintain art creation pipelines/workflows that meet (or anticipate) artist needs and effectively drive productivity for content creators across multiple sports titles.
• Exhibit a commitment to continuously learning and familiarizing oneself with various technologies, technical concepts, ideas, and problems.
• Approach tasks in a timely, organized, and meticulous manner, self-prioritizing as required and communicating status and results to stakeholders as appropriate.

Role Requirements:
• 6+ years of experience in a game production environment and experience leading teams of 5+ people.
• Knowledge of 2D and 3D art packages (Maya and Photoshop desired, Substance and Houdini a plus) and experience in scripting and programming (Python and C# desired).
• Intermediate understanding of (and technical proficiency in) fundamental 3D concepts such as modeling, texturing, rendering, PBR shading, lighting, rigging, skinning and deformation, and dynamics (i.e. cloth and hair). Crowds and image manipulation techniques are a plus.
• Comfort working at scale as it relates to game engine workflows, asset requirements, performance budgets and profiling, build systems, asset conditioning/export pipelines, and revision control systems.
• Excellent problem-solving, troubleshooting, and communication skills. Candidates must be able to quickly identify and resolve art issues and demonstrate versatility.

Portfolio Recommended:

It is required that you submit a portfolio/presentation of your work with your application. You may do so by providing a link to an online portfolio or attaching documents to your resume. Include detailed breakdowns of your work and be clear about which elements you personally created.

Please include as many examples of the following as you can:
• Tools and pipeline work. Provide script and code samples. For example: exhibit how you took a problem, went about solving it, and show the result as part of a video capture or a series of screenshots. Include any relevant code.
• Examples of 3D graphics in areas such as modeling, animation, lighting, visual effects, and shading.
• Any art (traditional or digital media) that you have personally created.

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-r7b37q-18-226-96-61-42 in your application.