Senior Technical Artist, Characters

Job Description

We're building an ambitious, next-gen MMO In the League of Legends universe. That kind of scale and flexibility creates incredible technical challenges, especially for characters. We're looking for a senior-level Technical Artist working with our talented team to architect the backbone of our character systems, ensuring our game can scale to support millions of players, permutations, and the vast expanse of Runeterra.
As a Senior Technical Artist – Characters, you'll shape the deformation, customization, and integration pipelines that make our characters feel alive, both in look and feel. This isn't about rigging a hero or two; it's about designing systems that can support a constantly evolving, deeply customizable character ecosystem. You'll collaborate with Animators, Concept Artists, Engineers, and Designers to ensure our characters look great, move well, and scale smartly across a living world full of choice and diversity.

Responsibilities
• Work with our team of Tech Artists to architect scalable character pipelines that support highly modular, customizable characters-from body types and costumes to accessories and facial rigs.
• Design and maintain deformation systems and tools including rig logic, joint hierarchies, and facial setups that integrate cleanly into Unreal Engine.
• Own runtime character integration in Unreal, including skeletal meshes, animation blueprints, physics setups, and simulation-driven secondary motion.
• Leverage character customization systems within Unreal Engine to enable robust personalization while maintaining performance and visual fidelity.
• Collaborate with artists and animators to develop intuitive tools and workflows that support both prototyping and production.
• Serve as a bridge between disciplines, ensuring visual intent is preserved across technical constraints, gameplay needs, and engine requirements.
• Debug and resolve character-related pipeline issues across Maya and Unreal, with a focus on sustainable, systemic solutions.
• Partner with Engineering and Design to support player-facing customization systems, ensuring high performance and visual consistency across all combinations.
• Proactively identify tech debt and pipeline inefficiencies, explore future technology, and drive strategic solutions that prepare us for the long road of live service MMO development.
Required Qualifications
• 5+ years of experience as a Technical Artist or Rigging TD in games or related industries.
• Deep expertise in Maya-based rigging and deformation systems, including Python tool development for artist workflows.
• Demonstrated experience integrating characters into Unreal Engine, including working knowledge of skeletal meshes, animation blueprints, and physics assets.
• Strong understanding of character anatomy, facial topology, and deformation techniques for stylized and realistic characters.
• Experience building and maintaining character asset pipelines that scale to large asset libraries and systemic use.
• Proven ability to work cross-discipline, balancing creative vision, performance, and production efficiency.
Desired Qualifications
• Experience working on MMOs or large-scale multiplayer games, especially those with robust character customization or modular systems.
• Familiarity with Mutable or similar runtime customization frameworks in Unreal Engine.
• Experience designing systems that support diverse body types, equipment sets, and morph targets without compromising fidelity or performance.
• Experience with facial rigs and expressions, especially those used in narrative or cinematic content.
• Familiarity with runtime performance profiling, LOD generation, streaming budgets, and related optimizations for character systems.
Portfolio Requirements
Please include a portfolio that showcases:
• Rigging or deformation work for games or cinematics, preferably with stylized characters.
• Tools or systems you've built that demonstrate your approach to scaling pipelines or customization.
• Examples of work that moved cleanly from DCC (Maya) into Unreal or a similar game engine.
For this role, you'll find success through craft expertise, a collaborative spirit, and decision-making that prioritizes the delight of players. We will be looking at your past studies, experience, and your personal relationship with games. If you embody player empathy and care about players' experiences, this could be your role!
Our Perks:
Riot focuses on work/life balance, shown by our open paid time off policy and other perks such as flexible work schedules. We offer medical, dental, and life insurance, parental leave for you, your spouse/domestic partner, and children, and a 401k with company match. Check out our benefits pages for more information.
At Riot Games, we put players first. That mission drives every decision in our quest to create games and experiences that make it better to be a player. Whether you're working directly on a new player-facing experience or you're supporting the company as a whole, everyone at Riot is part of our mission. And just like in our games, we're better when we work together. Our goal is to create collaborative teams where you are empowered to bring your unique perspective everyday. If that sounds like the kind of place you want to work, we're looking forward to your application.

• (Los Angeles Only) Base salary range between $185,200.00 - $258,000.00 USD + incentive compensation + equity + 401K with company match + medical, dental, vision, and life insurance + short and long-term disability + open PTO.

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-eow0k1-216-73-216-0-42 in your application.