About the role
Company Overview
Lakshya, a Keywords Studios company, is headquartered in Gurgaon, India, with a team of over 700 employees across studio facilities in Gurgaon, Pune, and Seattle, and sales offices in San Diego and Tokyo. Established in 2004, the studio has 20 years of experience in the game development industry, creating art for over a hundred game titles, including global hits such as Bloodborne, Dark Souls II, Just Cause 3, WWE 2K16, Uncharted 2, Farmville, and Cityville. The senior team comprises international and Indian talent specializing in various game platforms and genres. Lakshya works closely with NASSCOM to support the growth of the game development ecosystem in India.
About the Role
Lakshya is seeking a highly skilled Substance Designer Material Artist with 2–4 years of professional experience in procedural material creation and PBR workflows. The role involves creating high-quality, production-ready materials for real-time engines and collaborating with cross-functional teams. Senior-level applicants are expected to drive workflow improvements, mentor fellow artists, and support material pipeline standards.
Qualifications
- At least one shipped title (console, PC, or equivalent).
- Strong proficiency in Adobe Substance Designer; working knowledge of Substance Painter.
- Solid understanding of PBR shading, materials, and real-time rendering.
- Ability to analyze references and recreate complex surfaces procedurally.
- Strong artistic sense of color, roughness variations, micro-details, and material definition.
- Familiarity with Unreal Engine or Unity material systems.
- Good understanding of optimization for real-time engines.
- Strong communication and team collaboration skills.
- A portfolio demonstrating procedural material creation is mandatory.
- Strong communication skills with the ability to deliver clear, actionable feedback.
- High attention to detail, quality control, and adherence to style guides and technical standards.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with photogrammetry (Reality Capture, Metashape) is a plus.
- Knowledge of Photoshop, ZBrush, or other texture tools.
- Experience working on AAA-quality projects is preferred.
- Understanding of shader development or custom material functions.
Key Responsibilities
- Create high-quality, optimized procedural PBR materials using Substance Designer.
- Build clean, reusable node-based graphs suitable for production pipelines.
- Review and evaluate materials from external vendors for quality, consistency, and performance.
- Provide clear, actionable feedback to internal teams and vendors to maintain visual and technical standards.
- Integrate approved materials into Unreal/Unity, ensuring correct setup, shader functionality, and optimization.
- Collaborate with environment, asset, and technical art teams to ensure smooth pipeline workflows.
- Troubleshoot material or shader issues and maintain consistent visual fidelity across assets.
- Translate real-world references into accurate, tileable, and project-appropriate materials.
- Maintain the material library, documentation, and best practices guidelines.
- Participate in workflow improvements, tool R&D, and overall process refinement.
- Support teammates through knowledge sharing and constructive feedback.
Benefits
- Competitive salaries and annual performance-based bonuses.
- Generous paid time off: 26 annual leaves and additional paid time off at year-end (December 25th to January 1st).
- Term Insurance and Personal accidental insurance.
- Free Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for mental and emotional wellbeing.
- Special Education Assistance Scheme for career development.