About the role
Company Overview
Certain Affinity is a game developer headquartered in Austin, Texas, with a growing presence in Toronto, Canada. The company is the recipient of the Canadian Studio of the Year award. Known for co-developing AAA FPS games, the studio is currently creating original IP. The culture emphasizes evolution, diversity, excellence, and work-life balance.
Role Summary
As a Principal Environment Artist, you will lead a small team of environment artists to create highly detailed game environments and world assets. This role involves setting the quality bar for internal teams and collaborating with design teams to enhance gameplay experiences.
Responsibilities
- Work with the Art Director to set the standard for a visually consistent and highly immersive world that runs within performance guidelines.
- Proactively seek out new software, pipelines, and techniques to evolve the team’s creation pipeline and demonstrate research through written, verbal, and recorded documentation.
- Set the visual bar for projects and communicate intent to others throughout all stages of development.
- Define robust kit-pieces that enhance the environment while supporting gameplay needs.
- Create and define content benchmarks for distribution to internal and external developers.
- Participate in art reviews and critique both big-picture elements and individual assets in gate reviews.
- Work with project leadership to understand environment art needs and assist production in creating project roadmaps.
- Represent the Environment Art team to external business partners.
- Mentor junior environment artists and art content staff.
Required Experience
- 10+ years of experience in the game industry, specifically modeling and texturing environments.
- 5+ years of experience in an expert content creation or leadership role.
- Experience with several projects from concept and preproduction through shipping.
- Experience establishing and driving new workflows for content creation.
- Experience leading multiple teams or providing "Subject Matter" expertise in multiple areas of environment art creation.
- Strong understanding of visual art, specifically environments, composition, and critique.
- Shipped at least one AAA title in the last 3 years.
Required Skills
- Exceptional core art skills (composition, color theory, architectural fundamentals, natural/outdoor principles).
- Solid understanding of game level design (fun and engagement).
- Excellent collaboration and communication skills across art, design, and tech departments.
- Ability to work within an art style and communicate it to the team.
- Expert knowledge of 3D software (e.g., MAX, Maya).
- Proficient with Z-Brush or other high-resolution sculpting tools.
- Experience using Unreal 5.
- Solid grasp of performance requirements and constraints for current-gen consoles and PC.
- Understanding of PBR material construction and material software (e.g., Substance Designer).
- Excellent understanding of art pipelines and workflows.
- Ability to prioritize within time constraints and manage multiple efforts.
- Ability to initiate visual direction without specific concepts or designs.
- Portfolio must reflect experience defining modular sets, organics, vistas, props, materials, lighting, and landscapes.
Compensation and Employment Terms
- Salary Range: 140K-190K CAD.
- Location Requirements: Candidates must be located in or able to work from a US state or Canadian province where Certain Affinity is authorized to do business.
- Background Checks: Employment is contingent upon successful background checks, which may be conducted for general employment or project-specific eligibility. Multiple searches may be required.