About the role
Company Overview
Seismic Squirrel LLC is a team of industry veterans and newcomers focused on narrative-centric RPG videogames set in an alternate history 1930s New York. The company emphasizes storytelling paired with engaging gameplay mechanics.
Role Details
- Job Title: Senior Unity Technical Artist
- Employment Type: Contract-to-Hire
- Pay Rate: $55-70 USD per hour (Depends on skills and experience)
- Location: USA or Canada (Remote) – Must reside within UTC-4 to UTC-8 timezones
- Company Size: 24 employees
Working Conditions
- Remote Collaboration: Requires availability during core hours (9:30 AM – 4:30 PM Pacific).
- Meetings: Participation in daily scrums, sprint planning, retrospectives, and cross-departmental collaboration is mandatory.
- Flexibility: Occasional evening calls expected for collaboration with overseas vendors.
- Conversion Potential: Option to convert to full-time employee based on location, skills, fit, project needs, and timing.
- Sponsorship: H-1B transfers and sponsorships are not available.
Responsibilities
- Create and integrate 2D artwork (layers, transparency, parallax effects).
- Create and integrate 3D models (vehicles, environment objects, props, textures).
- Create and integrate 2D and 3D VFX, materials, shaders, and animations.
- Manage cameras, lighting, reflections, set dressing, particles, surfaces, rigging, and physics.
- Optimize and profile visual elements for frame rates and load times.
- Provide visual solutions for challenging art requirements and prototype new visual concepts.
- Collaborate with art and narrative teams to ensure consistency with visual design and themes.
- Troubleshoot art-related technical issues.
- Mentor artists on technical art skills and educate the development team on technical art concerns.
- Communicate progress and blockers to help set realistic project timelines and expectations.
- Participate in internal game testing and provide artistic feedback.
- Create and maintain core technical documentation.
- Balance and prioritize tasks to meet deadlines, budgets, and timeframes.
Mandatory Qualifications
- 8+ years of professional technical art experience in videogame development.
- Experienced through the full development lifecycle: concept, design, prototyping, programming, content creation, testing, optimization, launch, and support.
- Deep understanding of perspective and lighting.
- Ability to work within an established artistic style.
- Familiarity with technical artistry best practices, design patterns, and unit testing.
- Strong understanding of Unity, its render pipelines, and art integration.
- Resourceful problem-solving skills.
- Self-disciplined, motivated, and organized with the ability to work fast or with high precision as needed.
- Courteous and patient with an ability to work with diverse personality types and disciplines.
- Adaptable to changing project needs.
- Proficiency in remote collaboration tools.
- Strong written, visual, and verbal English communication and presentation skills.
- Understanding of source control and project branching strategies.
- Proficiency in professional art tools (Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, 3ds Max, Blender, Adobe Substance Painter).
- Proficient in Microsoft Word, Excel, and Visio.
- Passionate for the videogame industry with a desire to learn new tools and grow.
Bonus Points
- Strong 3D modeling and texturing skills.
- Ability to create full orthographic views for 3D modelers.
- Experience using ZBrush.
- Skilled in scripting for tool enhancement and automation (Python, Lua).
- Understanding of UI design.
- Location in Seattle, Los Angeles, or Edmonton.