Job Title: Expert Outsource Artist - Sledgehammer Games
Requisition ID: R020040
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Your Platform Located in the San Francisco Bay Area, Melbourne, Australia, Toronto, Canada and Guildford, UK \xe2\x80\x93 Sledgehammer Games is the videogame development team behind Call of Duty\xc2\xae: Modern Warfare 3, Call of Duty\xc2\xae: Advanced Warfare, Call of Duty\xc2\xae: WWII, and Call of Duty\xc2\xae: Vanguard. Since our founding in 2009, our greatest passion has been making AAA games. The strength of our team makes us not only excellent at what we do, but also how we do it. We firmly believe in supporting our passionate employees to be the best they can be. Here at Sledgehammer Games, everyone is a game maker. We are constantly evolving and innovating \xe2\x80\x93 which are some of the most rewarding aspects of game development. With our outstanding audio, design, engineering, and art teams, we\xe2\x80\x99ve been able to achieve some of the highest-quality game execution of any studio in the industry. We love making games and we work hard to make sure that each new game we make is even better than the last. Creativity is key, and we\xe2\x80\x99re looking for dedicated game developers for our exciting upcoming projects. Sledgehammer Games is wholly owned by Activision. To learn more about our studio, please visit us at www.sledgehammergames.com or search for Sledgehammer Games on your favorite social media platform. Want to hear what it\xe2\x80\x99s like at the studio directly from current employees? Check out our #LifeatSHG developer profiles: https://youtu.be/12DUBszg-w4

Your Mission: Sledgehammer Games is currently seeking an Expert Outsource Artist. This role is incredibly important to how we develop levels at SHG. We rely on our Outsource (OS) partners to help us deliver top tier quality assets to support a large variety of highly detailed locales across our modes. This role involves heavy understanding of our prop creation workflows and effective communication skills are key in bridging the gap between our internal teams and external partners. Enabling our OS partners to deliver great looking and technically efficient assets is a top priority for our studio. Priorities can often change in a fast-paced environment like ours, so this role includes, but is not limited to, the following responsibilities:

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  Advanced knowledge in industry standard environment asset modeling and material workflows. Must have extensive background in asset creation including:
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  high/low resolution modeling and baking.
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  physically based shader (PBR) standards and authoring.
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  UV optimization techniques using both 0:1 UV and tiling/trim materials + masking and layered blending.
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  Experience with highly modular structural kit-based assets.
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  Asset optimization experience including LODs, tri-counts, and shader efficiency.
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  Experience with Photogrammetry based asset creation.
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  Work closely with Lead Asset Artist to understand technical requirements for assets.
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  Work closely with internal Art Direction and level teams to understand use-case and context for outgoing OS asset requests.
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  Work closely with our OS Producer to properly manage vendor resources and prioritization.
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  Give constructive feedback and art direction on an asset-by-asset basis by working daily with OS artists and vendors to ensure assets meet visual fidelity benchmarks. This includes both live video communication and written feedback (including simple draw-overs if needed).
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  Give technical feedback to OS artists and vendors to ensure assets meet all technical and performance guidelines. (tri-counts, UV efficiency, layered shader complexity, decal usage, construction techniques, texel density and PBR standards).
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  Work closely with our tools teams to ensure asset packaging and integration workflows are optimized and issue-free.
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  Work closely with our tool and engineering teams to ensure OS vendors have proper proprietary tools, software versions, and material libraries.
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  Pro-actively contribute to asset workflow documentation and ensure OS teams have the most up-to-date documentation at all times.

Player Profile
Minimum Requirements:

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  6+ years professional experience in games, modeling/texturing environments and foliage using Maya, or related experience/software.
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  2+ years of experience directly overseeing Outsource teams and artists.
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  Strong understanding of form, shape, structure, composition and silhouette in regard to modeling.
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  Strong polygonal modeling skills, creating clean and efficient geometry quickly.
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  Significant experience in environment asset creation with an emphasis on modular kit-based techniques. Emphasis on versatility and modularity using tiling models and tiling materials + blending/layering techniques.
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  Experience in photogrammetry sourced asset creation.
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  Full understanding of physically based shaders.
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  Strong technical capability ensuring assets fit memory, design, and performance limitations
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  Self-motivated, independent and ability to self-manage to meet deadlines with minimal direction
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  Strong communication skills
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  Experience with 3D modeling package (Maya Preferred), Substance Designer+Painter, Photoshop, Zbrush, Photogrammetry capture/processing

Our World Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI), is one of the world\'s largest and most successful interactive entertainment companies and is at the intersection of media, technology and entertainment. We are home to some of the most beloved entertainment franchises including Call of Duty\xc2\xae, World of Warcraft\xc2\xae, Overwatch\xc2\xae, Diablo\xc2\xae, Candy Crush\xe2\x84\xa2 and Bubble Witch\xe2\x84\xa2. Our combined entertainment network delights hundreds of millions of monthly active users in 196 countries, making us the largest gaming network on the planet! Our ability to build immersive and innovate worlds is only enhanced by diverse teams working in an inclusive environment. We aspire to have a culture where everyone can thrive in order to connect and engage the world through epic entertainment. We provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well-being for \xe2\x80\x98Every World\xe2\x80\x99 - we\xe2\x80\x99ve got our employees covered! The videogame industry and therefore our business is fast-paced and will continue to evolve. As such, the duties and responsibilities of this role may be changed as directed by the Company at any time to promote and support our business and relationships with industry partners. Sledgehammer Games is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, protected veteran status, or any other basis protected by applicable law and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.
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