Unreal Technical Artist, New Zealand

About the Position

Title of Role:

Intermediate Technical Artist

Position Overview:

Reporting to the Creative Director, as the Intermediate Technical Artist, you will work closely with the Realtime Technical Art Director, art team, and programmers to build on our client's current real-time capabilities and incorporate new techniques that improve the team's productivity in populating real-time 3D environments. Additionally, you will provide support to the art team whenever necessary.

A high level of experience in the following tools is required: Autodesk 3ds Max · Unreal Engine · 3D Visualisation · Houdini · Python (Programming Language). The right candidate must be adaptable and able to readily pick up our client's tools and processes. The strongest candidates will have a strong work ethic, handle themselves well, and be interested in helping others and the company's progress. Technical skills matter much less than attitude and leadership.

Primary Goals of the Role:

1. Pipeline & Tool Development:

   • Set up assets, production pipelines, and tools using Unreal Engine, 3ds max, and Houdini.
   • Work with Realtime Technical Art Director to ensure all assets, pipelines, and tools meet technical requirements.
   • Develop and test tools that the artists will use to improve and assist their work in production.
   • Gather and analyse feedback on assets, pipelines, and tools and improve them accordingly.
   • Analyse existing pipelines and identify how to improve them.
   • Help integrate the Unreal Engine pipeline, including completing any setup requirement: onboarding and hyper care.

2. Art:

   • Developing 3D Realtime scenes & environments.
   • Lighting, texturing & optimising 3d Realtime scenes & environments.
   • Growing 3D model assets & props for architecture, infrastructure & experiential projects.

3. Support:

   • Produce and maintain documentation on tools, methods, training, processes, and engine limits.
   • Ability to work with other local or remote technical artists and programmers.

TEAM/ORGANISATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS

What other areas of the company will this role interface with?

• The RealSpace & Programming team

Organisational Structure (Reporting to management responsibilities, key stakeholder relationships, etc.):

• Realtime Technical Art Director
• Head of Production
• Project team members

Key Objectives:

• 0-3 Months:

  • Get the lay of the land and the project processes.
  • Contribute and provide feedback to the team.
  • Learning Boundary structure and core production processes.
  • Over time, micro-production tasks are tested to establish skill proficiency.
  • Early skills assessment to feed into the development plan.

• 3-6 Months:

  • Demonstrate ability to work within a set timeline and budget.
  • Prioritise tasks, manage multiple projects simultaneously, and communicate effectively with the Realtime Technical Art Director.

• 6-12 Months:

  • Adapt to the evolving needs and priorities.
  • Increased responsibility for core work tasks.
  • Familiarity with tools, including in-house IP, Unreal Engine, etc.
  • Higher levels of contribution, i.e., greater autonomy on tasks and more excellent creative contributions to tooling, art, etc.

• 12 Months & Beyond:

  • Develop consistency in high performance.
  • Introduce new experiences relating to broader people dynamics.
  • Contributions to IP development and general business (within production) improvement.
  • Evaluating these newly tested areas would feed into the development plan, specifically focusing on closing skills and experience gaps using their competency framework.

Development discussions are held between line managers at an agreed frequency, i.e. fortnightly, monthly, etc. Talent Review is run bi-annually.

Key Challenges/Success Limitations/Obstacles:

• Managing tool complexity and demonstrating high levels of autonomy.

The Best

What Do the Best Do?

• They get shit done - well. They are driven, transparent, and mature decision-makers. They recognise the opportunity in front of them and The Boundary. Being flexible and those who ‘lean in’ will thrive - those who work rigidly will not work. Those who care about developing people beneath them will do very well.

Company

Please note FAST FORWARD, NZ acts as the Recruitment Partner for New Zealand-based clients in the Emerging Tech space

RELOCATION TO AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND IS REQUIRED FOR THIS ROLE

Qualifications

REQUIRED CAPABILITIES

Three Top Critical Skills and Levels of Experience

1. Technical knowledge and proven experience across:

   • Unreal Engine, 3d Studio Max, and Houdini
   • The development of tools, shaders, and processes for real-time 3D environments
   • General real-time 3d rendering pipelines

2. The ability to work with minimum supervision - vision, adaptability & problem-solving abilities

3. An ability to contribute to how the pipeline of work is managed and fulfilled

Which of these are most important to you?

No.1 is the most important.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS/TECHNOLOGY STACK/INDUSTRY KNOWLEDGE

Technical ability specifically required for the role:

• Experience with Unreal or other Game Engines: hands-on experience with Unity or Unreal Engine. They need to understand how assets are imported, processed, and rendered in real-time environments.
• Proficiency in 3D Software: 3D modelling and animation software such as Maya, 3ds Max, or Blender. They need a deep understanding of how these tools work to develop efficient pipelines and tools for other artists.
• Programming and Scripting: Strong Houdini skills, the ability to write scripts or develop tools using programming languages like Python, C++, or scripting languages specific to the software they are working with. Strong coding skills are crucial.
• Shader Programming: Understanding shader languages like GLSL or HLSL to work on real-time rendering.
• Industry Experience: we welcome experience gained through internships, freelance work, or entry-level positions in the animation, gaming, or visual effects industries. Real-world projects provide valuable practical experience and help build the depth of a portfolio. Overall, the background of top technical artists combines formal education, practical skills, and industry experience, enabling them to excel in the complex and ever-evolving field of technical artistry.

Specific domain/industry they should come from or have had exposure to:

• Real estate, property, architectural, or construction

Flexible on years of experience required?

• 3-4 years, ideally, but they are open.

Best cultural fit/character assets:

• Dynamic, empathetic, calming, fluid, curious, adaptable, and keen to contribute. Hunger and excitement about your job are essential, as is the ability and vision to recognise how much opportunity is on the horizon for both your future within the business and the change that will be affected by the work that the company is doing.

Benefits

CANDIDATE BENEFITS

Why would a Rockstar candidate want this role?

• Opportunity to work alongside one of the top Realtime Director in APAC
• Opportunity to progress rapidly if the fit is right.
• Opportunity to be part of the exciting growth stage of this incredible business - on Fridays, they have drinks. There's also a coffee machine, and snacks and soft drinks are always available. Every month, there are show-and-tell sessions and about my sessions. We will soon have gym memberships. There is an annual trip and the opportunity after circa 18 months to complete a sabbatical in the London or New York office.

Additional information

Is there an opportunity to do this role remotely?

• No. Due to the highly creative nature of the role, it is essential to note that this is an Auckland-based role entirely in-house/in-office based. A WFH policy is in place, as well as flexibility when required.