Character Design Lead guiding a team in producing 3D character designs for animation. Collaborating with Art Directors and ensuring quality in the visual direction.
About the role
- Senior Technical Artist hybrid role at People Can Fly. Working on AAA titles and providing technical animation support.
Responsibilities
- Hybrid role between artist and technical animator, requiring knowledge of rigging and Python scripting.
- Must write robust Maya/MoBu (MotionBuilder) scripts/tools and take direct ownership of cross-disciplinary pipelines.
- Must frequently interact with stakeholders, guiding conversations around rigging, shaders and workflows.
- Must be proactive in highlighting risks and proposing solutions at an early stage.
- Comfortable working in a tools-focused environment where automation, reusability and scalability are essential.
- Effective communication is required: you must validate pipelines directly in-game without assistance.
- Able to find the right balance between quality and scalability for all archetypes and for converting legacy assets.
- Maintain artistic direction and quality of materials, shaders and assets.
- Create final materials for characters, environments and props; support existing material systems.
- Develop efficient workflows and pipelines to support art and design teams.
- Research and implement new techniques to improve asset quality and performance.
- Work closely with art, animation, design and engineering teams to solve pipeline and asset issues.
- Propose tools and automation pipelines for iteration, optimization and procedural workflows.
- Debug and profile assets to ensure performance across all platforms.
- Provide technical feedback, documentation and mentor other artists.
- Occasionally support new hires during onboarding.
Requirements
- Strong portfolio showcasing AAA-quality work in engine contexts (proprietary, Unreal or Unity).
- Excellent knowledge of standard industry content-creation tools (Maya, ZBrush, Substance Painter/Designer, Photoshop or equivalents).
- Proficiency in Python scripting (PyQt/PySide), with the ability to write clean, reusable and maintainable code.
- Comfortable creating new Maya/engine plugins, writing extensible pipelines and converting legacy formats to modern ones.
- Support automation in pipelines for retargeting, material extraction, tessellation and mesh optimization.
- Acts as a mentor: establishes best practices for clean code, data hygiene and scalable workflows.
- Passionate about modern rendering techniques and procedural workflows; comfortable debugging shaders, addressing legacy behaviors and profiling runtime.
- Good knowledge of shader languages (HLSL/GLSL) and rendering techniques.
- Understanding of 3D mathematics, topology best practices, physically based rendering workflows and optimization strategies.
- Strong problem-solving and analytical skills.
- Excellent communication, collaboration and mentoring abilities.
- Over 5 years of industry experience with at least one commercial title released.
- Fluency in English is required due to regular interactions with stakeholders and partners located outside Quebec.
Benefits
- A benefits package 100% paid by People Can Fly.
- Insurance reimburses claims at 100% (up to $1,000 of services per year), with family or individual coverage options.
- Comprehensive dental coverage, including dental care.
- Employer RRSP contribution match of 4% pre-tax, 100% vested from day one.
- One week of paid leave during the winter holidays.
- 20 days of paid vacation and 5 paid sick days.
- Free virtual health and mental wellness care sessions included in the plan for members and their dependents.
- Opportunities for personal development and the chance to work in a global environment.
- The opportunity to work within a creative team of people who are passionate about what they do.
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