Lead Technical Artist

PLAY, GROW and WIN
To be a part of Virtuos means to be a creator.
At Virtuos, we harness the latest technologies to make games better and more immersive than ever before. That is why we pride ourselves in constantly pushing the boundaries of possibility since our founding in 2004.
Virtuosi is a team of experts - people who have come together to share their mutual passion for making and playing games. People with the same enthusiasm for exploring new ideas and the constant drive to excel in their field. People who believe in earning success through dedication.
At Virtuos, we are at the forefront of gaming, creating exciting new experiences daily. Join us to Play, Grow and Win - together.
Responsibilities
ABOUT THE POSITION
Strategic Pipeline Leadership: Defining, planning, and overseeing the entire art content creation and integration pipeline for the project, setting technical budgets and quality standards.
Team Management & Mentorship: Direct management of the TA team, including mapping out the technical art team's roadmap and prioritizing their work, task assignment, performance reviews, hiring, and providing advanced technical guidance and career development.
Cross-Discipline Collaboration & Reporting: Acting as the primary point person for technical discussions with Engineering, Production, and Art Directors, provide high-level reports on the technical art department's progress, issues, and the execution of the team's technical roadmap.
Technical Risk Assessment: Identifying potential technical roadblocks or risks early in the production cycle and developing preventative solutions or contingency plans.
Advanced Tool & R&D: Driving the development of high-level proprietary tools, engine features, and conducting research into new technologies (e.g., advanced procedural generation, latest rendering techniques).
Procedural Strategy & Integration: Defining the overall strategy for procedural content generation, determining where tools like Houdini or engine-native systems can replace traditional manual workflows to achieve massive scale and efficiency gains across the project.
Code/Script Review: Reviewing and approving the work of other TAs and senior artists to ensure code quality, efficiency, and adherence to established technical standards.
Performance Budget Ownership: Final authority and accountability for the game's art-related performance targets, ensuring art-related assets and rendering systems stay within hardware limits.
Qualifications
Architectural Pipeline Design: Expert ability to design, implement, and maintain complex, multi-faceted art pipelines that scale across the entire project lifecycle.
Leadership & Management: Proven experience in leading, mentoring, and managing a team of Technical Artists, fostering a high-performance, collaborative environment.
Technical Oversight and Communication: Accountability for translating and enforcing project-wide technical guidelines, budgets (e.g., polycount, draw calls, memory limits), and performance metrics, ensuring these constraints are clearly communicated, understood, and adhered to by the entire art team.
High-Level Scripting Proficiency: Mastery of relevant scripting/programming languages (Python, C++, C#, etc.) necessary for engine and tool development.
Advanced Procedural Systems Architecture: Expertise in designing, standardizing, and integrating large-scale procedural generation systems into the primary art pipeline, including managing data flows, performance impact, and non-destructive version control across all generated assets.
Advanced Engine & Rendering Expertise: Deep, systemic understanding of the core rendering pipeline, memory management, and optimization techniques in Unreal, Unity or relevant modern game engine
Project Management & Planning: Strong skills in project scoping, scheduling, task delegation, and working directly with Producers to manage resource allocation.
Aesthetic & Technical Judgment: The capacity to make final, high-stakes decisions that balance artistic quality against technical cost and performance constraints.
Other Requirements
Participation in or shipment of one or more games as a main technical artist
Excellent written and spoken English skills, with the ability to clearly communicate ideas and technical knowledge
Independent, proactive, and showing initiative