Pipeline Technical Artist (Mid to Senior), In-Game Cinematics (SFD / Cinematics)

About the position

Blizzard Entertainment is looking for an enthusiastic and experienced Pipeline Technical Artist to join its In-Game Cinematics department. This technical artist will work closely with Production Artists, In-Game's Technical Artists, and Engineers to design and improve workflows, build tools, and provide technical support for the various In-Game Cinematics projects. You understand how to effectively problem solve, collaborate, and innovate to define pipelines, tools and workflows that enable artists on our teams to do their best work. You are comfortable operating in a dynamic environment and can navigate changing priorities and fluid deadlines. This role is anticipated to be a hybrid work position, with some work on-site and some work-from-home. The home studio for this role is Irvine, CA.

Responsibilities

• Evaluate Artists' needs to identify issues, understand, and support them
• Create, maintain, and improve production tools and workflows
• Liaise with our game team partners on shared issues and tooling

Requirements

• Experience in games and/or VFX crafting pipelines and tools
• Strong knowledge of Python with experience in automation and tools
• Tool development experience for DCCs, especially Maya & 3D Studio Max
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Proficiency in technical problem solving
• Solid understanding of game development end-to-end (lighting, vfx, audio, animation, etc)
• Ability to take initiative and work independently

Nice-to-haves

• Familiarity with frameworks like Qt/PySide, OpenTimelineIO, OpenImageIO, etc
• Experience with additional development/scripting languages, ex: C#, C/C++, Max Script, MEL, Lua
• Knowledge and experience with software like Katana and Nuke
• Desire to function in a technical support role in a small team environment
• A passion for Blizzard games and cinematics

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, health savings account or health reimbursement account, healthcare spending accounts, dependent care spending accounts, life and AD&D insurance, disability insurance
• 401(k) with Company match, tuition reimbursement, charitable donation matching
• Paid holidays and vacation, paid sick time, floating holidays, compassion and bereavement leaves, parental leave
• Mental health & wellbeing programs, fitness programs, free and discounted games, and a variety of other voluntary benefit programs like supplemental life & disability, legal service, ID protection, rental insurance, and others
• Relocation assistance if required to move geographic locations for the job