Senior Character Artist - The Sims

Welcome to Maxis, home to tinkerers, craftspeople, & storytellers. Our drive is to inspire everyone to make a better world through creative play. As the developer of The Sims, we create games and experiences for millions of people around the world and are always looking for new ways to inspire our players. Maxis is a place where you can do what you love and help others grow while doing it; a place where your unique voice can be heard and seen. We put creativity and inclusivity at the core of our work and don't settle for seeing the world only as it is, but strive to build a world as it could be.

In this role you will be part of the Project Rene team building out the next generation game and creative platform. Project Rene is a Mobile + HD cross-platform that allows players to play The Sims alone or with friends, without barriers, for the first time ever. Explore the dramatic lives of your Sims in the most accessible, dynamic Simulation to date. Players can create characters, customize furniture, design apartments, and more using accessible tools. We're excited you're interested to learn more about how you can join our team and dream big. For more information about The Sims, follow @TheSims on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok, like The Sims on Facebook, visit TheSims.com newsroom and tune into Behind The Sims on YouTube for the latest news and updates.

Job Summary

Location: Mostly remote—near several North American hub locations

We are looking for a master character artist to join our team as a Senior Character Artist II to work closely with the Art Director, Lead Character Artist, Character Team and Technical Leads to set the bar for character production assets. You will participate in the research and development of the asset creation methods and pipelines designed to create world-class content. In addition to creating character models and materials, you will mentor internal artists to create assets that set the bar for Project Rene. You seek opportunities to enhance your craft, enjoy learning latest technologies that improve the pipeline, are a mentor, and excel in a collaborative environment.

You will report to a Development Director of the creative team.

Responsibilities:

Author and advocate for best-in-class character workflows

Create hero character assets with the Art Director, Concept and Character teams

Create both high resolution and low polygon 3D sculpts along with texturing game assets

Solve for aesthetic and technical challenges with the Character and Technical Art teams

Mentor other artists in optimizing their workflows

Qualifications:

Technical skills

Master-level understanding of sculpting human anatomy regarding scale, proportion, and surface properties

Demonstrated ability in character stylization.

Demonstrated ability in sculpting stylized hair types from 1A to 4C

Expert level proficiency in industry-standard software like Maya, ZBrush, Substance Painter/Designer, and Photoshop

Experienced in current-gen video game tech methods and their possible effects for the character creation pipeline. For example: PBR, dynamics, displacement, parallax, SSS, and shader animation

Mastery of shaders in the Unreal Engine environment

Swiftly.

Soft skills

Ability to problem solve creatively, working both independently and in partnership with others

Comfort with unknowns, complexity and adapting to change

Champions diversity and creates an inclusive environment where everyone can succeed

Other qualifications

Has served as a Senior Character Artist on published titles using Unreal Engine

8+ years of professional industry experience as a Character Artist

Mobile game development experience

Experience working in a distributed development environment

Portfolio

Please provide examples of your work, along with matching descriptions of what you did. Don’t be shy of including early prototypes and unfinished work.

Visit us at: https://www.ea.com/ea-studios/maxis

US COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

The base salary ranges listed below are for the defined geographic market pay zones in these states. If you reside outside of these locations, a recruiter will advise on the base salary range and benefits for your specific location.

EA has listed the base salary ranges it in good faith expects to pay applicants for this role in the locations listed, as of the time of this posting. Salary offered will be determined based on numerous relevant business and candidate factors including, for example, education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, and business or organizational needs.

BASE SALARY RANGES

• California (depending on location e.g. Los Angeles vs. Sacramento):

º $131,600 - $213,300

• New York (depending on location e.g. Manhattan vs. Buffalo):

º $131,600 - $213,300

• Jersey City, NJ:

º $154,800 - $213,300

• Colorado (depending on location e.g. Denver vs. Colorado Springs):

º $131,600 - $179,600

• Washington (depending on location e.g. Seattle vs. Spokane):

º $131,600 - $195,200

Base salary is just one part of the overall compensation at EA. We also offer a package of benefits including paid time off (3 weeks per year to start), 80 hours per year of sick time, 16 paid company holidays per year, 10 weeks paid time off to bond with baby, medical/dental/vision insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, and 401(k) to regular full-time employees. Certain roles may also be eligible for bonus and equity.