Senior Environment Artist

This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, which manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Senior Environment Artist based in United States . The Senior Environment Artist will play a key role in building immersive, high-quality environments for a new AAA game IP featuring three distinct visual worlds. Working within a small, experienced art team, you will transform creative briefs and established artistic direction into polished, production-ready assets that define the project's visual quality standards. You will create modular environment kits, architectural structures, organic terrain, and props while balancing artistic excellence with real-time performance requirements. Collaborating closely with the Art Director, level designers, technical artists, and engineers, you will ensure that every environment supports gameplay, exploration, atmosphere, and storytelling. The role also contributes to scalable workflows and production standards in preparation for a significant expansion of the external art team. This is an opportunity to shape a major game project from an early stage within a remote-first, collaborative development environment.

Environment creation and world-building: Develop high-quality environment assets and world-building content from initial concepts through final in-game implementation, ensuring consistent craftsmanship across diverse settings and visual styles. Modular asset development: Design and build scalable, production-ready modular environment kits that enable efficient level creation and support future production needs. 3D modeling and texturing: Model, sculpt, texture, and optimize architectural elements, organic environments, and props using industry-standard tools and workflows. Visual direction and artistic consistency: Work closely with the Art Director to implement established concepts, style guides, visual targets, and artistic standards across the project's environments. Unreal Engine implementation: Assemble, integrate, and polish environment assets in Unreal Engine 5, ensuring they meet visual quality expectations and function effectively in real-time gameplay. Gameplay and narrative integration: Collaborate with level design, technical art, and engineering teams to create spaces that support gameplay mechanics, exploration, environmental storytelling, and player immersion. Performance optimization: Ensure assets meet technical specifications for rendering, memory usage, and real-time performance while maintaining a high level of visual detail. Art reviews and iteration: Participate in creative reviews, incorporate feedback, refine assets, and consistently deliver work that aligns with project goals and production schedules. Workflow development and documentation: Help establish and maintain environment art standards, production workflows, and documentation to improve consistency, efficiency, and scalability. External production collaboration: Support outsourced environment art production and external development partners when needed, helping integrate delivered content and maintain quality standards. AI-assisted workflows: Use relevant AI tools to support reference gathering, texture generation, and asset pipeline workflows, contributing to the effective adoption of AI-assisted environment art practices. Requirements At least 6 years of professional experience as an Environment Artist, with credits on one or more shipped AAA or AA games. A strong portfolio demonstrating high-quality environment creation across multiple visual styles, settings, and levels of complexity. Expert knowledge of modular environment creation, world-building techniques, and production-ready asset workflows. Demonstrated experience creating both architectural and organic environment assets. Proficiency with industry-standard 3D art tools such as Substance Painter, ZBrush, Maya, or equivalent software. Strong understanding of composition, scale, lighting, material definition, and environmental storytelling. Experience producing optimized assets that meet real-time rendering, memory, performance, and technical requirements. Practical experience with Unreal Engine 5 environment creation and implementation workflows. Familiarity with modern Unreal Engine 5 technologies and pipelines, including Nanite, Lumen, and Virtual Shadow Maps. Ability to work effectively from creative briefs, concept art, and established visual guidelines while delivering high-quality results with minimal supervision. Active engagement with AI tools relevant to environment art, including AI-assisted reference generation, texture creation, and asset pipeline tooling. Strong communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively with multidisciplinary teams and respond constructively to feedback. Excellent organization, attention to detail, and time management, with the ability to balance visual quality, production efficiency, and deadlines. Preferred experience: Creating atmospheric, grounded, realistic, or dark-themed environments. Preferred experience: Knowledge of physically based rendering (PBR), material creation, procedural workflows, and environment optimization techniques. Preferred experience: Supporting outsourced art production or collaborating with external development teams. Preferred experience: Contributing to action, horror, immersive simulation, or narrative-driven games. Benefits Annual base salary: USD $120,000–$135,000. The published range is in US dollars; Canadian compensation arrangements should be confirmed during the hiring process. Remote-first work environment for candidates based in Canada or the United States. Health, dental, and vision insurance as part of the employee benefits package. Retirement savings plan: A 401(k) plan is included in the advertised benefits package; eligibility and arrangements for Canadian employees should be confirmed. Flexible paid time off to support work-life balance. Early-stage creative influence: An opportunity to contribute to the development of a new AAA game IP and help establish its environment art standards and production workflows. Collaboration with an experienced team across art, design, technical art, and engineering. Advanced production technology: Hands-on work with Unreal Engine 5 and modern real-time environment creation techniques. Long-term project vision: Contribute to a game targeting release in 2030 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.