technical artist

Job Title: Technical Artist

Type: Full time

Who We Are: Disbelief is a game development studio focusing on contracting and consulting services. We've worked with both AAA and independent studios to help their projects ship. Notable projects we've worked on include Gears of War: Reloaded, Borderlands 4, Minecraft, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, Gears Tactics, and Pacific Drive.

At Disbelief we value work-life balance, and want to create an alternative to the crunch-culture prevalent in game development. We also believe strongly in investing in our talent and our team. Disbelief is a place to puzzle out the solutions to cutting-edge problems for industry leading projects, but also a place where people can grow their careers and skills as valued members of a stable and close-knit team.

Description: Currently, we're looking for a Technical Artist. This opportunity is for a full-time position in Chicago, IL. Technical Artists at Disbelief are self motivated problem solvers. Our technical artists are equally capable of discussing performance, rendering and gameplay issues with engineers, as they are in critique and creative discussion with the artist and designers. They act as a bridge between the technical and artistic aspects of game development, empowering both programming and art to achieve more than either could on their own. Our Technical Artists work in a variety of areas including scripting for tools and gameplay, modeling, materials, texturing, animation, FX, UI, and writing documentation.

At Disbelief we work with leading edge technologies to make them perform at the top of their capabilities, and we take pride in solving problems others can't. We believe a diverse team is a stronger team, and we encourage marginalized candidates to apply.

Key Responsibilities

• Solve technical problems from an artist's point of view
• Solve performance problems while championing visual quality standards
• Act as a bridge between art, engineering and gameplay teams
• Continue to explore new software and techniques, including novel solutions
• Prototype new workflows and systems
• Make improvements to existing pipelines as part of a team
• Clearly communicate your work to others
• Estimate the time it takes to complete tasks

Skills and Requirements

• Degree in Art, Tech Art, or equivalent experience
• Formal training writing code/script
• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written
• 1+ years in game development, or 3+ in a related industry
• Understanding of real time rendering
• Experience with version control with Perforce, Git, or equivalent
• Portfolio demonstrating
• AAA quality technical art ability
• Gameplay or pipeline scripting
• Proficiency in cross disciplinary tasks

Location: Chicago, IL

Relocation Assistance: Available where applicable

Hybrid: Technical Artists are in the office based on project needs, but can sometimes work from home. Some of our projects require access to physical infrastructure.

Visa Sponsorship: No. Disbelief does not offer visa sponsorship at the current time.

We are an E-Verify employer.

Technologies: Our DCC tools vary depending on the project, but will typically involve a combination of Houdini, Blender, 3ds Max, Maya, Substance, Photoshop. Our real-time work often requires knowledge of animation, physics, material and particle systems. Primarily we work with Unreal Engine, but we also work with custom game engines. Scripting in Python, Maxscript, Mel, Javascript, C# and Unreal Blueprint is often required to solve pipeline and workflow problems.

Salary: This position has a salary range of $83,000 - $100,000. When making a job offer there are many factors that are taken into consideration at Disbelief. This includes, but is not limited to, experience and skills, comparable jobs in the industry/geographical area, and relocation benefits. Therefore the upper end of the shared salary range is oftentimes dedicated to those who showcase strong performance in the role. To learn more about how salary is determined at Disbelief please visit Open Salaries At Disbelief.

Benefits: Please visit Disbelief's company career page here to learn about the amazing benefits we offer.

Contact: Please submit resume and portfolio to