Art

Overview

ZeniMax Online Studios is seeking a highly experienced and motivated Animator to work closely with our Animation team to bring life to a wide variety of characters and creatures to the defined technical and artistic parameters.

Responsibilities

• Create high quality animation content, primarily inventive creatures and characters
• Collaborate with designers on solving gameplay problems while maintaining artistic vision
• Work with our Character Artists to develop proper models with animation considerations
• Contribute to the creative process with original ideas and inspiration
• Troubleshoot and solve animation issues with all departments
• Implement animation assets into game engine and iterate as needed

Qualifications

• 3+ years of professional experience as an Animator
• Technical experience working with game engines and game animation implementation
• Experience in Maya animation and/or Max animation packages
• Expert knowledge of basic principles of animation: timing, dynamics, and body mechanics
• Deep understanding of anatomy and human kinetics
• Understanding of the character development process and its technical dependencies and limitations
• Acting and staging skills with focus on realistic animation styles
• Receptive to constructive feedback and willingness to work through an iterative process
• Ability to adapt to technical dependencies and engine limitations
• Excellent organizational, teamwork, and communication skills
• Aptitude for learning new systems quickly

Overview

ZeniMax Online Studios is looking for an experienced Art Outsourcing Manager to work on a new, unannounced AAA IP. The role involves critiquing and managing work from various 3D art disciplines while providing benchmark examples and documentation for external teams to follow. They will also coordinate with internal Artists to prepare assignments, then refine, export, and troubleshoot asset deliveries from external teams. The ideal candidate is an experienced 3D modeler with management experience.

Responsibilities

• Support the preparation of assignments for external teams
• Review deliverables for quality and accuracy and provide feedback as required
• Create benchmark documentation and asset examples based off of the Art Director’s and/or Lead Artists' feedback and direction
• Revise and adjust models and textures as needed in an effort to achieve the best quality possible
• Maintain an outsource production schedule and manage multiple deliveries from different Artists/teams on a daily basis
• Coordinate daily with our internal Artists, Tech Artists, Animators, and Leads to process and export assets into the game engine and troubleshoot as needed

Qualifications

• Provide a portfolio of work demonstrating excellence in modeling and texturing 3D assets while maintaining technical restrictions and guidelines
• 2+ years of experience in a leadership position, and at least one year of experience in outsource management
• Well-developed communication, negotiation, and personal skills
• Highly organized with an eye for quality and the ability to review deliverables for quality and accuracy
• Experience in industry standard software packages including 3ds Max, Maya, Photoshop, Zbrush, and Substance Painter
• Experience with project management and delivering to required schedules and deadlines
• Strong aptitude for art software including proprietary tools

Preferred Skills

• Experience with 2D concept art, illustration, and figure drawing
• Experience with Houdini, 3D character modeling, animation, skinning, and rigging

Overview

We are looking for a talented and experienced Character Rigger to help us develop a robust studio level rigging system. As the Character Rigger, you will be involved in the design and implementation of the system from the earliest stages. You will work with Animation to determine features, needs, and desires. You will also work with Engineering to develop an efficient pathway between the tools and the game.

The preferred location for this role is Hunt Valley, MD, Austin, TX, Madison, WI, San Diego, CA, or Seattle, WA. Will consider remote. Please apply for more information.

Responsibilities

• Build a rigging system that can support many characters and machines
• Build and maintain high-quality, high-performance animation rigs
• Work closely with Modelers and Animators to ensure all disciplines are getting what they need
• Develop tools to support Animation
• Document system and advocate best practices

Qualifications

• 3+ years of industry experience in character rigging (Maya/3ds Max)
• Understanding of Python or another object oriented scripting language
• Understanding of anatomy and kinematics
• Ability and interest in rigging biomorphics and mechanics
• Understanding of animation pipelines
• Ability to work collaboratively with technical and creative team members
• Excellent communication and time management skills
• Self-sufficient, independent, and proactive
• Familiarity with common data formats: XML/JSON/etc.
• Familiarity with common 3D data formats: USD/OBJ/FBX/ALEMBIC/etc.
  
• Experience working with third party animation tools (Havok, Granny, etc.)

*Please include links to your work and clearly indicate your contributions. Resumes without work samples will not be considered. 

Preferred Skills

• MotionBuilder
• Perforce

Overview

ZeniMax Online Studios is looking for a Creative Services Director to direct, coordinate, and produce multimedia projects for print, web, and video. Develop creative guidelines and direct creative work of artists across all those same disciplines, offering direction and ensuring adherence to established style guides is maintained. Coordinate with Marketing and PR departments to ensure scheduling is on track and all promotional needs for the breadth of ZOS products are accounted for. Oversee and produce multiple live streaming webcasts promoting ZOS products. Maintain AAA quality bar for all projects. 

Responsibilities

• Provide expertise and input when communicating with ZOS Art and Creative Directors on artistic direction and style guides for all products
• Artworking and layout of packaging, manuals, advertising, point of sale, web banners and mailers, mainly as Marketing tasks
• Develop strategy for and produce social videos and online products through Planning, Storyboarding, and Capturing. This responsibility will include actual video production work in addition to managing other editors.
• Develop strategy for and produce major promotional videos for quarterly releases through Planning, Storyboarding, and Capturing. This responsibility will include actual video production work in addition to managing other editors.
• Communicate clearly and engage the help of ZOS Team Leads, leveraging their expertise and scheduling their artists’ time to help complete all projects
• Develop and oversee contracted video production houses for other major video projects, including CGI cinematics and in-game footage promotional videos
• Schedule and achieve planned dates for all Creative Services deliverables and ensure communication to territory as well as relevant members of the Marketing and Operation teams
• Liaise with localization agencies, internal and external creative studios, including partner territories to deliver top quality localized versions of all projects
• Ensure timely delivery of all assets in order to meet first party submission dates
• Work with first party, keeping updated with all current templates and approvals, managing and tracking changes
• Communicate clearly to all territories the dates for all production timelines
• Update and track weekly asset creative schedule, in line with Production and Marketing timelines
• Schedule and maintain a live-streaming studio, including equipment ordering and maintenance

Qualifications

• 5-10 years of experience in a management/leadership position in addition to extensive production experience
• Provide a portfolio of work demonstrating excellence in video production and graphic design
• Highly organized with an eye for quality and the ability to review deliverables for quality and accuracy
• Excellent communication, negotiation, and personal skills
• Strong aptitude for production software especially the Adobe CC suite (Photoshop, Premiere, After Effects, etc.)
• Experience with project management and delivering to required schedules and deadlines
• Demonstrable experience coordinating efforts between multiple groups (Marketing, Production, Web, etc.) in order to deliver high quality results under deadline pressure

Overview

ZeniMax Online Studios is looking for an experienced Lead Concept Artist to work on a new AAA IP. The role involves partnering with Art and Creative Directors to help drive our artistic style, managing and mentoring a talented team of concept artists, and creating and maintaining benchmark examples and documentation to support internal and external concept production. In addition, the Lead Concept Artist will collaborate with various 3D and Design teams to maintain the creative vision of the game through concept art deliverables. The ideal candidate is an experienced and talented Concept Artist with extensive leadership experience. 

Responsibilities

• Accurately estimate tasks and maintain schedules and concept art deliveries (internal and external)
• Support the preparation of assignments for internal and external teams, and mentor Concept Artists as required
• Review concept art deliverables for quality and accuracy and provide feedback as required
• Create benchmark assets and documentation based on Art Director’s feedback and direction
• Coordinate daily with other Leads, Artists, and Designers to ensure concept deliverables meet quality, narrative, and technical requirements

Qualifications

• Proficiency in life drawing as well as a strong imagination and willingness to innovate visually within the parameters of the game’s world
• 5+ years of experience in a leadership position, autonomous problem-solving skills, strong initiative to meet concept art initiatives with a positive outlook
• Strong and well-developed communication, negotiation, and personal skills; thrives with creative collaboration and visual storytelling
• Highly organized with an eye for quality and detail
• Understanding of various art disciplines (Animation, Character, Environment, VFX)

*Candidates must provide a portfolio of work demonstrating excellent traditional artistic skills with a strong grasp of composition, anatomy, color theory, perspective, lighting, environment, architectural, character, costume, and graphic design

Preferred Skills

• Experience in the game industry; AAA game development preferred
• Proficient with 3d software packages to support concept art development

Overview

ZeniMax Online Studios is looking for a Outsource Integration Artist to assist with the skinning, setup, and export of character and monster assets. This integration artist will work with various members of the Outsourcing Support team to address character setup and skinning related issues: from in-game editing and data setup to vertex weighting adjustments. This integration artist will also be making minor art changes and adjustments to 3d assets, so experience with 3d character art is important. This is a dynamic environment that will challenge you as you become a full-fledged professional game developer.

Responsibilities

• Work closely with the Outsourcing Managers, Technical Artists, and Character Artists to prepare armor, costumes, weapons, mounts, and monsters for export into game
• Adjust vertex weighting for armors, costumes, mounts, and monsters
• Geo and texture adjustments on outsourced assets when necessary
• Export adjusted geometry to engine
• Data setup of exported assets in engine
• Learn proprietary tools for rigging of the game-ready character meshes and internal tools for export

Qualifications

• Ability to skin meshes to various rigs
• Familiarity with game engines
• Intermediate+ understanding of character modeling and texturing principles
• Understanding of mesh topology for deformation
• Some working experience in rigging characters for video games
• Working knowledge of 3ds Max and Photoshop
• Love of characters and animation

Preferred Skills

• Familiarity with modular character customization systems is a plus
• Experience with animation is a plus but not required
• Enjoy playing MMOs

Overview

The Senior Build and Release Engineer will be responsible for creating and maintaining Software and Version Control systems and Build Management systems. The Engineer is responsible for maintaining the source control system and developing scripts that will improve the development of the build process. The position will also be responsible for overseeing the lifecycle of various software initiatives from development to deployment, while monitoring, recording, and controlling changes to maintain product integrity.

The preferred location for this role is Hunt Valley, MD, Austin, TX, Madison, WI, San Diego, CA, or Seattle, WA. Will consider remote. Please apply for more information.

Responsibilities

• Support the build and release process including management of environments
• Maintain and improve the automated build system and coordinate releases
• Plan and manage the development of product builds and build releases into the existing infrastructure
• Design and implement efficient procedures for the distribution and installation of new software to the technical infrastructure
• Manage the exact content and rollout plans for release, through partnership with Change Management
• Manage release branches
• Build and provide high-level tests for release binaries
• Improve the efficiency and scalability of the build process and environments on a continuous basis
• Coordinate and collaborate with other departments to resolve Release and Build dependencies to ensure smooth and timely Release deployment

Qualifications

• 5+ years of industry experience in Technical Art/Tools
• Strong understanding of Python, C#, or any other object oriented language
• Strong understanding of Tool UI development and subsystems
• Strong understanding of core game data pipelines
• Experience with coding practices and management
• Solid problem solving and math skillset
• Ability to adapt and respond to changing needs throughout the course of the development cycle
• Must be self-sufficient and have excellent time management skills
• Excellent communication skills
• Familiarity with common data formats: XML/JSON/etc.
• Familiarity with common 3D data formats: OBJ/FBX/ALEMBIC/etc.

Preferred Skills

• Perforce
• C# knowledge and debugging
• Documentation practices for developers and users of tools

Overview

We are looking for a wildly talented and experienced Senior Character Rigger to help us develop a robust studio level rigging system. As the Senior Character Rigger, you will be involved in the design and implementation of the system from the earliest stages. You will work with Animation to determine features, needs, and desires. You will also work with Engineering to develop an efficient pathway between the tools and the game.

The preferred location for this role is Hunt Valley, MD, Austin, TX, Madison, WI, San Diego, CA, or Seattle, WA. Will consider remote. Please apply for more information.

Responsibilities

• Build a rigging system that can support many characters and machines
• Build and maintain high-quality, high-performance animation rigs
• Expand upon the current rigging system with new features and modules
• Work closely with Modelers and Animators to ensure all disciplines are getting what they need
• Develop tools to support Animation
• Document system and advocate best practices

Qualifications

• 5+ years of industry experience in character rigging (Maya/3ds Max)
• Solid understanding of Python, C#, or another object oriented scripting language
• Solid understanding of anatomy and kinematics
• Ability and interest in rigging biomorphics and mechanics
• Solid understanding of animation pipelines
• Ability to develop animation tools to support rigs
• Ability to work collaboratively with technical and creative team members
• Excellent communication and time management skills
• Self-sufficient, independent, and proactive
• Familiarity with common data formats: XML/JSON/etc.
• Familiarity with common 3D data formats: USD/OBJ/FBX/ALEMBIC/etc.
  
• Experience working with third party animation tools (Havok, Granny, etc.)

*Please include links to your work and clearly indicate your contributions. Resumes without work samples will not be considered. 

Preferred Skills

• MotionBuilder
• PyQt or PySide
• Perforce
• Understanding of core game data pipelines
• Experience with special effects and shaders
• General interest in contemporary CGI techniques

Overview

Zenimax Online Studios is looking for a Senior Full Stack Web Developer to help build and expand our current toolset.

The preferred location for this role is Hunt Valley, MD, Austin, TX, Madison, WI, San Diego, CA, or Seattle, WA. Will consider remote. Please apply for more information.

Responsibilities

• Manage software development from technical requirements to deployment
• Develop artist-facing, intuitive, and responsive web applications
• Develop internal REST APIs for data management
• Develop, edit, and test networked applications
• Create flexible and modular systems
• Develop, own, and manage individual core systems
• Determine artist needs and requirements
• Collaborate with technical and creative team members to build great systems that work together
  

Qualifications

• 5+ years of industry Web Development or Web Services experience
• Strong understanding of the following:
  • JavaScript or TypeScript
  • HTML and CSS
  • NoSQL databases
• Strong understanding of core asset management pipelines
• Experience with coding practices and management
• Problem solving skillset
• Solid understanding of REST architectural style
• Solid understanding of security protocols and data security
• Ability to adapt and respond to changing needs throughout the course of the development cycle
• Must be self-sufficient and have excellent time management skills
• Excellent communication skills
• Familiarity with common data formats: XML/JSON/etc.

Preferred Skills

• Perforce
• ArangoDB (NoSQL) and Foxx web service development
• Angular web application development and debugging
• Experience with RxJS and building reactive applications
• NodeJS server development and debugging
• Familiarity with containerization (Docker, etc.)
• Experience with wireframe tooling (Adobe XD)
• Familiarity with WebGL, ThreeJS or other 3D web technologies
• Python knowledge and debugging
• Knowledge of Atlassian tools (Jira, Confluence, etc.)
• Game development familiarity is helpful but not a requirement
• Documentation practices for developers and users of tools

Overview

The Senior Technical Artist works in conjunction with the Art team to help provide technical solutions, techniques, and processes for art production.

The preferred location for this role is Hunt Valley, MD, Austin, TX, Madison, WI, San Diego, CA, or Seattle, WA. Will consider remote. Please apply for more information.

Responsibilities

• Author, document, and enforce technical standards for asset creation such as 3D modeling, FX, and lighting
• Author, document, and enforce production standards such as file structure, naming conversions, rules, and guidelines
• Develop and maintain advanced artist facing tools in 3ds Max as well as problem-solve issues involving the art pipelines
• Create, propose, design, and improve artist workflows
• Communicate technical concepts to develop optimal tools
• Communicate problems, risks, and obstacles to the team on pipeline matters; actively work to improve pipelines and workflows related to user experience
• Collaborate with leadership to execute product vision

Qualifications

• 5+ years of related industry experience as a Technical Artist
• Expert knowledge of 3ds Max and Max scripting
• Experience in game art generation and implementation
• Strong communicator and collaborator, with excellent organizational skills
• A strong understanding of asset creation pipelines and workflows
• Experience communicating with programming departments to develop proprietary tools
• An aptitude for learning new systems quickly
• Adept at taking a technical approach to problem solving

Preferred Skills

• MaxScript
• Python scripting knowledge
• Perforce
• PyQt or PySide
• Understanding of game data pipelines
• Documentation practices for developers and users of tools
• Basic Code development practices and management
• MMO experience is a plus

Overview

ZeniMax Online Studios is seeking a Senior Technical Artist with a focus in animation to join our studio for the development of our next AAA game.  This is a chance to join an experienced group of developers in pre-production for a new IP.

The ideal candidate is a skilled Technical Artist with experience in rigging and animation.  You will be working with small, multidisciplinary groups of artists, designers, and engineers to develop efficient, intuitive workflows, build production tools, and identify performance metrics parameters.

The preferred location for this role is Hunt Valley, MD, Austin, TX, Madison, WI, San Diego, CA, or Seattle, WA. Will consider remote. Please apply for more information.

Responsibilities

• Work within a multidisciplinary team to develop efficient, maintainable workflows capable of supporting a large, complex project with a wide range of animation needs
• Develop tools and workflows to support animators
• Develop and maintain runtime animation graphs
• Provide direct support to the animation team
• Work with Engineering to develop best practices, technical guidelines, and performance metrics for animation
• Document workflows and advocate best practices

Qualifications

• Fluent in one or more programming language (Python, C#, C++, etc.)
• Solid technical background with ability to design and implement systems
• 5+ years of relevant industry experience
• A Bachelor’s degree in an art-related discipline
• Solid understanding of kinematics, animation principles, and ability to translate this into tangible production tools and processes
• Experience with runtime animation tools, techniques, and capabilities (Unity, Havok Behavior, Natural Motion, or proprietary systems, etc.)
• Experience working with an animation graph or similar system
• Experience rigging characters for animation
• Understand differences between production and runtime animation requirements
• Strong troubleshooting skills
• Familiarity with common data formats: XML/JSON/etc.
• Familiarity with common 3D data formats: OBJ/FBX/ALEMBIC/etc.

Preferred Skills

• Mocap Experience
• Experience working with 2 or more animation pipelines
• Linear algebra
• Perforce
• PyQt/PySide
• General interest in contemporary CGI techniques

Overview

We are seeking a skilled Technical Animator to help further develop our animation pipeline. The focus of this position will be on runtime animation integration and animation handling in the pipeline.

You will work with animators to develop blend graphs that produce smooth, AAA quality animation, seamlessly combining animated motion with various runtime input sources. You’ll help define animation related workflows and systems, and you’ll assist animators in all technical aspects of animation production. Working with multiple disciplines to identify effective solutions, you will serve as a communicator with the goal of ensuring all involved parties have a common understanding of the system and our shared goals.

Preference will be given to candidates who have experience writing animation authoring tools (in Max, Maya, etc.), though this is not the primary area of coverage. If you have experience programming in any form, this is a huge plus. If you have experience with MOCAP that is also beneficial. If you are technical, highly motivated, and passionate about animation, please apply for this position.

The preferred location for this role is Hunt Valley, MD, Austin, TX, Madison, WI, San Diego, CA, or Seattle, WA. Will consider remote. Please apply for more information.

Responsibilities

• Work closely with Animation, Design, and Engineering to develop the means by which these groups interact with animation data
• Play a positive, proactive role in communication between all involved departments
• Advocate for Animation while maintaining attention to performance issues
• Provide ongoing support and training to Animation throughout production cycle
• Communicate, promote, and document animation related processes and best practices
• Help to identify tools that will make managing large amounts of animation possible

Qualifications

• 5 or more years of industry experience
• 3-5 years of runtime animation system experience (can overlap with industry experience)
• Professional experience working with 2 or more animation pipelines
• A Bachelor’s degree in an art-related discipline
• Strong technical skillset and a love for being hands-on
• Strong understanding of kinematics and eye for animation
• Experience with runtime animation tools, techniques, and capabilities (Unity, Havok Behavior, Natural Motion, or proprietary, etc.)
• Familiarity with rigging
• Some familiarity with MOCAP workflows
• Understand differences between production and runtime animation requirements and data
• Clear, demonstrable understanding of animation data and how it moves through the pipeline
• Self-sufficient, motivated, and independent
• Strong communication and time management skills
• Familiarity with common data formats: XML/JSON/etc.
• Familiarity with common 3D data formats: HVK/GR2/OBJ/FBX/ALEMBIC/etc.

Portfolio: Please include links to your work and clearly indicate your contributions. Resumes without work samples will not be considered.

Preferred Skills

• Some understanding of shaders
• Any programming experience
• Pyside/PyQt
• Perforce
• Experience with special effects and non-character animation
• General interest in contemporary CGI techniques

Overview

Zenimax Online Studios is looking for a Technical Art Engineer to help build and maintain current and ongoing tool efforts.

The preferred location for this role is Hunt Valley, MD, Austin, TX, Madison, WI, San Diego, CA, or Seattle, WA. Will consider remote. Please apply for more information.

Responsibilities

• Develop artist facing tools
• Develop simple/complex subsystems to support current and new tooling
• Developing flexible and modular systems
• Develop, own, and manage individual core systems
• Work collaboratively with technical and creative team members to build great systems that work together

Qualifications

• 3+ years of industry experience in Technical Art/Tools
• Strong understanding of Python, C#, or any other object oriented language
• Strong understanding of Tool UI development and subsystems
• Strong understanding of core game data pipelines
• Experience in coding practices and management
• Solid problem solving and math skillset
• Ability to adapt and respond to changing needs throughout the course of the development cycle
• Must be self-sufficient and have excellent time management skills
• Excellent communication skills
• Familiarity with common data formats: XML/JSON/etc.
• Familiarity with common 3D data formats: OBJ/FBX/ALEMBIC/etc.

Preferred Skills

• Perforce
• C# knowledge and debugging
• Documentation practices for developers and users of tools

Overview

ZeniMax Online Studios is looking for a Technical Artist to assist our Art teams in developing new and creative asset creation techniques, maintaining performance across all shipping platforms, and serving as a technical reference for Art production. The ideal candidate has a strong passion for creating narrative driven games in a highly collaborative setting.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain artist facing tools in 3ds Max
• Develop simple/complex subsystems that are flexible and modular to support current and new tooling; communicate technical concepts to develop optimal tools
• Create, propose, design, and improve artist workflows
• Communicate problems, risks, and obstacles to the team on pipeline matters
• Work collaboratively with technical and creative team members
  
  

Qualifications

• 3+ years of professional industry experience in Tools/Technical Art
• Strong understanding of Python or another object oriented scripting language
• Strong understanding of Tool UI development and subsystems
• Experience in game art generation and implementation
• Familiarity with common data formats: XML/JSON/etc.
• Familiarity with common 3D data formats: OBJ/FBX/ALEMBIC/etc.
• Candidates must show an aptitude for learning new systems quickly; ability to adapt and respond to changing needs throughout the course of the development cycle
• Must be adept at taking a technical approach to problem solving for art production
• Solid math skillset
• Must have excellent communication skills
• Must be self-sufficient and have strong time management skills
  

Preferred Skills

• MaxScript
• Perforce
• PyQt or PySide
• Understanding of low-level game data pipelines
• Documentation practices for developers and users of tools
• Basic Code development practices and management
• MMO experience a plus