Job is in Redmond, WA - Senior, Full Time.
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The Xbox Design Studio is the leader in gaming and entertainment experiences for customers worldwide. The experiences we create are for a diverse audience, from hard-core gamers to casual media-consumers across TV, PC, Web, and Mobile and beyond. We partner closely with Engineering, Business, and other Design teams to envision, design, and deliver entertainment experiences that are simple and beautiful.
Xbox Design is looking for a passionate and experienced Senior Technical Artist to join our Avatars Team and work closely with engineers and creatives across Xbox. The role offers the opportunity to explore and define content-creation methodologies and ensure teams achieve the best experiences, both within Microsoft Studios and across our 3rd party ecosystem. With strong communication skills, self-motivation, and a passion for enabling others, you will be responsible for creating assets, workflows, and tools. Come with us as we take Xbox Avatars on their biggest adventure yet with the highest-fidelity and a largest-stage we’ve ever had, beautifully showcased in our new Xbox experiences. We work in a fun, fast-paced environment where you work with other talented and passionate people.
Candidate Responsibilities:
• Act as the technical art expert for Xbox Design and Avatars.
• This includes handling all aspects of 3D content-authoring.
• Partner directly with internal studios, our external developers to deliver the highest-quality avatar visuals in the industry to Microsoft’s platforms.
• Act as a technical art expert, handle all aspects of technical direction from producing prototypes, defining processes, writing tools, and sharing knowledge.
• Partner with designers and engineers to author content-plans and provide feedback across disciplines.
• Incubate and develop innovative solutions to visual problems and workflows.
• Use your passion for learning, implementing, and sharing the latest innovations in real-time graphics and content-authoring.
• Identify and author software and tools to achieve this goal.
• Leverage relationships within Microsoft’s Windows and Devices Group, HoloLens, Microsoft Research, and Games Studios to bring new approaches to content-creation and technologies to our brand.
• Demonstrate essential skills in planning and defining criteria for production worthiness, designing specifications, assessments/reviews, teaching, and structured-implementation.
• Project-manage third-party subcontracted suppliers, where necessary.
• Be a leading-member of the art community at Xbox. Share knowledge across Microsoft by generalizing technologies and integrating industry best-practices.
• Form and lead internal cross-team groups to establish and update these best-practices.
Candidate Requirements:
• 5+ years of industry-related experience.
• A minimum of 3 years in production experience in games.
• Computer Science degree, or related, comparable experience.
• Strong communication skills.
• Show a deep understanding of the character-rigging pipeline.
• 3+ years’ experience with commercial game-engines like Unreal Engine 4 and/or Unity3D or equivalent propriety engines.
• Demonstrable experience working with DCC applications such as Maya, Max, Modo or Houdini.
• The ability to extend the capabilities of these packages via plugin APIs is required.
• Strong Python programming skills for tool-authoring/high level engine modifications are required.
• Programming skills in C++ and C# are required.
• Willingness to travel for developer-visits and conferences. A high capacity to learn new tools and process.
Bonus Skills:
• Prior-experience presenting on artistic or technical topics at industry conferences.
• Experience with data acquisition such as 3D-scanning, motion-capture, and the processing of this data.
• Open-source tool development experience
Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, national origin or ancestry, age, disability, marital status, pregnancy, protected veteran status, protected genetic information, political affiliation, or any other characteristics protected by local laws, regulations, or ordinances.