Senior Material & Shading Artist - CA Sofia

Creative Assembly is looking for a talented Senior Material & Shading Artist to join our studio to assist us in bringing our projects to life. In this exciting role, you will use your knowledge of and experience with various tools to make a real impact on new and innovative titles and build a believable world for players to enjoy. This role will be based at CA Sofia, in Bulgaria.

Please note that a portfolio must be submitted as part of an application for this role.

Key Responsibilities

As a Material and Shading Artist, you will collaborate closely with the Art Director and Lead Artists to create Substance Designer-based materials, libraries and tools. You will set and uphold the highest benchmark of quality and ensure this is spread among the rest of the team. You must be forward-thinking to oversee the development of our material library and engage in pipeline planning. A keen aesthetic eye is required to refine material requirements with the Lead Environment Artist/Art Director. Strong communication skills are required to drive material development with tech art and engine code teams.

Knowledge, Skill and Experience

Essential

• Experience with Material Workflow and Pipelines in UE
• Deep knowledge of Material Functions and Material Parameters in UE
• Good knowledge of Physically-Based Rendering
• Strong understanding of Shader Complexity and Material Optimizations in UE
• High proficiency with 3dsMax/Maya/Blender
• Experience in photo-realistic texture creation with Substance Designer, Painter and Photoshop
• Experience in asset creation (tile and baked assets)
• Good eye for appropriate stylisation and detail
• Able to produce materials in a wide variety of styles and themes
• At least one shipped title within the industry

Desirable

• Proficiency with Zbrush
• Traditional Art Skills
• Understanding of material animation

About Creative Assembly

It’s an exciting time to be a part of our craft-led studio as we push boundaries, creating deep and detailed experiences that last.

Our teams are diverse from across the world, from trainees to industry veterans who constantly challenge us and make sure we are striving for the best within our games and our studio life. We are united through our shared values of Quality, Focus, Teamwork, Respect and Trust and we win awards for our culture and our people-centric approach, having won a Best Place to Work Award for five consecutive years. We invest in our people, the studio, and our projects. We’ll give you the creative freedom, tools, support, and development to achieve your potential.

Flexible working at Creative Assembly includes hybrid, fully remote for eligible roles, and in-studio. We recognise that there is no one-size-fits-all approach and empower our teams to define the working patterns which work best for them, which may mean different things for different teams and roles and at different times.

Our studios are based in Horsham, UK and Sofia, Bulgaria, including several bespoke state-of-the-art audio suites and a dedicated motion capture facility.

We offer many benefits to support you and your family including:

• Flexible working: hybrid, fully remote within the country of employment for eligible roles, and in-studio working
• Work from Anywhere for a temporary period each year (restrictions apply such as VISAs)
• Additional medical and dental health insurance for you, your partner and kids, life insurance, and free health care screening
• Additional holiday allowance plus full studio closure over the Christmas and New Year period, as all Bulgarian Bank holidays
• Annual discretionary studio bonus
• Join our award-winning education and social responsibility programme; the Legacy Project, as an industry ambassador to mentor and educate others
• Defined career development pathways and personalised training support including; SEGA Dev Day, internal masterclasses, prestigious creative workshops, on-site training with renowned specialists and global conference attendance
• Opportunity to join our Diversity and Inclusion Network – an employee-led group
• Wellbeing support with an employee assistance programme
• Free games and merchandise plus access to our extensive games library
• Free breakfast every day - toast, cereals, yoghurts, fresh fruit, soft drinks and more in our fully stocked kitchen
• Office massages
• Discounts for home technology and for gym membership cards, as well as Food and Utilities vouchers
• Studio parties for you and your family; such as our Summer and Christmas parties, Children’s day party, wrap parties for game releases

Our studio sites have disabled access. We are an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates regardless of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, religion or belief.