Technical Artist (Coatsink)

About Coatsink

Coatsink is a multi-award-winning video game developer, recognised for its expertise in creating polished indie titles across all formats, including VR. Incorporated in 2012, Coatsink has achieved global recognition, building a diverse portfolio of acclaimed games such as Jurassic World Aftermath, Men in Black: Most Wanted, Phogs and the Esper series. Coatsink is also a premier co-development partner and has provided production support for major titles such as Gang Beasts, Gorilla Tag and Batman Arkham Shadow. Now a studio within the Atari family, Coatsink has become a central pillar of the North East UK's gaming hub, delivering engaging entertainment to players everywhere.

Overview

As a Technical Artist you’ll be creative, driven, and a problem solver. You will be working within a team to address the technical challenges faced with achieving the performance and look of our games. You will play an essential role in establishing best technical practices to develop our tools, pipelines and systems. We expect you to be a bridge between the Artists, Programmers, and often other departments, ensuring art assets can be easily integrated into the game without sacrificing the artistic vision or exceeding the platform’s technical limits.

What You’ll Do

• Acting as a bridge between the Artists and Programmers.
• Work with your Art Director and leads to research techniques, tools and provide solutions to visual challenges.
• Work alongside programming to develop tools, scripts, pipelines and workflows, and communicate this within the wider technical and
• art team, where appropriate.
• Quick and effective in prototyping, and visually demonstrating ideas.
• Be involved in pre-production to help plan and workaround any hardware limitations and constraints.Person Specification

Requirements & Qualifications

• C# programming skills, essential
• Proven experience working with game engines, specifically Unity and/or Unreal Engine
• Shader development experience (essential), including complex or bespoke rendering solutions (e.g. Kex-style projects)
• Experience using debugging and profiling tools, such as RenderDoc, to diagnose rendering and performance issues
• Hands-on experience with Unity debugging and profiling tools
• Solid understanding of optimization techniques across rendering, assets, and runtime performance
• Knowledge of 3D art pipelines and workflows, including tools such as Substance, Photoshop, 3ds Max, and Maya
• Art-driven mindset with a strong visual eye, able to balance creative intent with technical constraints
• Strong programming and problem-solving skills within a technical art context
• Experience developing custom tools

Preferred / Nice-to-Have

• Experience creating VFX (shaders, particle systems etc)
• C++ programming skills
• Experience with proprietary engines
• Experience developing art pipelines and workflows
• Background as a hands-on artist or technical generalist
• Strong understanding of art workflows and content production pipelines
• Experience supporting artists through tooling, documentation, or technical guidance
• Familiarity with additional profiling, debugging, or engine-level toolsRequired personal skills and approach
• Ability to interact and communicate across all disciplines and with colleagues effectively.
• Strong problem-solving skills.
• Ability plan tasks and inform leads of the best approach to technical art solutions.

A champion and exemplar of Coatsink’s key values and contributor to the company culture including:

• A passion and enthusiasm for Coatsink games.
• A straightforward and open approach to the team and leadership.
• A focus on quality.
• An openness to others’ ideas and challenges around quality issues.
• An eye for the well-being of project team members.
• Resilience to learn from mistakes and encounter new tasks and responsibilities.
• A willingness to maintain continuous professional development.

To Apply

Please submit your resume, cover letter, and portfolio (if applicable), along with any additional materials that may support your application, through the form below.

EEO Statement

Coatsink is an equal opportunity employer and we are committed to providing a workplace free from harassment and discrimination.  We are committed to equal employment regardless of race, religion or lack thereof, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, marital status, medical condition, veteran status, ancestry, disability status, pregnancy, parental status, genetic information, political affiliation, or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate.