Senior Technical Artist- Materials

We are PUBG, the global battle royale phenomenon! After the release of our flagship title in 2017 we have become one of the highest selling games of all time with over 75 million copies sold – that’s a lot of Chicken Dinners! PUBG Studios Seattle is a small, skilled team with a wide range of game dev experience, coming together with a strong focus on quality and cross discipline collaboration. 

Our office is located in Bellevue, Washington. We are at the heart of a vibrant game development scene, surrounded by top-tier studios and industry talent. We pride ourselves on pushing the boundaries of creativity, storytelling, and visual artistry. Our team of talented artists, designers, and developers work collaboratively to build immersive worlds that captivate players. Our projects emphasize authenticity, detail, and atmosphere — and high-quality materials play a crucial role in delivering that vision.

This is a 12-month in-office fixed-term employment position in Bellevue, WA.  

The person we’re looking for:  

PUBG Studios Seattle is looking for a Senior Technical Artist to serve as a bridge between artists and engineers, developing scalable and performant material solutions in Unreal Engine. You will prototype advanced material systems, create reusable master materials, and help the art team execute visually stunning content with procedural flexibility and efficiency. 

This role requires deep expertise in pixel shader authoring, performance benchmarking, material optimization, and large-scale pipeline processes. You’ll help build the foundational tools for consistent, high-quality materials across hard surfaces, organics,

Responsibilities:

• Develop and maintain complex, layered, and procedural materials for a wide range of content, including hard surface, organic, and environment-based assets. 
• Create scalable master materials and reusable systems for large-scale production. 
• Prototype and support context-sensitive effects such as wetness, staining, grime, erosion, material accumulation, and other weather-specific behaviors. 
• Perform shader optimization, memory, and performance benchmarking using tools like PIX, RenderDoc, Unreal Insights etc. 
• Build and document best practices and workflows for the art team to follow. 
• Collaborate with environment, character, and VFX teams to ensure consistent material integration across all asset types. 
• Educate and mentor team members on shader logic, material system usage, texturing best practices, and procedural workflows. 
• Work with engineers to troubleshoot rendering or material-related issues and ensure clean handoffs. 

A Typical Day May Include: 

• Discussing world art Look-Dev ideas, testing new shading and lighting techniques, and raising the visual bar of PUBG. 
• Monitoring and vetting new content created for use by our team and other project contributors.  
• Refactoring shaders to be more performant or user-friendly. 
• Discussing feature requests from our art team and providing technical guidance regarding performance and overall project impact. 
• Working with leads, artists, or other tech artists to prototype shader and VFX requests. 

Qualifications: 

• 6+ years of experience working in the video game industry. 
• Shipped at least one commercial game on a major platform. 
• Strong understanding of Unreal Engine, with a strong focus on the material/shader editor and rendering pipeline. 
• Strong knowledge of pixel shaders, material blending techniques, and layered material systems.  
• Proven experience creating materials that address dynamic contextual effects (e.g. wetness, grime, wind, dirt and snow accumulation etc). 
• Solid understanding of PBR theory and material realism across different surface types. 
• Hands-on experience with performance and memory profiling tools (e.g., PIX, RenderDoc, Unreal Insights, etc). 
• Proficiency in art tools such as Photoshop, Substance Designer/Painter, Blender, and Maya. 
• Strong communication and documentation skills for cross-team alignment. 
• Experience building material systems for use at scale, developing and supporting cross team libraries, shared modular workflows using inheritance and overrides etc.   

Preferred Qualifications:

• Previous leadership, mentorship, or training/tutoring experience.
• Experience with VFX tools and systems, such as Unreal Engine Niagara.
• Experience with post processing techniques.
• Experience with procedural tools like Houdini/Houdini Engine. 

Portfolio Requirements: 

• A strong portfolio showcasing high quality materials using blend techniques with emphasis on realism, technical polish and light response. 
• Must demonstrate expertise at creating custom shaders for runtime game use.
• Must demonstrate expertise at creating master materials for use in a team environment.
• Documentation regarding the above, including breakdowns and explanations, for reference use or tutorial/training purposes. 

Personal Attributes: 

• Proactive, self-motivated, and able to work independently.
• Passion for video games and interactive entertainment.
• Strong desire to learn and stay updated with the latest industry trends and technologies  .
• Ability to work in-person at our Bellevue office.

What We offer: 

• A highly competitive total compensation package   
• Comprehensive employer funded healthcare – ensuring you pay nothing out of pocket for in-network medical care 
• Employer-paid premiums for dental, vision, short & long-term disability, life insurance, and AD&D insurance     
• Generous benefits include 20 days PTO, 12 paid holidays and a studio-wide holiday break annually    
• Generous annual sick leave days to prioritize your well-being    
• Health & wellness, video game, and continuing education reimbursements 
• Industry-leading family planning and fertility care benefits, including gender-affirming care, through Carrot Fertility 
• Enjoy meal reimbursements, and snacks and beverages for in office staff 
• 401K with a company match for your financial well-being 
• Remote work option 1 day a week 

In Washington, the expected salary range for this position is $130,000-$170,000. The listed expected salary range represents a good faith estimate and the actual pay may depend on a variety of job-related factors that can include experience, education, skills, and location.

PUBG Studios provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.