Why Sony Interactive Entertainment?

Sony Interactive Entertainment isn’t just the Best Place to Play — it’s also the Best Place to Work. Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) is the company behind the PlayStation brand. As a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation, we’re part of a proud legacy of innovation and excellence. SIE is a dynamic technology company, delivering cutting-edge hardware and network services to more than 100 million people and an entertainment leader, home to some of the most beloved and recognizable intellectual properties (IP) in the world. Our role at SIE is to create and nurture the experiences under the PlayStation brand, a name synonymous with entertainment excellence and creativity.

This position is for temporary engagement through our staffing partner, Yoh Enterprise Solutions. This is a 6-month contract.

PlayStation Studios Visual Arts | Remote

This position is fully remote from anywhere in Canada. PlayStation Studios Visual Arts (PSSVA) provides world-class content, development and services to PlayStation Studios such as Insomniac Games, Naughty Dog, Santa Monica Studio, Bend Studio Guerilla Games, and more! Our team is always at the cutting edge of technology and partners with the industry’s best minds and companies.

You're a creative and passionate artist who lives for world building and crafting textures and materials that tell a story within game environments. You're inspired to achieve only the highest quality in your work and have a passion for contributing to the artistic vision and development of the industry's most anticipated AAA games.

We are seeking a highly talented and motivated Senior 3D Material Artist with a passion for crafting high quality, game-ready materials. The ideal candidate will have a strong understanding of delivering high quality content during the later stages of development, working efficiently while maintaining an established visual quality bar. This role involves creating both in game and cinematic quality materials.

Responsibilities:

Collaborate with Environment Artists directly in levels, iterate on materials in context, and bring environments to final visual polish
Partner with Art Directors, Leads, Technical Artists, implementing feedback quickly and effectively
Create and refine realistic PBR materials and surface treatments that support and elevate the project's visual direction, for both in game and cinematic levels
Manage and author materials within propriety tools
Contribute to the development and documentation of material workflows, standards, and libraries
Track and address material-related bugs during production and post-production
Help define and improve the game's visual direction with each deliverable
Balance visual quality with performance constraints
Solve production challenges creatively
Estimate scope and manage workload effectively
Deliver work on schedule / on time in a production environment

Requirements

A strong portfolio with recent work demonstrating an artistic approach to material and surface creation for real-world surface types
6+ years of experience in AAA video game production with at least one shipped title
Strong grasp of composition, color theory, and the physical properties of real-world surfaces
Experience showing a strong understanding of game development with a focus on materials usage within a world building pipeline
Proficient at applying surface details and controlling shader features that represent a wide variety of material types
Proficiency in Substance Designer and Substance Painter
Solid understanding of PBR workflows and material creation pipelines
Technical proficiency in game art workflows including UV layout, texel density, and texture optimization
Experience optimizing games for performance and memory
Strong proactive collaboration and communication skills
Work core hours aligned with PST and team located in California
English proficiency

Pluses

Knowledge of Substance Designer workflows
Shader authoring
Houdini experience
Experience working with external outsource vendors