Technical Artist Manager, Simulation Technology

Job summary
AWS SimTech is searching for a Technical Artist Manager who can lead a team of 3D artists and help build procedural 3D simulations for AI and robotics customers.

The technologies we are developing are an exciting application at the confluence of game, VFX and AI/robotics domains. The technical art director will be responsible for identifying customer-facing features alongside engineers and scientists. They lead a team building procedural assets and tools for game engines to replicate and randomize reality for our customers. If you enjoy bringing real life to virtual worlds, we would love to talk to you.

We're looking for a proficient 3D technical art manager who is able to understand technical problems the artist team may face from an artistic perspective, while working directly with all levels of 3D artists and programmers. The technical artist will be responsible for identifying and planning tasks for their team. They may be responsible for training artists in new production techniques and must ensure that those methods are scalable and adapt to new use cases. The ability to work within and across interdependent teams is a must, so the right person will have an implicit understanding of the balance needed between artistry, technical development, communication, and partnership. The ideal candidate will have experience automating workflows, creating procedural assets, and will be able to work closely with the developer team to create innovative processes to implement in the 3D studio.

Key job responsibilities
* Working with engineering, product and end-customers to identify and scope features
* Working with artists to develop tools and procedures to build procedural pipelines
* Optimizing our 3D content creation for both quality and diversity (randomization)
* Establish and educate technical best practices to ensure content is being built in the best and most efficient way to hit our Art style and quality bar
* Working with artists and the larger team to understand areas of our current process that have the biggest opportunity for automation and efficiency
* Identifying opportunities in workflows that are most ripe for innovation with engineering
* Thorough documentation of all development and updating as necessary

Basic Qualifications

* 5+ years of working experience as a 3D artist, pipeline engineer and/or Technical Director in the VFX, Gaming or Simulation industry

Preferred Qualifications

* Be able to excel in a fast-paced collaborative production environment
* Experience working across an array of clients including industrial, manufacturing, and robotics
* Experience automating steps in creating a 3D model from a few 2D images
* Experience with CAD to 3D pipelines
* Strong communication skills, particularly in conveying technical concepts in a manner that is easy for clients and non-technical partners to understand
* Ability to establish priorities, work independently or within a group, and work with minimal supervision
* Leadership and problem solving abilities
* Excellent communication and documentation skills
* Experience developing content for real time game engines such as Unreal, Unity
* Broad knowledge/experience with Maya, 3ds Max, Blender, Houdini, Substance Designer, Photoshop and ability to quickly learn new DCC software.
* Comfortable fully scripting pipelines and executing workflow suggestions/needs.


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