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Senior Material Artist Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Senior Environment Artist

Bellevue, WA ยท On-site

$143K - $171K/yr

The ideal candidate has a deep understanding of composition, lighting, materials, and environmental ... As a Senior Environment Artist, you will collaborate with Art Directors, Leads, Designers, and ...

3D Character Artist (Mid-Senior) thatgamecompany is looking for a Mid-Senior 3D Character Artist to ... Understanding of clothing construction and real-world materials * Strive to create a gaming ...

Senior VFX Artist We're Studio Wildcard, developers of the smash indie hit ARK: Survival Evolved ... Scripting (Python, Vex, Mel, etc.) Required Application Materials: * Resume * Demo reel with ...

Senior VFX Artist _____ We're Studio Wildcard, developers of the smash indie hit ARK: Survival ... Scripting (Python, Vex, Mel, etc.) Required Application Materials: * Resume * Demo reel with ...

Senior Character Artist

Santa Monica, CA

$135K - $142K/yr

The Character Art team is looking for a highly technical and artistic Senior Character Artist to ... Highly skilled at working with and defining standards for PBR materials, topology, and in game ...

Senior Technical Artist

Cary, NC ยท On-site

$117K - $140K/yr

While this position favors a materials specialist, the ideal candidate brings a generalist mindset and a solid understanding of the broader game art pipeline. You'll work closely with artists ...

Senior Character Artist

Santa Monica, CA ยท On-site

$69.09 - $86.35/hr

The Character Art team is looking for a highly technical and artistic Senior Character Artist to ... Highly skilled at working with and defining standards for PBR materials, topology, and in game ...

Senior Environment Artist

Boston, MA ยท On-site +1

$99K - $163K/yr

Join CD PROJEKT RED as a Senior Environment Artist and play a pivotal role in the development of ... Strong awareness of the role materials play in constructing the final frame and how materials fit ...

Senior Environment Artist

Boston, MA ยท On-site

$99K - $163K/yr

Join CD PROJEKT RED as a Senior Environment Artist and play a pivotal role in the development of ... Strong awareness of the role materials play in constructing the final frame and how materials fit ...

Senior Technical Artist

Austin, TX

$125K - $150K/yr

Position Summary The Senior Technical Artist acts as aresource within the art team, mentoring other ... materials. You'll be supporting Live events and economy rollout to our players with our LiveOps ...

Join CD PROJEKT RED as a Senior Environment Artist and play a pivotal role in the development of ... Strong awareness of the role materials play in constructing the final frame and how materials fit ...

Senior Technical Artist

Austin, TX ยท On-site

$125K - $150K/yr

Position Summary The Senior Technical Artist acts as a resource within the art team, mentoring ... materials. You'll be supporting Live events and economy rollout to our players with our LiveOps ...

What We Are Looking For The Senior VFX Artist works across all our titles and interacts directly ... Build elegant materials in Unreal Engine 5 for particle systems and world geometry. * Create memory ...

What We Are Looking For The Senior VFX Artist works across all our titles and interacts directly ... Build elegant materials in Unreal Engine 5 for particle systems and world geometry. * Create memory ...

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Senior Material Artist information

See salary details

$30.5K

$129.5K

$152.5K

How much do senior material artist jobs pay per year?

As of Aug 9, 2026, the average yearly pay for senior material artist in the United States is $129,541.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $127,000.00 and $152,000.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a senior material artist, and why are they important?

To thrive as a Senior Material Artist, you need advanced skills in digital texturing, shading, and material creation, typically supported by experience in 3D art and a strong portfolio. Mastery of tools like Substance Painter, Substance Designer, Photoshop, and familiarity with game engines such as Unreal Engine or Unity is essential. Strong attention to detail, creativity, and the ability to collaborate effectively with other artists and developers are standout soft skills. These abilities ensure the creation of realistic, high-quality materials that enhance visual storytelling and meet production standards in games and digital media.

What is a senior material artist?

Senior Material Artists are experienced digital artists who specialize in creating high-quality textures and materials for 3D models used in video games, films, and other visual media. They work closely with other artists and technical teams to ensure materials look realistic and meet the artistic vision of the project. Their responsibilities often include developing complex shader networks, optimizing materials for performance, and mentoring junior artists. A Senior Material Artist typically has a strong understanding of both artistic principles and technical workflows.

What is the difference between Senior Material Artist vs Texture Artist?

AspectSenior Material ArtistTexture Artist
CredentialsTypically requires a strong portfolio, experience in material creation, and proficiency in software like Substance Painter, Maya, or 3ds MaxRequires a portfolio demonstrating texturing skills, proficiency in similar software, and understanding of surface detailing
Work EnvironmentWorks in game or film studios, collaborating with lighting, modeling, and shading teamsWorks in similar environments, focusing on creating surface textures for models used in games, films, or animations
Industry UsageCommonly used in AAA game development, VFX, and animation studiosWidely used across gaming, film, and animation industries

The main difference is that a Senior Material Artist specializes in creating complex, realistic materials and shaders, often overseeing the material pipeline, while a Texture Artist focuses on creating detailed surface textures for models. Both roles require similar skills and software knowledge, but the Senior Material Artist typically has more experience and responsibilities in shader development and material optimization.

How does a senior material artist typically collaborate with other departments during a game development project?

Senior Material Artists work closely with environment artists, technical artists, and lighting teams to ensure that materials are visually consistent and optimized for game performance. They often participate in cross-functional meetings to align their work with the project's artistic vision and technical requirements. Effective communication is essential, as they may need to provide feedback, share best practices, and troubleshoot material-related issues with colleagues from different disciplines. This collaborative approach helps ensure cohesive visuals and smooth integration of assets into the game engine.
What cities are hiring for Senior Material Artist jobs? Cities with the most Senior Material Artist job openings:
What are the most commonly searched types of Material Artist jobs? The most popular types of Material Artist jobs are:
What states have the most Senior Material Artist jobs? States with the most job openings for Senior Material Artist jobs include:

Senior Environment Artist

PUBG Seattle

Bellevue, WA โ€ข On-site

$143K - $171K/yr

Other

Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, Retirement, PTO

Re-posted 2 days ago


Job description

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.

The person we're looking for:

We are seeking a highly experienced Senior Environment Artist with deep expertise in large-scale world creation, set dressing, terrain generation, landscape development, procedural techniques and advanced shader authoring.ย  We are looking for an experienced Environment Artist to join our team and help bring immersive, visually stunning worlds to life. This role requires strong artistic vision, technical expertise, and collaboration skills to influence environment art quality and support a team of artists through mentorship and knowledge sharing. The ideal candidate has a deep understanding of composition, lighting, materials, and environmental storytelling, with a proven track record of creating high-quality game environments.

As a Senior Environment Artist, you will collaborate with Art Directors, Leads, Designers, and Technical Artists to establish and maintain the visual direction for environments while ensuring assets meet both artistic and technical standards. Additionally, you will mentor and support other artists, helping to refine workflows and ensure smooth production pipelines.

This position is fully in-office in Bellevue, WA and reports to the Lead Environment Artist.ย 

Responsibilities:
  • Create and own large-scale environments from block out through final polish.
  • Design and develop realistic terrains, biomes, landscapes, and natural ecosystems.
  • Build modular environment kits and world-building pipelines for massive open worlds.
  • Support complex environment art efforts and serve as a subject matter expert for large scale world creation, mentor a team of artists, providing quality bar-setting examples, constructive feedback and fostering professional growth.
  • Work closely with Art Directors, Leads, Designers, and Technical Artists to ensure visual consistency and technical feasibility.
  • Develop and refine environmental storytelling techniques to create immersive game worlds.
  • Contribute to the development and evolution of environment art workflows, tools, and best practices that improve quality, efficiency, and scalability.
  • Identify production challenges, technical limitations, and content creation bottlenecks, collaborating with cross-functional teams to develop effective solutions.
  • Optimize assets for performance and memory constraints while maintaining high visual fidelity.
  • Support in managing art production pipelines to ensure deadlines and quality expectations are met.
  • Work with engineers and level designers to ensure seamless asset integration into the game engine.
  • Stay up to date with industry trends and push the boundaries of game environment art.
A Typical Day May Include:
  • Reviewing builds with an eye to maintaining a high-quality bar while respecting project or technical requirements.
  • Communicating with leadership to align on various topics like art direction and project timelines.
  • Creating high-quality game art content.
  • Providing constructive feedback to other artists to establish best practices and document workflows.
Portfolio Requirements:

Please include:

  • High-quality environment art for video games, including examples of realistic work and demonstrated understanding of composition, lighting, and asset pipelines.
  • Examples of large-scale environments or open-world scenes.
  • Terrain and landscape breakdowns.
  • Shader/material examples.
  • Wireframes and optimization examples where applicable.
  • Breakdown documentation demonstrating your workflow and technical contribution.
Qualifications:
  • 5-8+ years of experience as an environment artist in the video game industry with at least 2 shipped titles.
  • Strong leadership and mentorship skills, with experience guiding and supporting a team of artists.
  • Proficiency in industry tools such as Blender, Substance Suite, Zbrush and Photoshop.
  • Deep knowledge of landscape creation tools, such as Houdini, World Machine, Gaea etc.
  • Experience with large-scale terrain systems, modular and procedural content workflows.
  • Deep knowledge in the creation and analysis of pixel shaders.
  • Experience using photo scan data as well as satellite imagery.
  • Recent experience with Unreal Engine 4 or 5, including material and pixel shader creation.
  • Deep understanding of PBR workflows, composition, lighting, and environmental storytelling.
  • Vegetation content creation.
  • Strong understanding of real-world architecture, set dressing and infrastructure.
  • Ability to balance artistic vision with technical constraints for optimized performance.
  • Strong communication and problem-solving skills, with the ability to work collaboratively across teams.
  • Excellent English written and verbal communication ability.
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.
What we offer:ย 
  • A highly competitive total compensation packageย ย ย 
  • Comprehensive employer funded healthcare - ensuring you pay nothing out of pocket for in-network medical careย 
  • Employer-paid premiums for dental, vision, short & long-term disability, life insurance, and AD&D insuranceย ย ย ย ย 
  • Generous benefits include 20 days PTO, 12 paid holidays and a studio-wide holiday break annuallyย ย ย ย 
  • Ampleย sick leave days annually to prioritize your well-beingย ย ย ย ย ย 
  • Health & wellness, video game, and continuing education reimbursementsย 
  • Industry-leading family planning and fertility care benefits, including gender-affirming care, through Carrot Fertilityย 
  • Enjoy meal reimbursements, and snacks and beverages for in office staffย 
  • 401K with a company match for your financial well-beingย 

In Washington, the expected salary range for this position isย $103,000- $155,000. 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.ย