World Building Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Team Name:
Unannounced Project
Job Title:
Senior II Technical Artist, World - Unannounced Game | Irvine, CA or Albany, NY
Requisition ID:
R026796
Job Description:
At Blizzard, we craft genre-defining games and legendary worlds for all to share. Through unparalleled creativity and technical excellence, we create immersive universes and iconic experiences that are beloved across platforms, borders, backgrounds, and generations - only made possible by building a work environment that cultivates the artistry of game development and unleashes the aspirations of our people.
We are looking for a Senior II Technical Artist II, World to help craft a new, unannounced game for Blizzard. As a senior individual contributor, you will support and optimize world-building art production through deep technical and artistic expertise. You are a hands-on problem-solver who collaborates closely with artists, designers, and engineers to identify, diagnose, and resolve performance, workflow, and pipeline challenges while delivering high-quality world content at scale.
This role is anticipated to be a hybrid work position, with some work on-site and some work from home. The potential home studio for this role is Irvine, CA or Albany, NY.
Responsibilities
Priorities can often change in a fast-paced environment like ours, so this role includes, but is not limited to, the following responsibilities:

• Directly contribute to establishing, improving, and maintaining landscape and terrain workflows in Unreal Engine.

• Apply a strong understanding of world-building pipelines, including LIDAR and satellite data, Gaea, manual sculpting and beautification, landscape patches, and dataset wrangling in Houdini.

• Create and support landscape materials demonstrating complex biome layering, RVT blending, weight mapping, displacement, and modern approaches to tiling avoidance.

• Create, optimize, and maintain reusable material functions and shaders that support scalable world production.

• Provide broader world-content support through procedural methods such as PCG, Houdini, Blueprint, and related systems.

• Act as a force-multiplier by providing technical support and guidance for a small team of artists and designers.

• Monitor performance and workflow efficiency, identify opportunities for optimization, and process improvement.

• Remain current on industry trends, including advancements in commercial game engines and world-building workflows.

Experience

• 12 years of professional experience working as a technical artist on AAA game-development teams.

• Confirmed experience shipping at least one major title in a relevant technical-art role.

• Proven experience supporting large-scale world-building pipelines in collaboration with art, design, and engineering teams.

Knowledge and Skills

• In-depth knowledge of AAA game engines, with a strong understanding of art implementation and integration methods.

• Comprehensive understanding of modern art pipelines and best practices, including proficiency with industry-standard 3D and 2D tools such as Houdini, Substance Designer, Maya, and Gaea.

• Strong understanding of physically based rendering principles.

• A solid technical foundation in scripting and tooling, including Blueprints, Python, HLSL, and C++.

• Ability to evaluate, debug, and optimize complex world-building content for performance and scalability.

Key Attributes

• A team-oriented approach to your work, with a strong emphasis on collaboration and cross-disciplinary partnership.

• The ability to inspire and elevate others through technical leadership, mentorship, and enthusiasm for craft.

• A self-motivated, proactive problem-solver who can independently drive complex tasks to completion.

• A solid understanding of game development disciplines outside of technical art, such as lighting, VFX, characters, animation, audio, rendering, and systems.

Extra Points

• Experience working through early development and R&D phases of a project.

• Experience with Unreal Engine editor utility widgets, profiling, and validation tools.

• Passion for playing a wide variety of video games.

Required Application Materials

• Portfolio with examples and detailed breakdowns showcasing world-focused technical artwork, tools, and problem-solving approaches.

Your Platform
Best known for iconic video game universes including Warcraft®, Overwatch®, Diablo®, and StarCraft®, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (www.blizzard.com), a division of Activision Blizzard, which was acquired by Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment experiences. Blizzard Entertainment has created some of the industry's most critically acclaimed and genre-defining games over the last 30 years, with a track record that includes multiple Game of the Year awards. Blizzard Entertainment engages tens of millions of players around the world with titles available on PC via Battle.net®, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android.
Our World
Activision Blizzard, Inc., is one of the world's largest and most successful interactive entertainment companies and is at the intersection of media, technology and entertainment. We are home to some of the most beloved entertainment franchises including Call of Duty®, World of Warcraft®, Overwatch®, Diablo®, Candy Crush™ and Bubble Witch™. Our combined entertainment network delights hundreds of millions of monthly active users in 196 countries, making us the largest gaming network on the planet!
Our ability to build immersive and innovative worlds is only enhanced by diverse teams working in an inclusive environment. We aspire to have a culture where everyone can thrive in order to connect and engage the world through epic entertainment. We provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well-being for 'Every World' - we've got our employees covered!
The videogame industry and therefore our business is fast-paced and will continue to evolve. As such, the duties and responsibilities of this role may be changed as directed by the Company at any time to promote and support our business and relationships with industry partners.
We love hearing from anyone who is enthusiastic about changing the games industry. Not sure you meet all qualifications? Let us decide! Research shows that women and members of other under-represented groups tend to not apply to jobs when they think they may not meet every qualification, when, in fact, they often do! We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment and strongly encourage you to apply.
We are committed to working with and providing reasonable assistance to individuals with physical and mental disabilities. If you are a disabled individual requiring an accommodation to apply for an open position, please email your request to accommodationrequests@activisionblizzard.com. General employment questions cannot be accepted or processed here. Thank you for your interest.
We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status, among other characteristics.
Rewards
We provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well-being for 'Every World' - we've got our employees covered! Subject to eligibility requirements, the Company offers comprehensive benefits including:

• Medical, dental, vision, health savings account or health reimbursement account, healthcare spending accounts, dependent care spending accounts, life and AD&D insurance, disability insurance;
• 401(k) with Company match, tuition reimbursement, charitable donation matching;
• Paid holidays and vacation, paid sick time, floating holidays, compassion and bereavement leaves, parental leave;
• Mental health & wellbeing programs, fitness programs, free and discounted games, and a variety of other voluntary benefit programs like supplemental life & disability, legal service, ID protection, rental insurance, and others;
• If the Company requires that you move geographic locations for the job, then you may also be eligible for relocation assistance.

Eligibility to participate in these benefits may vary for part time and temporary full-time employees and interns with the Company. You can learn more by visiting https://www.benefitsforeveryworld.com/.
In the U.S., the standard base pay range for this role is $97,200.00 - $179,900.00 Annual. These values reflect the expected base pay range of new hires across all U.S. locations. Ultimately, your specific range and offer will be based on several factors, including relevant experience, performance, and work location. Your Talent Professional can share this role's range details for your local geography during the hiring process. In addition to a competitive base pay, employees in this role may be eligible for incentive compensation. Incentive compensation is not guaranteed. While we strive to provide competitive offers to successful candidates, new hire compensation is negotiable.