AVAILABLE POSITIONS Lead Technical Artist – Wizard of Oz Slots
Careers Category:Art & Animation
Careers location:Austin, TX, Bay Area, CA, Carlsbad, CA, Chicago, IL, Eugene, OR, Remote, US, Remote, Canada, Toronto, Canada
Connected Worker Type:Connected
Requisition Id:R_108699
Zynga is looking for a Lead Technical Artist to join the team that brings to life one of the most beloved franchises, Wizard of Oz Slots! We make the world’s most beautiful slots and do so in a fast paced, encouraging, and upbeat environment. Our team consists of veterans from the casino and video game industries, giving us phenomenal depth and adaptability.
All applicants must provide an Online Portfolio, Demo Reel or Samples of their work with Shot Breakdowns to be considered for the role.
Main Responsibilities
As a Lead Technical Artist, you will have the opportunity to guide and empower a group of amazingly versatile TAs through a journey of strengthening pipelines, chipping in to our tools roadmap and improving the quality and performance of our beloved title. You will empower, support and guide others to excellence, acting as a role model for organizational, technical, and creative skills. You will be working closely with the Art Director, Production and other Discipline Leads to continue building on the success of our live game!
Additional duties include:
- Work closely with the Product, Design, Art and Engineering teams to develop robust design documents.
- Develop an understanding of existing and new Feature and Slot Machine designs to guide the team through planning, costing and reviewing.
- High level understanding of Art Structures and Art Asset usage.
- Proficiency in common TA tasks, including art asset implementation, keyframe reduction & texture optimization.
- High proficiency in investigating and identifying the root cause for bugs.
- Identifying, supporting and contributing to process improvements and efficiency tools.
- Be confident and comfortable providing original ideas and solutions to challenging issues throughout the production environment.
- Act as a go-to source of knowledge and provide training to other team members
- Champion and facilitate building systems that support the needs of the product over a single feature.
Our ideal candidate is a phenomenal communicator, teammate, and proactive problem solver. You draw from a range of skills to creatively tackle for solutions. You are a contributor of ideas, overseer of pipelines, and collaborator across subject area lines providing expertise and seeking out potential issues before they become problems.
In this role, you are the fountain of knowledge across all of our content and strive to help address higher level challenges that affect the team, the product and the process.
Desired Skills and Experience
- Experience at leading teams and individual contributors
- Highly skilled at communication with team members of varying subject areas including written documentation of pipeline processes
- Driven to stay knowledgeable of industry trends and technologies and share those takeaways with the larger technical artist community
- Deep understanding of technical requirements of mobile game development
- 5+ years experience in game development
- Understanding of optimizing art assets for memory and performance considerations
- Passionate about video games
- An appreciation for Casino games, especially video slots
- Experience with version control software such as Perforce and Git
- Core Adobe Creative Suite skills
- General ability to address different art tasks, such as paint-overs, concept mockups, 2D character rigging, animation, etc.
- Steadfast thirst for technical challenges
- A passion for supporting your peers and empowering them to do their job optimally and efficiently
- Some proficiency with OO Programming languages such as Objective C, C++ or C#
- Some knowledge creating shaders for a game engine
- Knowledge of Animation and VFX experience is a plus
What we offer you:
- Competitive salary, bonus plan and ESPP (Employee Stock Purchase Plan)
- 401K Company Match Contribution (US)
- RRSP/DPSP company match contribution (Canada)
- Health coverage, dental, disability, critical illness, EAP, and life insurance (Canada)
- Medical, dental, vision, EAP, life insurance, and disability benefits (US)
- Virtual mental health and neurodiversity support programs
- Global Fitness reimbursement program
- Global Wellbeing Program
- Financial wellness program with unlimited access to certified financial planners
- Discretionary Time Off policy for many employees
- Family planning support program
- Generous paid parental, pregnancy-related disability, caregiver, and compassionate leaves
- Subsidized Back-up child care
- Zynga happy hours and frequent employee events
- Flexible working hours on many teams
- Culture of diversity and inclusion including employee resource groups
- Work with cool people and impact millions of daily player
The pay range for this position in California at the start of employment is expected to be between $105,000 and $155,000 per year.
The pay range for this position in New York City at the start of employment is expected to be between $100,000 and $150,000 per year.
This is a fully remote role that may be based anywhere in the United States. The pay range for this position for applicants based in Colorado at the start of employment is expected to be between $70,000 and $105,000 per year.
However, base pay offered is based on market location, and may vary further depending on individualized factors for job candidates, such as job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and other objective business considerations. Subject to those same considerations, the total compensation package for this position may also include other elements, including a bonus and/or equity awards, in addition to a full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits. Details of participation in these benefit plans will be provided if an employee receives an offer of employment. If hired, employee will be in an “at-will position” and the Company reserves the right to modify base salary (as well as any other discretionary payment or compensation or benefit program) at any time, including for reasons related to individual performance, Company or individual department/team performance, and market factors.
We are an equal opportunity employer and we are committed to building a diverse and talented workforce. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, religion, colour, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, medical condition, disability, or any other class or characteristic protected by applicable law. We welcome job-seekers, players, employees, and partners from all backgrounds to join us!
We will consider all qualified job-seekers with criminal histories in a manner consistent with applicable law.
We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with physical or mental disabilities in order to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us at AccommodationRequest@zynga.com to request an accommodation associated with your application for an open position.
Zynga does not engage in financial exchanges during the recruitment or onboarding process. We do not conduct job interviews over third-party messaging apps such as Telegram, WhatsApp or others. We will never ask you for your personal or financial information over unofficial chat channels. Our in-house recruitment team only contacts individuals via official company email addresses (i.e., via a zynga.com or naturalmotion.com email domain).
If you believe you have been the victim of a scam, you may wish to contact the authorities. In the United States, you may file a complaint with the FBI. More information is available here: https://www.ic3.gov .