Technical Artist (On-site)

Job Description

Company Overview: Age of Learning® is the leading education technology innovator, creating engaging and effective learning resources to help children build a strong foundation for academic success and a lifelong love of learning. Our research-based digital education programs have proven efficacy in increasing children’s learning gains, and our curriculum is developed by an experienced team of education experts. Age of Learning’s flagship product, ABCmouse.com® Early Learning Academy , is an award-winning comprehensive curriculum for children. Adventure Academy TM , a massively multiplayer online game (MMO), provides elementary-and middle-school-age learners the opportunity to build critical knowledge in language, arts, math, science, social studies, and more in a fun and safe virtual world. The company’s School Solutions Programs include My Math Academy® , an adaptive, personalized program that helps students master foundational math concepts, and My Reading AcademyTM , which helps young learners become fluent readers and build a foundation for reading comprehension and literacy. With over 10 billion learning activities completed by more than 50 million children worldwide, Age of Learning is a global leader in efforts to advance equity, access, and opportunity for all children. To learn more about Age of Learning, visit www.AgeofLearning.com . Summary We seek a Technical Artist to provide robust support to the AofL team in the creation and implementation of final art assets. This right candidate is a creative-minded engineer who understands how to bridge the gap between art/design/animation and code. In addition to preparing assets, this person will track technical details, facilitate cross-discipline communication, define asset requirements, create guidelines, and develop methodologies. Come join us in our effort to deliver a best-in-class, cross-platform product that delights and enlightens children and their parents around the world. The Technical Artist will support the AofL team in their production and delivery of final art assets to the development team. The Technical Artist will ensure that all assets created and delivered by the team meet the requirements for a range of platforms and technologies. This candidate will work hands-on in the preparation of final art, but will also be responsible for developing guidelines and methodologies that enable all members of the design team. The Technical Artist will have a deep technical knowledge of static 2D assets, animated characters and props, as well as visual effect (particles), and UI. The role will act as a conduit between the engineering dept and the art and design teams.

Responsibilities

• Provide assistance to Designers in the creation and hand-off of production-ready art and animation assets.
• Help establish standards, conventions, best practices for asset creation and integration workflow.
• Manage optimization/best practices.
• Create and maintain art production templates covering wide-ranging needs.
• Research software tools that can help enable art production
• Diagnose problems related to asset preparation and quickly deliver solutions
• Be the development team's main contact on the art and design teams when asset integration or performance questions arise
• Review assets relative to technical and integration requirements before hand-off
• Facilitate production-related communication between the engineers, designers, and artists
• Be sufficiently versed in the technology to advise artists and designers on opportunities and limitations affecting design decisions
• Work with artists, designers, and animators to prepare working files for integration into development environments including animations, visual effects, static assets, and rigged characters
• Experience working with Flutter and Rive. Understanding of the Flutter game framework Flame a big plus.
• Work to optimize and streamline the art pipeline
• Oversee and manage art-related performance issues and technical budgeting
• Create and manage tools to expedite the production process
• Partner with Leads to ensure product vision and quality benchmarks are met
• Stay current with industry trends and technical advancements used in game development

Minimum Qualifications

• Bilingual English/Business Spanish (written and verbal) in a business setting
• 2+ years experience in a similar role as Technical Artist within the games industry having shipped multiple games
• Advanced understanding of 2D or 3D games production in environments like Flutter, React, or Unity and a basic understanding of the workflows from both Figma and Rive into Flutter or React.
• The ability to engineer interactive solutions to visual and design problems using state machines, events, and listeners in Rive or Unity.
• Familiarity with custom shaders or shader plugins
• Experience working in a fast-paced environment that requires rapid project turnaround and frequent priority shifts
• Experience writing custom tools to aid in pipeline efficiency
• Experience writing in at least one scripting language
• Knowledge of device formats and limitations
• Adept at balancing trade-offs between quality and performance
• Strong verbal and written communication skills for both design and engineer audiences
• Team player, Accommodates change easily and comfortable working in a fast-paced production environment
• Agile at navigating multiple projects
• Self-motivated, proactive, and detailed oriented
• Able to manage time and schedules efficiently

Preferred Qualifications

• 1+ years of experience with Python, MEL, and C#
• 1+ years of experience in 2D Art style pipelines
• 6+ months of experience with version control software (like Gitlab, SourceTree)
• 1+ years of experience rigging and skinning in Rive and/or Spine
• 1+ years of experience creating VFX in Lottie and/or Rive
• 6+ months of experience to write custom shaders
• 6+ months of experience to make rough prototype games to demonstrate game design

An Equal Opportunity Employer Age of Learning, Inc. (the “Company”) is committed to a policy of Equal Employment Opportunity and will not discriminate against an applicant or employee on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, national origin or ancestry, sex, gender expression, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, pregnancy, veteran or military status, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, domestic partner status, genetic information, or any other legally-recognized protected basis under federal, state or local laws, regulations or ordinances. Apply for this job