Senior Technical Artist, Rigging - VALORANT

As part of the Technical Art, Rigging team, you will create rigs for characters and props. You will oversee tool creation and maintenance for all other art disciplines. Working closely with animation, modeling, and concept teams, you will uncover new ways to improve workflow and ensure functionality, consistency, and quality. As a support, you will be the carry behind the carry, helping hoist up art teams on the strength of your rigs and tools. 
As a Senior Rigging Technical Artist on VALORANT,  you will play a vital role in shaping the future of our art content and the tools that bring it to life. Your expertise in rigging, combined with your skills in tool and pipeline development, will be crucial in creating high-quality characters, props, and personalization content that resonate with our players.

Responsibilities:

• Design, develop, and maintain tools and pipelines for character modeling, rigging, animation, and texturing.
• Work closely with character artists and animators to understand their needs and challenges, providing technical solutions to improve workflow and efficiency.
• Collaborate with the team and engineer to integrate advanced character features into the game engine.
• Develop and maintain state-of-the-art rigging systems for characters and facial animations, ensuring seamless integration with Unreal Engine.
• Develop and maintain documentation for tools, pipelines, and best practices.
• Train and mentor junior technical artists and team members on tool usage and pipeline processes.
• Stay updated with the latest industry trends and technologies in character development and propose innovative solutions to improve quality and efficiency.
• Debug and troubleshoot issues related to character assets and tools.

Required Qualifications:

• 5+ years of experience in technical art, specifically in tools and pipeline development for characters in the gaming industry.
• Expertise in game development using modern game engines such as Unreal or Unity
• Expertise in content creation and tool development in DCC tools, particularly Maya  and experience with proprietary, self-created, or off-the-shelf rigging systems
• Proficient Python developer
• Experience with Unreal game engines
• Excellent problem-solving skills and ability to work in a fast-paced, collaborative environment.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills.

Desired Qualifications:

• Experience with procedural content creation tools (such as Houdini).
• Knowledge of C++ or other programming languages.
• Proficiency in tool and content pipeline design and development
• Expertise in UI/UX design and front end development (PyQt/PySide skills are a plus)

As a part of the application process, candidates will be expected to provide a portfolio or demo reel of their work and may be asked to complete an art test.

For this role, you'll find success through craft expertise, a collaborative spirit, and decision-making that prioritizes the delight of players. We will be looking at your past studies, experience, and your personal relationship with games. If you embody player empathy and care about players' experiences, this could be your role!

Our Perks:

Riot focuses on work/life balance, shown by our open paid time off policy and other perks such as flexible work schedules. We offer medical, dental, and life insurance, parental leave for you, your spouse/domestic partner, and children, and a 401k with company match. Check out our benefits pages for more information.
Riot Games fosters a player and workplace experience that values teamwork embodied by the Summoner's Code and Community Code. Our culture embraces differences as a strength, and our values are the guiding principles for how we approach work. We are committed to putting diversity and inclusion (D&I) at the center of everything we do and promoting a fair and collaborative culture where Rioters treat one another with dignity and respect. We encourage you to read more about our value of thriving together and our ongoing work to build the most inclusive company in Gaming