Lead Material Artist (Character/Wardrobe, World/Props) / (Personnage/Garde-robe, Monde/Accessoires)

Job Description

NBCUniversal is seeking a Lead Material Artist to define and drive material systems for an ambitious interactive project set in a contemporary, real‑life urban environment. This role owns the quality, consistency, and scalability of materials across either character‑focused surfaces (skin, fabric, wardrobe) or world‑focused surfaces (environments, props, tiling systems)—candidates are only expected to specialize in one area.

This leader will partner closely with Art Direction, Technical Art, and cross‑disciplinary teams to ensure materials are fully integrated into pipelines and rendering systems, supporting production from high‑end platforms to mobile. The role also includes leading a team and establishing scalable workflows, shader standards, and material libraries that can support large‑scale production.

Responsibilities

• Translate art direction into high‑quality materials that meet both visual and technical requirements.
• Lead and mentor a team of material artists, ensuring consistency, quality, and scalability across assets.
• Define, maintain, and evolve material pipelines, workflows, and best practices.
• Oversee creation of materials within your specialty: character track (body, skin, fabrics, accessories and wardrobe materials) or world track (environment and architectural surfaces, props, tiling systems, and modular materials).
• Ensure materials scale across large worlds and diverse asset types, from hero assets to high‑volume content, and across platforms from high‑end to mobile.
• Collaborate closely with Character, Environment, Tech Art, and Lighting teams for proper integration.
• Partner with engineering and tech art to ensure correct implementation in rendering and runtime systems.
• Identify and improve pipelines to support efficient, scalable production.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 7+ years of experience in game development with a focus on material creation (character or environment).
• Extensive experience in AAA production environments.
• Proven experience leading and managing a team of artists on at least one shipped title.
• Strong portfolio demonstrating high‑quality materials relevant to your specialty.
• Deep understanding of PBR workflows and shader‑based material systems.
• Experience working with real‑time pipelines and performance constraints.
• Experience with modern game engines such as Unreal Engine.
• Positive leadership, communication, collaboration, and feedback skills.

Desired Characteristics

• Experience building scalable material libraries and reusable systems.
• Experience with Unreal Engine 5 and advanced shader workflows.
• Familiarity with large‑scale, production‑driven pipelines (e.g., modular assets, customization systems, or procedural workflows).
• Positive experience working with outsourcing partners or distributed teams.
• Strong eye for realism, material definition, and visual consistency.
• Ability to balance visual quality with performance requirements.
• Excellent communication and natural practice of positive communication and leadership skills and the ability to thrive in a fast‑paced environment.
• Desire to think and explore innovative solutions.

Eligibility Requirements

• Interested candidates must apply to be considered.
• Must be willing to work in our Montreal office a minimum of 4 days a week.
• Must be legally authorized to work in Canada.
• Must be willing to travel for work related business, if necessary.

Additional Information

As part of our selection process, external candidates may be required to attend an in‑person interview with an NBCUniversal employee at one of our locations prior to a hiring decision. NBCUniversal’s policy is to provide equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, gender identity or expression, age, national origin or ancestry, citizenship, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy, veteran status, membership in the uniformed services, genetic information, or any other basis protected by applicable law.

If you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran and require support throughout the application and/or recruitment process as a result of your disability, you have the right to request a reasonable accommodation. You can submit your request to AccessibilitySupport@nbcuni.com.

#J-18808-Ljbffr