ASSOCIATE ENVIRONMENT DIRECTOR

EA Create is a collective of content production teams partnering with EA Studios game teams to bring outstanding visuals, audio, and technology to life. Our teams are comprised of artists, engineers, technicians, designers, and development directors. Worldwide, we combine our teams to form a global group of extraordinary individuals fueled by imagination and a unified passion for creating amazing visuals, sound, and experiences. We are a diverse team, unified through collaboration, culture, and craft.
As Associate Environment Director you will work with both internal and external teams of the Worlds/Environments domain, to achieve diverse and engaging worlds and gameplay levels for our players. You will collaborate closely with Art Direction and Level Design Leads, to help develop both the visual and gameplay experiences – according to the goals of each.
With an interest in creating content for our current and next-generation Sports titles, you will:
Responsibilities
Act as a leadership figure within the project, working closely with a diverse team of Artists, Technical Artists, Project Managers, Producers and Art Directors
Create high-quality benchmark content, from individual assets to entire levels, sets, or stadiums/arenas.
Set dress locations, conveying depth and storytelling in the way assets are composed going beyond the immediate needs of game design.
Deconstruct concept art, reference imagery, and style guides into efficient asset lists, taking into account opportunities for reuse and modular construction.
Breakdown tasks, assemble reference material, write briefs and estimates and oversee the work of internal and external artists.
Drive and facilitate content reviews and feedback, ensuring content quality meets targets.
Work with multiple Art Directors and leads to understand the content vision, direction, and quality expectations.
Explore, recommend and implement new techniques, tools, and workflows that improve quality and efficiency.
Maintain team best practices.
Mentor junior/intermediate artists.

Qualifications
8 or more years of production experience with asset creation, and overseeing entire levels.
You have expert knowledge of Maya, Max, or similar 3D modeling software.
Exceptional asset creation abilities (hard surface, architecture and/or organic assets)
Experience breaking down complex scenes into efficient asset sets and components.
Experienced working methodically, from initial grey-block through to final assets, iterating with low-fidelity content to determine the optimal approach, before building final assets.
A strong sense of proportion, scene composition, and lighting.
Convey a sense of ‘story’ through scene composition and set dressing – either to support, or enhance to the game design.
Experienced in managing and directing a small subset of artists in delivering Environments content to final quality.
Well versed in assessing scope, making recommendations, providing solid estimates, and delivering on time and to quality
Experience working with content-driven game engines (e.g. Unreal, Frostbite, Unity).
Experience collaborating with designers, engineers, and tech artists to evolve workflows, pipelines, and to problem-solve.
High fidelity modeling skills, along with ability to paint photorealistic surfaces using industry-standard physically-based 3D paint software (ideally Substance Painter).
Experience with photogrammetry, ZBrush and Substance Designer is a plus.
Experience working with outsource vendors is a plus.

Portfolio Requirements
Examples of levels and assets that were created/owned from start to finish.
Sets, assets and environments that demonstrate an understanding of composition, architectural construction, material properties, and organic wear and tear.
Work examples that demonstrate effective world building processes, including modular construction.
Examples of high fidelity modelled assets, painted using 3D paint software, e.g. Substance Painter.