Materials Artist (Contract)

At ArenaNet, we’ve always believed that games are art. They have the power to communicate ideas and tell stories. They can change the way we think, reflect our cultures, and move us. As the developer of the award-winning Guild Wars game series, we’re proud to share our passion for the online worlds we’ve created with over 21 million players worldwide.

ArenaNet develops and publishes games for every kind of person, which means our games need to be built by every kind of person. We believe the best experiences come from working together, celebrating differences, and helping each of our team members shine.

ArenaNet is looking for a Materials Artist to help bring the world in our upcoming title, Guild Wars 3, to life. In this role, you’ll create high-quality environment assets that shape the visual identity, storytelling, and atmosphere of the game world.

We’re looking for an artist with a strong eye for form, material definition, composition, and storytelling who thrives in a highly collaborative environment and is passionate about building immersive worlds players want to explore.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

• Create high-quality PBR materials and surface treatments that support and elevate the project’s visual direction.

• Build and manage Substance Designer graphs for tileable materials, trims, and surface detail.

• Create 3D props and environment assets for a wide range of locations in Unreal Engine 5.

• Partner closely with Tech Art, Concept Art, Environment Art, Design, and Art Direction to translate visual targets and gameplay needs into compelling in-game assets.

• Collaborate with Environment Artists to ensure materials are integrated consistently and effectively across in-game environments.

• Collaborate with Technical Artists and Engineers to improve workflows, pipelines, optimization, and asset integration processes.

• Contribute to the development and documentation of material workflows, standards, and libraries.

• Track and address material-related bugs.

• Proactively seek and apply feedback while contributing ideas that elevate the overall visual direction of the project.

• Balance artistic quality with performance, readability, gameplay needs, and production constraints.

• Continuously push the quality of the game through strong craftsmanship, iteration, and attention to detail.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED TO BE SUCCESSFUL

• 3+ years of professional game development experience creating environment or prop art for shipped titles.

• Strong portfolio demonstrating high-quality material and surface creation across a variety of styles and real world surfaces.

• Excellent understanding of form, composition, materials, scale, and environmental storytelling.

• Experience creating game-ready materials and assets from high-poly through optimized in-game implementation.

• Strong proficiency in Substance Designer, Maya, ZBrush, Blender and Photoshop.

• Experience working in Unreal Engine workflows, ideally UE5.

• Understanding of physically based rendering (PBR) pipelines and modern asset creation techniques. asset optimization and best practices in content creation.

• Strong collaboration and communication skills with both artistic and technical teams, with ability to both give and receive constructive criticism.

• Ability to iterate quickly while maintaining a high level of polish and craftsmanship.

• Passion for games, world building, and creating immersive player experiences.

This is a 1+ year contract.

Pay Range: $39.58 - $57.55 per hour

This is an hourly contract role with overtime pay when applicable. While we share the full range for transparency, typical offers fall between the minimum and midpoint.

The role is benefits-eligible through our third-party employer, including medical, dental, vision, 401(k), and flexible/dependent care accounts.

This role is remote-friendly, but we are currently prioritizing candidates who are local to the Bellevue, WA area and open to occasional onsite collaboration.

Applications will be accepted until Friday, August 14th by 10am PT. If the deadline is extended, the posting will be updated accordingly. If the position is filled before this date, the posting will be removed.

Don’t meet every single requirement on this job post? Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At ArenaNet, we believe diversity in culture, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and backgrounds make us a better team – we celebrate it. So, if you’re excited about this role, but your experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification listed, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.