Grinding Gear Games is looking to hire Animators, Artists, Designers and Programmers to support the development of Path of Exile and Path of Exile 2, ideally from our office in Auckland, New Zealand (when travel restrictions lift).

Our current opportunities:

• Art Director
• Level Designer
• 3D Art Generalists
• Environment Concept Artist
• Senior Materials Artist
• C++ Gameplay or User Interface Programmer
• Visual Effects Artist
• Senior Animators
• 3D Game Environment Artist
• Game Lighting Artist/Environment Designer

Art Director

Responsibilities

• Provide artistic leadership, direct and lead your team to produce and maintain high quality and consistent aesthetic across all areas in the game and related material.
• Facilitate and lead art reviews, directing and providing positive, constructive feedback across your team.
• Lead the delivery of assets that fit artistic, production and technical performance goals.
• Manage external outsourcing studios and maintain a consistent aesthetic across all of the areas in the game and related material.

Requirements

• 10 years experience in games development with 3 years as an Art Director
• Experience with high budget AAA game development
• Leadership experience
• Understanding of how to create awesome gaming experiences
• Working knowledge of game development tools and their limitations
• Excellent communications skills, with an ability to train other artists
• Self-motivation and self-reliance; ability to proactively seek out solutions to unblock progress and make work easier for others
• Understanding of Path of Exile and its themes
• Traditional arts background and/or a BA in Fine Art or 3D/Game Art is a plus
• A strong portfolio, and/or reel demonstrating your artistic skills and showing your shipped projects
• Must be willing to complete an art test if requested to do so

Level Designer

You will develop randomised levels with high replayability while maintaining the Path of Exile aesthetic across the game. We are looking for an avid gamer that has a deep understanding of Path of Exile and its themes.

Responsibilities:

• Create immersive and replayable gameplay that supports and enhances the core mechanics and aesthetic
• Ensure a high level of quality through close collaboration with the Creative Director, Art Directors, Game Designers, Environment Artists, Sound Designers and other disciplines
• Integrate the content produced by other disciplines for your designs into the game engine (new gameplay elements, AI, sound, etc)
• Quickly learn to master our internal tools, and assist in making them better
• Conduct gameplay evaluations with the team, providing feedback and suggestions to help fine-tune the game
• Locate and fix bugs in both your own and your colleagues' work

Requirements:

• 2+ years of game industry experience
• Game design sensibilities
• Experience using Maya or a high level of proficiency in a similar 3D modelling tool
• Proactive and self-reliant
• Excellent written and verbal English communication skills
• Ability to work within a team environment
• Your portfolio, and/or reel demonstrating relevant skills required
• You must be willing to complete a level design test if requested to do so

3D Art Generalists

You will help create and handle art assets in Path of Exile. You will work to create, improve and maintain the aesthetic of environments, characters and monsters; and you will give critique, manage and prepare other artists’ work to ensure functionality with our in-house tools and pipeline.

Requirements:

• Experience working in game development at a professional studio on shipped 3D animated titles
• Good general knowledge of Maya when it comes to modelling, texturing and basic rigging.
• Good understanding of import/export processes using .obj/.fbx file formats.
• Self-motivation and self-reliance; ability to research and learn new tools quickly.
• Proficiency in Maya and Photoshop.
• Familiarity with Substance and PBR materials is a plus.
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to evaluate time requirements
• Proactive and self-reliant
• Excellent written and verbal English communication skills
• Ability to work within a team environment
• A strong portfolio demonstrating relevant artistic skills required
• Must be willing to complete an art test if requested to do so

Pluses:

• An avid gamer with a deep understanding of our game, Path of Exile.
• Experience leading and/or mentoring
• Ability to light and render 3D objects
• A traditional art background and/or a BA/Diploma in Fine Art or 3D/Game Art
• TD skills

Environment Concept Artist

You will develop concept art and work to maintain a consistent aesthetic across the game and related mediums such as trailers and web. The ideal candidate has a firm grasp of colour, texture, composition and anatomy as it relates to games. We are looking for an avid gamer that has a deep understanding of our game Path of Exile and its themes.

Requirements:

• 2 years of environment concept work in games, or 5 years of relevant studies or work in visual/technical fields like advertising, architectural visualisation ETC.
• Superior eye for lighting, value, colour, details, and the ability to use them in creating realistic, gritty and visually appealing imagery.
• Self-motivation and self-reliance; ability to research and learn new tools quickly. Excellent communications skills, and able to work within a team.
• Passion for creating 'dark and gritty' environments.
• Deep understanding of the game we produce (Path of Exile)
• Traditional arts background and/or a BA in Fine Art or 3D/Game Art is a plus
• A strong portfolio, and/or reel demonstrating your artistic skills and showing your shipped projects
• Must be willing to complete an art test if requested to do so

Senior Materials Artist

Responsibilities:

• Create high-quality work using a variety of software programs
• Maintain a consistent aesthetic across your work in the game and related mediums such as trailers and web
• Collaborate across disciplines sharing ideas and articulating visions.
• Show initiative, push ideas and innovate within your duties
• Be aware of project/task schedules and be capable of delivering work to deadlines
• Take direction from the Art Director, Creative Director and engage with Producers
• Attend regular team meetings, providing updated status and progress of your deliverables

Requirements:

• Solid background as a 3D Art Generalist or Environment Artist in professional AAA video games or cinematics, animation or VFX studios
• Experience as a Materials Artist
• Solid grasp of colour and other physical material properties as they relate to games
• Proficient at creating both stylized and PBR materials using Substance Designer, Substance Painter and Photoshop
• Expert knowledge in node-based material editors, tiling layered materials, shader networks and procedural texturing
• You are inspired by growth and excellence and thrive on sharing your knowledge with your teammates while continually honing your craft
• Iterating, communicating and creating together is what drives your passion for art and games
• Knowledgeable in the key professional tools, techniques and asset creation pipelines: Maya, Zbrush, game engine (e.g. UE/Unity/proprietary), Marvelous Designer, modeling, baking, texturing, UV creation, unwrapping
• Proactive and self-reliant with good problem-solving skills
• Excellent communications skills with the ability to in a team environment
• Solid portfolio showcasing your Environment assets as well as your ability to create and apply high-quality materials to assets
• Must be willing to complete an art test if requested to do so

C++ Gameplay or User Interface Programmer

Requirements:

• A Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering or equivalent
• Strong knowledge of modern C++
• Excellent communication skills
• At least six months of commercial game programming experience
• Must be able to pass our technical C++ programming test (approximately one hour long)

Pluses:

• Experience with our game, Path of Exile

Visual Effects Artist

You will develop real-time effects from concept to implementation and work to maintain a consistent aesthetic across all the effects in the game. The ideal candidate has a firm grasp of colour, texture, timing and impact as relates to FX and shows an ability to sketch and storyboard to convey design ideas.

Requirements:

• Three years of experience creating game art
• Experience creating real-time game effects in a wide range of software
• Superior eye for lighting, value, colour, details, and the ability to use them in creating efficient and impactful visual effects
• Self-motivation, excellent communications skills, and able to work within a team
• Positive attitude and able to receive and provide objective feedback
• Passion for creating 'dark and gritty' spells and microtransactions
• Must be willing to complete an art test if requested to do so

Senior Animator

A senior animator is responsible for creating animation assets and working with the Creative Director, Animation Lead, Designers, and Riggers to realize characters, monsters, or special effects.

Requirements:

• 7 years of animation and animation production experience
• Solid body mechanics and experience animating general combat, melee weapons and magic for both human, animals, and abstract creatures
• Proven experience in a professional production pipeline and the ability to create high-quality animations
• Solid knowledge of Maya
• The ability to take constructive criticism and maintain a professional attitude
• Independently self-motivated team player with excellent communication skills
• Team lead experience is a plus
• Must be willing to complete an art test if requested to do so

3D Game Environment Artist

You will develop tiles, implement assets and work to maintain a consistent aesthetic across the game. The ideal candidate has a firm grasp of gritty texture, colour, and shapes. We are looking for an avid gamer that has a deep understanding of our game Path of Exile and its themes.

Requirements:

• 3 year of environment work in games, or 5 years of work experience in a related fields(sculpting, miniatures)
• Experience with maya, Z brush and substance painter(designer is a bonus)
• Superior eye for texture, value, color and the ability to use them in creating gritty consistent environments
• Self-motivation and self-reliance; ability to research and learn new tools quickly
• Excellent communications skills, and able to work within a team
• Deep understanding of the game we produce(Path of Exile)
• Must be willing to complete an art test if requested to do so

Game Lighting Artist and Environment Design

You will create real-time environments and moods and work to maintain a consistent aesthetic across all the areas in the game and related material, like trailers. The ideal candidate has a firm grasp of colour, materials and light as it relates to level design and lighting in games. We are looking for an avid gamer that has a deep understanding of our game Path of Exile and its themes.

Requirements:

• Experience with level or room creation in games
• Understanding how to create efficient and impactful lighting that enhances narratives
• Working knowledge of Maya and real-time game authoring environments like the Path of Exile hideout creation tool
• Excellent communications skills, with an ability to train other artists in the creation and lighting of locations and levels
• Ability to create video tutorials related to the level design process
• Some proficiency in graphic editing tools like Photoshop
• Self-motivation and self-reliance; ability to research and learn new tools quickly
• Deep understanding of the game we produce (Path of Exile)
• Must be willing to complete an art test if requested to do so

Who/How to apply:

If you meet the above requirements and are already legally permitted to work in New Zealand, OR if you’re a citizen or permanent resident of Australia willing to relocate to Auckland when travel restrictions ease. Due to the global health crisis, visa sponsorship is not offered at this time.

Email us a cover letter and your CV with link/s to your portfolio/reel (whichever is relevant). Send your email to jobs@grindinggear.com with your name + role you are applying for in the subject line.