Principal Technical Artist

Location: United Kingdom, Guildford Why Sony Interactive Entertainment? Sony Interactive Entertainment isn’t just the Best Place to Play — it’s also the Best Place to Work. Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) is the company behind the PlayStation brand. As a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation, we’re part of a proud legacy of innovation and excellence. SIE is a dynamic technology company, delivering cutting-edge hardware and network services to more than 100 million people and an entertainment leader, home to some of the most beloved and recognizable intellectual properties (IP) in the world. Our role at SIE is to create and nurture the experiences under the PlayStation brand, a name synonymous with entertainment excellence and creativity. We are Media Molecule, a Guildford based game developer proudly part of the PlayStation Studios group. We have a history of creating Award winning games such as LittleBigPlanet, Tearaway and Dreams. It’s a fantastic time to join us as we embark on our next adventure, defining and executing the vision for our next ambitious project based out of our studio in central Guildford. We are now searching for an exceptional Principal Technical Artist to join us! This will be a short-term contingent engagement through our staffing partner, Yoh Services which we anticipate will run until the end of July 2027. We are therefore open to hybrid and remote working in the UK with a preference for 1 day a week onsite in Guildford. Role Overview: This role offers an exciting opportunity to serve as a subject-matter expert for the Art Department, applying knowledge gained through prior experience to drive quality, technical excellence and best practices across the project. While there may be some moments of direct contribution to tools, VFX, and/or art, the role’s greatest impact will come from collaboratively elevating the wider team’s work through analysis, documentation and education, solving complex challenges and driving improvements through collaboration and guidance. What you'll be doing: Partner with art and technology teams to identify fidelity and performance issues and suggest/implement suitable solutions. Refine, document and champion best practices for artistic content creation. Identify fidelity and performance issues and suggest/implement suitable solutions. Support and educate artists to maximise efficient use of tools and workflows. Collaborate with key stakeholders to define suitable benchmarks and settings for target configurations / platforms. What we are looking for: Previous experience in a similar level in technical art role. Expertise in modern art pipelines, particularly with respect to materials, lighting, grading and/or environmental art. Extensive knowledge of 3D digital content creation tools, such as Blender or Substance. Competence with performance analysis tools, such as heatmaps and/or frame-time graphs. Excellent written and verbal communication skills. Proactive, pragmatic and collaborative approach to problem solving. Desirable Skills: Experience with C++ and/or Python to build tools for creative disciplines. Benefits: 25 days holiday and 8 bank holidays per year Flexitime working (where approved) Free car parking facilities Onsite canteen Access to cycle garage and showers Please note, Sony Interactive Entertainment conducts background checks at the offer stage for all new employees (which may include criminal background checks for some roles) and will need to process personal information to support these checks. Please refer to our Candidate Privacy Notice for more information about what personal information we collect, how we use it, who we share it with, and your data protection rights. Equal Opportunity Statement: Sony is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All persons will receive consideration for employment without regard to gender (including gender identity, gender expression and gender reassignment), race (including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin), religion or belief, marital or civil partnership status, disability, age, sexual orientation, pregnancy, maternity or parental status, trade union membership or membership in any other legally protected category. We strive to create an inclusive environment, empower employees and embrace diversity. We encourage everyone to respond. Sony Interactive Entertainment is a Fair Chance employer and qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records will be considered for employment.