ArenaNet, makers of Guild Wars, is currently seeking an experienced, passionate Senior Special Effects Artist on location in Bellevue, Washington.

Responsibilities include:

• Working as part of ArenaNet's Technical Art team, creating special effects, and developing sophisticated shader networks using our in-house content tools.
• Helping to develop workflows for other aspects of art production that will interface with effects.
• Working closely with engineers, contributing to and helping to guide the development of efficient and innovative in-house effects tools.
• Designing and painting textures and flipbook sequences for particle effects.
• Working closely with the Technical Art team and the development team as a whole to integrate effects into the game.

A strong candidate will have the following qualifications:

• At least 3 years of industry experience, working in a collaborative team environment.
• Experience creating particle effects and textures in a production environment.
• Portfolio and reel that demonstrates strong artistic and technical abilities such as:
  • The ability to work comfortably in a range of artistic styles, for example, painterly and realistic.
  • A strong understanding of both realistic and stylized animation timing and motion related to sequencing special effects.
  • An understanding of next-gen shaders and their networking.
  • Proficiency in Maya, including modeling, texturing and UV layout with some experience in rigging and animation.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills
• A passion for games and the drive to make a truly unique and innovative gaming experience.

The ideal candidate will have all or most of the above and the following:

• At least 5 years of experience
• Ability to create clear and concise process documentation
• A commitment to personal and peer development by seeking out and proactively sharing best practices.