Senior Technical Artist, Graphics | Diablo | Albany, NY or Irvine, CA (Finance)

Team Name:
Diablo

Job Title:
Senior Technical Artist, Graphics | Diablo | Albany, NY or Irvine, CA

Requisition ID:
R026057

Job Description:

We Need You

The minions of Hell are growing stronger...

Join us as we continue to shape the Diablo universe! Diablo games are action RPG experiences with endless evil to slaughter, countless abilities to master, nightmarish Dungeons, and legendary loot. Come work with us, and together, we'll create something amazing. Our team of passionate developers is growing.

As a Senior Technical Artist , you will play a key role in bridging the gap between art and engineering. You'll leverage your deep understanding of game development tools and production workflows to support the creation, optimization, and integration of high-quality art assets into the game engine. In this role, you'll be expected to collaborate closely with artists, engineers, and designers to develop and maintain efficient pipelines and tools, and to solve complex technical challenges related to rendering, shaders, and visual fidelity . You'll help drive innovation in visual development by applying creative problem-solving and scalable solutions . You'll also support large-scale production environments and distributed teams with a focus on performance and quality , and will contribute to a culture of open collaboration, continuous feedback, and rapid iteration.

This role offers a flexible hybrid work week, with a mix of remote and on-site days. While hybrid is the standard arrangement, you're also welcome to work on-site full-time if you prefer. Our primary studio locations are in Albany, NY, and Irvine, CA.

Responsibilities

• Develop, optimize , and maintain advanced shaders, materials, lighting workflows, and rendering pipelines tailored to Diablo's visual style.

• Architect scalable art pipelines, tools, and automation to streamline content creation for large open worlds, dungeons, and VFX-heavy combat.

• Partner with engineering to profile and resolve GPU/CPU bottlenecks while preserving artistic intent.

• Act as the primary liaison between art and engine teams, ensuring that artistic vision aligns with technical constraints.

• Research new rendering techniques, procedural workflows, and content-generation tools (Houdini, Substance, etc.) to elevate Diablo's unique gothic atmosphere.

• Provide technical guidance to mid/junior technical artists and share best practices across the Diablo art team.

• Define and maintain technical art standards, best practices, and guidelines that scale across the franchise.

Minimum Requirements

• 8 + years of experience in AAA game development as a n a rtist, with a focus on graphics, rendering, and/ or shaders.

• Deep expertise in real-time rendering, shader programming (HLSL/GLSL), and material workflows.

• Strong experience with Unreal Engine or proprietary AAA engines; comfortable working closely with engine programmers.

• Proficiency in scripting and tool development (Python, C#, C++).

• Strong e xperience with procedural tools (Houdini, Substance Designer, SpeedTree ) and art pipeline integration.

• Demonstrated success optimizing large-scale game environments and complex VFX for performance across multiple platforms.

• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, able to guide both technical and non-technical team members .

Your Platform

Best known for iconic video game universes including Warcraft®, Overwatch®, Diablo®, and StarCraft®, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (www.blizzard.com), a division of Activision Blizzard, which was acquired by Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment experiences. Blizzard Entertainment has created some of the industry's most critically acclaimed and genre-defining games over the last 30 years, with a track record that includes multiple Game of the Year awards. Blizzard Entertainment engages tens of millions of players around the world with titles available on PC via Battle.net®, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android.

Our World

Activision Blizzard, Inc., is one of the world's largest and most successful interactive entertainment companies and is at the intersection of media, technology and entertainment. We are home to some of the most beloved entertainment franchises including Call of Duty®, World of Warcraft®, Overwatch®, Diablo®, Candy Crush ™ and Bubble Witch™. Our combined entertainment network delights hundreds of millions of monthly active users in 196 countries, making us the largest gaming network on the planet!

Our ability to build immersive and innovative worlds is only enhanced by diverse teams working in an inclusive environment. We aspire to have a culture where everyone can thrive in order to connect and engage the world through epic entertainment. We provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well-being for 'Every World' - we've got our employees covered!

The videogame industry and therefore our business is fast-paced and will continue to evolve. As such, the duties and responsibilities of this role may be changed as directed by the Company at any time to promote and support our business and relationships with industry partners.

We love hearing from anyone who is enthusiastic about changing the games industry. Not sure you meet all qualifications ? Let us decide! Research shows that women and members of other under-represented groups tend to not apply to jobs when they think they may not meet every qualification, when, in fact, they often do! We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment and strongly encourage you to apply.

We are committed to working with and providing reasonable assistance to individuals with physical and mental disabilities. If you are a disabled individual requiring an accommodation to apply for an open position, please email your request to accommodationrequests@activisionblizzard.com. General employment questions cannot be accepted or processed here. Thank you for your interest.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status, among other characteristics.

Rewards

We provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well-being for 'Every World' - we've got our employees covered! Subject to eligibility requirements, the Company offers comprehensive benefits including:

• Medical, dental, vision, health savings account or health reimbursement account, healthcare spending accounts, dependent care spending accounts, life and AD&D insurance, disability insurance;
• 401(k) with Company match, tuition reimbursement, charitable donation matching;
• Paid holidays and vacation, paid sick time, floating holidays, compassion and bereavement leaves, parental leave;
• Mental health & wellbeing programs, fitness programs, free and discounted games, and a variety of other voluntary benefit programs like supplemental life & disability, legal service, ID protection, rental insurance, and others;
• If the Company requires that you move geographic locations for the job, then you may also be eligible for relocation assistance.

Eligibility to participate in these benefits may vary for part time and temporary full-time employees and interns with the Company. You can learn more by visiting https://www.benefitsforeveryworld.com/ .

In the U.S., the standard base pay range for this role is $80,800.00 - $149,400.00 Annual. These values reflect the expected base pay range of new hires across all U.S. locations. Ultimately, your specific range and offer will be based on several factors, including relevant experience, performance, and work location. Your Talent Professional can share this role's range details for your local geography during the hiring process. In addition to a competitive base pay, employees in this role may be eligible for incentive compensation. Incentive compensation is not guaranteed. While we strive to provide competitive offers to successful candidates, new hire compensation is negotiable.