Senior Tools & Pipeline Technical Artist - Central Creative

As part of the Technical Art Team, you will lay the pipelines and foundation to support our content and development goals to deliver the game to players. You will employ your expert-level knowledge of tech art tools and problem-solving skills to drive best practices and processes for pipelines and workflow, rigs and animation, cinematic camera-work and all aspects of asset production - leading by example by contributing at a hands-on level. 

As a Senior Tools & Pipeline Technical Artist on Central Creative, you will play a critical role in shaping Riot’s art content creation pipelines by deeply understanding creator workflows across projects and identifying opportunities to adopt, evolve, and develop pipeline solutions that can be shared across the company. You will partner closely with artists, technical artists, and engineers to evaluate existing tools and pipelines, identify shared pain points and redundancies, and determine when established solutions can be adopted or extended versus when new tools or workflows need to be developed. You will operate with a high degree of autonomy, driving research, implementation, and iteration on both existing and newly developed solutions that improve creator efficiency, quality, and sustainability. Over time, you will grow into a trusted subject matter expert on Riot’s art pipelines, influencing standards, best practices, and long-term technical direction across projects. You'll also support Riot’s exploration of AI-assisted content creation, helping prototype, validate, and guide workflows where AI meaningfully improves creator outcomes in production environments. You will report directly to the Technical Art Director.

Responsibilities

• Partner with artists, technical artists, and engineers to deeply understand content creation workflows across multiple projects
• Evaluate existing tools and pipelines across Riot to identify opportunities for adoption, consolidation, and reuse
• Extend, adapt, and support proven pipeline solutions for broader use where appropriate
• Design, implement, and own new tools and pipeline solutions when existing approaches do not meet creator needs
• Identify and reduce redundant or fragmented pipeline efforts by promoting shared systems and workflows
• Reason holistically about end-to-end art pipelines and evaluate tradeoffs across tools, processes, and technologies
• Independently drive pipeline research, targeted development efforts, and AI experimentation as needed
• Collaborate across disciplines to ensure shared solutions are practical, reliable, and aligned with real production needs
• Contribute to defining pipeline standards, best practices, and long-term technical direction for Central Creative
• Document tools and workflows and support adoption through clear communication and collaboration

Required Qualifications

• Significant professional experience as a Technical Artist, Tools-focused Technical Artist, or similar role
• Strong hands-on experience with modern DCC tools and game engines
• Proven experience building and maintaining tools or pipelines used in production at scale
• Ability to operate independently in ambiguous problem spaces and drive solutions to completion
• Strong communication skills across technical and non-technical disciplines
• Experience collaborating with large, cross-disciplinary game development teams
• Minimum of 8 years development experience

Desired Qualifications

• Experience experimenting with or deploying AI-assisted content generation in production workflows
• Deep understanding of end-to-end art pipelines across multiple asset types or disciplines
• Experience influencing pipeline standards or best practices beyond a single team
• Strong product sense and pragmatism when balancing creator needs, technical constraints, and maintainability

For this role, you'll find success through craft expertise, a collaborative spirit, and decision-making that prioritizes the delight of players. We will be looking at your past studies, experience, and your personal relationship with games. If you embody player empathy and care about players' experiences, this could be your role!

Our Perks

Riot focuses on work/life balance, shown by our open paid time off policy and other perks such as flexible work schedules. We offer medical, dental, and life insurance, parental leave for you, your spouse/domestic partner, and children, and a 401k with company match. Check out our benefits pages for more information.

At Riot Games, we put players first. That mission drives every decision in our quest to create games and experiences that make it better to be a player. Whether you’re working directly on a new player-facing experience or you’re supporting the company as a whole, everyone at Riot is part of our mission. And just like in our games, we’re better when we work together. Our goal is to create collaborative teams where you are empowered to bring your unique perspective everyday. If that sounds like the kind of place you want to work, we’re looking forward to your application.

It’s our policy to provide equal employment opportunity for all applicants and members of Riot Games, Inc. Riot Games makes reasonable accommodations for handicapped and disabled Rioters and does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, handicap, veteran status, marital status, criminal history, or any other category protected by applicable federal and state law. We consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with applicable federal, state and local law, including the California Fair Chance Act, the City of Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, and the Washington Fair Chance Act.

Per the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, the following core duties may create a basis for disqualifying candidates with relevant criminal histories:

• Safeguarding confidential and sensitive Company data
• Communication with others, including Rioters and third parties such as vendors, and/or players, including minors
• Accessing Company assets, secure digital systems, and networks
• Ensuring a safe interactive environment for players and other Rioters

These duties are directly related to essential operations, safety, trust, and compliance obligations within our organization. Please note that job duties may evolve based on business needs and additional responsibilities may be assigned as necessary to maintain operational efficiency and security.