Lead Environment Artist

Company Description

Repeatedly voted one of Montreal’s Top Employers and Employer of the Year for the 2022 Mercuriades Awards, Rodeo FX is a high-end creative company offering services in visual effects, advertising, animation, and experiential.

Nominated for multiple Emmy® Awards for its work on the series Stranger Things season 4, Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power, the independent, Oscar®-winning company boasts close to 800 artists crafting from studios in Montreal, Québec City, Toronto, Los Angeles and Paris.

Rodeo FX is a creative partner to the world’s best storytellers including Netflix, HBO, Disney, Marvel, Amazon Studios, Warner Bros. and Sony, and has collaborated on ads for YouTube, NBC and Apple. Current projects include Dune: Prophecy, Silo Season 2 and Sonic 3. Recently released projects include The Rings of Power Season 2, Venom: The Last Dance, Taika Waitit's Time Bandits, and House of the Dragon Season 2.

Work arrangements:
As a company founded and led by an artist, creativity above all guides us. Our mission is to provide our talents with the freedom and resources they need to deliver quality work and thrive in a stimulating, caring environment. While we require employees to be present in the studio at least three days a week, we maintain flexible work arrangements for the remaining days. This balance ensures that we foster collaboration, maintain our vibrant culture, and encourage in-person interaction and teamwork.

Job Description

This role is open exclusively to Senior Environment Artists with significant experience in the VFX industry, including at least 7 years on high-end, large-scale productions. Work permit sponsorship may be considered, depending on the candidate’s location and the expected processing time.

The Lead Environment Artist at Rodeo FX ensures the artistic and technical quality of 3D environments delivered in production. As an expert practitioner, they actively participate in the creation of complex environments (modeling, texturing, shading, lighting, set dressing) while mentoring artists on their team. They play a central role in planning, dailies, problem-solving, transmitting best practices, and optimizing workflows.

Their role as a reference, their commitment to quality, and their collaboration with supervisors and production contribute to advancing both projects and the department.

Key Responsibilities:
Creative Quality

• Contribute to the artistic direction by overseeing the aesthetic of environments produced by the team.
• Propose simple, effective solutions aligned with the project's vision, in response to creative feedback.
• Maintain artistic consistency between sequences and ensure the appropriate level of visual finish.
• Actively participate in the creation of complex environments, according to project priorities.

Technical Quality

• Ensure that scenes are clean, optimized, and technically viable for the entire pipeline.
• Support the team in resolving technical issues related to assets or renders.
• Validate technical continuity between sequences and identify areas for improvement.
• Document technical solutions used and share best practices with the team.

Leadership & Communications

• Mentor artists with kindness and consistency, valuing progress and work quality.
• Provide constructive, clear, and continuous improvement-oriented feedback.
• Maintain fluid communication with supervisors, production, and other departments.
• Identify artists' needs or blockers and propose realistic adjustments.

Department Support

• Participate in the training of new artists and the upskilling of the team.
• Create and maintain technical or artistic references useful to the department.
• Collaborate in the development or improvement of internal tools (templates, guides, methodologies).
• Communicate training or tool needs to the Department Head.

Optimization

• Monitor scene performance and recommend adjustments to optimize rendering.
• Test new tools or workflows before their adoption by the team.
• Encourage artists' technical autonomy by sharing effective methods.
• Collaborate with R&D or pipeline teams to validate technical solutions on a larger scale.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 7 years of experience in the VFX field.
• Advanced proficiency in Houdini / Solaris.
• Excellent knowledge of Substance Painter, Arnold, Karma, Nuke, and modeling, shading, lighting, set dressing techniques.
• Strong skills in creating natural and artificial environments.
• Functional knowledge of Flow.
• Natural leadership, rigor, efficiency, collaborative spirit, and calm under pressure.
• Asset: Creation of department-wide shared templates.
• Asset: Participation in training or technical documentation initiatives.
• Asset: Skills in tool development, scripting, or task automation.

Additional Information

Perks & Benefits

• Full-time, Permanent Contract;
• Flexible and hybrid work structure in all our locations;
• 5 paid sick/personal days;
• 2 additional statutory holidays in the winter holidays;
• Group Insurance, access to Dialogue online support and to an Employee Assistance Program (EAP);
• RRSP with employer contribution;
• Discounts on public transports, several spas, sports classes, art center, cafes, furniture and several other local businesses.

Diversity : At Rodeo FX, diversity is a core value. We’re committed to creating an inclusive, equitable workplace where different perspectives are embraced. Every team member brings unique insight that strengthens our creativity, challenges our thinking, and helps us deliver better work.

Rodeo FX may use AI-based tools to support certain steps of the recruitment process, such as interview transcription or preliminary application analysis. These tools may be operated by third-party providers, and data may be processed outside Quebec. These tools never replace human decision-making: all final hiring decisions are made by our recruitment team and hiring managers. To learn more about how we protect your personal information and your rights, please consult our Privacy Policy.