Manager, Technical Art, Tools & Pipeline

Job title: Manager, Technical Art, Tools & Pipeline

About the Role Join Riot's Sydney-based team as Manager, Technical Art, Tools & Pipeline to define and scale creative workflows for next-generation worlds. You will lead a team of technical artists, champion artist-facing tools and pipelines, and partner with Art Leadership, Production, and Engineering to deliver high-quality content at scale. You will shape scalable systems that empower artists across Character Art, Animation, Environment Art, Audio, and VFX, balancing usability, efficiency, and long-term sustainability.

What You'll Do

• Directly manage a team of Technical Artists, providing support, coaching, mentorship, and guidance in how they conduct their work.
• Partner with Art Leadership, Production, and Engineering to define tooling, workflow, and pipeline requirements needed to support content creation across multiple disciplines.
• Own and support artist-facing tools, workflows, and content pipelines, ensuring systems are intuitive, documented, scalable, and maintainable.
• Work closely with Engineering to evaluate technical solutions, balancing artist usability, production efficiency, and long-term sustainability.
• Guide the development and optimization of content creation pipelines that support teams working in parallel production streams.
• Support the evolution of existing tools, workflows, and pipeline systems as project needs change and scale.
• Build strong cross-disciplinary relationships to understand artist needs, identify workflow pain points, and drive meaningful improvements.
• Champion technical best practices, workflow consistency, and knowledge sharing through documentation, training, and mentorship.
• Partner with Technical Art leadership to establish team goals, craft standards, and long-term technical strategy.
• Communicate constraints, risks, and opportunities clearly to stakeholders, helping guide prioritization and technical decision-making.

What We're Looking For

• 6+ years of professional experience as a Technical Artist in games or a related industry, including 2+ years in a people management role leading Technical Artists or similar technical disciplines.
• Demonstrated experience leading, mentoring, and developing technical teams while fostering strong cross-functional collaboration.
• Strong proficiency in Python and experience developing scalable artist tools, content pipelines, and workflow solutions for game development.
• Professional experience with Unreal Engine 5 and modern content creation workflows, including content creation and tool development for DCC tools, with particular emphasis on Autodesk Maya and Substance Suite workflows.
• Experience with Houdini, Blender, ZBrush, 3DS Max, or Photoshop is a plus.
• Strong understanding of art production pipelines and the ability to translate artistic requirements into scalable technical solutions that support multiple disciplines and production needs.
• Proven experience partnering closely with engineers to develop tools, workflows, or pipeline systems that improve content creation efficiency and support artistic goals.
• Excellent communication, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to navigate ambiguity and act as a bridge between art and engineering.

Nice to Have

• Experience designing scalable pipeline architecture and workflow solutions for large content teams.
• Experience supporting character, animation, environment, audio, or VFX production workflows.
• Experience with UI development frameworks such as PySide or PyQt.
• Experience contributing to or supporting content creation efforts during early-stage, R&D, or transitional production phases.
• Curiosity around how AI-assisted workflows may improve content production efficiency and artist experience.

Compensation & Benefits

• Our Perks: We value work-life balance with open paid time off, paid parental leave (for both primary and secondary carers), and flexible work schedules.
• We also offer co-op gaming areas, a play fund to broaden and deepen knowledge of players and community, and snacks to power through the day.
• Medical Insurance and additional benefits to support employee well-being.