UE5 Environment / Technical Artist

The Studio:

Dominic Harris Studio produces interactive artworks. The team is comprised of 25 people, and includes dedicated software, 3D, animation/rigging, electronics and production teams.

Job Description

We are seeking a lead environment & systems artist for a real-time UE5 projects creating expansive, high-fidelity landscapes. With a strong emphasis on building reusable systems, tools and Niagara VFX integration.

You will lead the design, implementation and delivery of production-ready real-time landscapes and the systems that support them – terrain/streaming/LOD pipelines, editor tools, runtime systems, and fauna/behaviour integration. Work is focused on landscapes (blockout → hero → polish) and on building robust, reusable systems to power the world.

Key responsibilities – systems & art

• Build complete large-scale landscape systems in UE5 (World Partition, Level Streaming, HLOD) with an emphasis on stable, reusable tooling and performance.
• Architect and implement editor-side tools and pipelines (Blueprints, Editor Utility Widgets, Python, editor plugins) that enable artists to populate and iterate on large environments quickly.
• Develop runtime systems for streaming, LOD switching and Nanite / Virtual Texturing integration that meet real-time performance targets.
• Create procedural placement systems (Houdini, runtime instancing, procedural foliage / PCG) and author robust foliage/instancing solutions with culling and LOD strategies.
• Produce documentation and training materials for the pipeline and delivered systems.
• Author high-quality materials and shaders (material graph) with performance profiles and ensure materials integrate cleanly with the systems.
• Niagara – required: author particle systems and integrate Niagara into both editor tools and runtime systems (weather, dust, water, interactive/systemic VFX).
• Implement and integrate animal/fauna systems: skeletal assets, Control Rig / retargeting, Animation Blueprints, lightweight AI/behaviour (Behaviour Trees or procedural approaches) and systems for fauna–environment interaction.
• Collaborate with programmers to create C++ / Blueprint systems and custom extensions where needed; ensure production stability and performance.
• Profile and optimise GPU/CPU, draw calls, Nanite settings, foliage density and streaming budgets for targeted exhibition hardware.

Essential skills & experience

• Extensive UE5 production experience with demonstrable environment work (production or shipped installations).
• Strong artistic eye for composition and detail combined with solid engineering habits (testing, documentation, version control for tools).
• Strong background in systems development inside Unreal: editor tooling, Blueprints, editor scripting (Python) and proven delivery of reusable editor/runtime systems.
• Niagara – required: experience authoring, debugging and integrating complex, scene/systemic particle effects (not just isolated VFX).
• Proven experience with World Partition / Level Streaming / HLOD / Nanite / Virtual Texturing and strategies to maintain visual quality at real-time framerates.
• Material/shader authoring experience with performance-aware optimisation.
• Experience with procedural generation tools (Houdini preferred), foliage systems and PCG.
• Comfortable with animation pipelines for animals (Control Rig, retargeting, Animation Blueprints, basic AI) and integrating animator workflows.

Desirable

• Experience with C++ authoring for UE5 systems and custom plugins.
• Prior experience with workign in parallel with platform, hardware and installation workflows.
• Experience with Sequencer / cinematic passes for large format and high precision presentation.