Lead Environment Artist

Epic Games • Cary, NC

5h

About The Position

Epic is looking for an experienced Environment Art Lead to join the Rocket League team. In this role, you will partner closely with the Art Director to define, maintain, and elevate the visual quality of Rocket League’s worlds, balancing realism, readability, and performance across the game’s visuals. You will lead and collaborate with multidisciplinary artists and external partners to deliver high-quality environments at scale. This role requires a strong mix of artistic vision, technical depth, and people leadership, with proven experience shipping games featuring realistic 3D environments and managing robust outsourcing pipelines. Working closely with the Art Director, Design Leads, Engineers, and Production, you will be accountable for understanding the world direction, guiding execution, reviewing work, and ensuring the team delivers visually cohesive, performant, and engaging environments.

Requirements

• Strong understanding of environment art for games, including realistic architecture, natural landscapes, and the integration of manmade and organic elements
• Demonstrated experience overseeing large outsourcing pipelines, including asset briefs, reviews, feedback, and quality control across multiple vendors
• Experience collaborating closely with Designers to support core game loops
• Strong desire and ability to grow, mentor, and lead teams with clarity and empathy
• Experience shipping at least one commercial game with realistic 3D environments, across multiple platforms, including console and PC, ideally on live or long-running titles (Unreal Engine experience a plus)
• Deep understanding of performance, optimization, and memory trade-offs, with a practical approach to scalability and asset reuse
• Strong technical art knowledge, including workflows, tooling, and content integration for PBR and Photogrammetry pipelines
• Excellent grasp of art fundamentals, composition, lighting, color theory, scale, and visual appeal
• Experience as a Lead responsible for end-to-end environment development, including internal teams and external partners
• Highly collaborative mindset, low-ego leadership style, and strong instincts for what makes environments fun

Responsibilities

• Be highly creative, helping define and drive the Environment Art vision for Rocket League while respecting established visual pillars.
• Partner with Discipline Leads, Production, and Outsource teams to deliver content efficiently and at quality
• Translate high-level direction into clear, actionable guidance for internal teams and external partners.
• Support the Art Director by conducting reviews, providing early feedback, and ensuring alignment throughout the team.
• Represent the Art Director when needed in cross-discipline meetings, reviews, and planning discussions.

Benefits

• We pay 100% of the premiums for both you and your dependents. Our coverage includes Medical, Dental, a Vision HRA, Long Term Disability, Life Insurance & a 401k with competitive match.
• We also offer a robust mental well-being program through Modern Health, which provides free therapy and coaching for employees & dependents.
• Throughout the year we celebrate our employees with events and company-wide paid breaks.
• We offer unlimited PTO and sick time and recognize individuals for 7 years of employment with a paid sabbatical.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed