James Cook Media, Inc. is looking for an Unreal Engine Technical Artist or 3D Artist with strong UE5 skills to compose photorealistic outdoor environments for an internal R&D simulation platform. You will own the visual quality of the project end to end: world building with geospatial terrain streaming and high-fidelity asset libraries, lighting and atmosphere design, asset modeling for in-scene actors, VFX, and the asset pipeline that ties it all together.
This is hands-on production work with strict performance constraints. Photorealism is the goal, but it has to ship within frame budget on consumer hardware. If you enjoy the craft of making real-world locations feel believable while staying disciplined about poly count and draw calls, this role is a good fit.
Engagement
- Type: Project-based contract or part-time
- Location: Remote, Ukraine-based
- Duration: ~3 months with possibility of extension
- Start date: May 15
- Compensation: Competitive, discussed during screening call
What you'll do
- Build photorealistic outdoor environments combining real-world terrain streaming with high-quality close-range asset libraries
- Author multiple lighting and weather presets per scene (clear, overcast, dusk, night) with full control over atmospheric and sky systems
- Model and material a small number of in-scene actors with proper LOD strategy, damage states, and material variants
- Author VFX for environmental effects and in-scene events
- Own the asset pipeline: import workflow, naming conventions, folder structure, LOD policy, texture compression, performance budgets
- Profile and optimize to hit interactive frame rates on consumer-class hardware at 1440p
- Collaborate closely with the engine programmer on integration, the engineering lead on requirements, and tooling team on in-editor authoring helpers
Required skills
- 5+ years of production 3D work in real-time engines, with at least 2 years in Unreal Engine (UE5 specifically preferred)
- Experience in geospatial streaming workflow (Google 3D Tiles, Cesium ion, georeference origin handling) or willingness to ramp up quickly with strong UE5 fundamentals
- Strong UE5 environment art skills - terrain blending, foliage placement, material variants, ground integration of imported assets
- Lighting and atmosphere mastery - dynamic and baked GI, sky and atmosphere systems, post-process, color grading, time-of-day systems
- Good understanding of performance trade-offs - draw calls, overdraw, shader complexity, LOD strategy, virtualized geometry
- VFX authoring at production quality
- Performance profiling with engine tools; ability to diagnose draw call, overdraw, and shader complexity issues
- Asset pipeline discipline: clean folder structure, naming conventions, version control hygiene
- Strong sense of composition and craft - the difference between dropped assets and an intentional scene
Nice to have
- Cesium for Unreal hands-on experience
- Quixel Megascans proficiency including Bridge integration
- Niagara for VFX authoring
- Lumen and Nanite production experience
- TSR and DLSS configuration experience
- Sky Atmosphere, Volumetric Clouds, Exponential Height Fog tuning
- Material authoring beyond defaults (custom shader graphs, layered materials)
- World Position Offset / Pivot Painter for foliage wind effects
- Previous work on simulation, training, or visualization projects (not just games)
- Familiarity with photogrammetry workflows
- Comfort with Blueprint scripting for editor utilities
- Git or Perforce experience
If parts of this stack are new to you but UE5 fundamentals are solid, that is fine - we have a structured ramp-up window in the first phase of the project.
Application process
- Send us:
- Your CV
- Either a portfolio (link or PDF) demonstrating relevant UE5 outdoor environment work with photorealistic terrain and lighting, or be ready to complete a short test task (~4-8 hours)
- A short note (5-10 sentences) on your favorite scene you've worked on and why
- Availability and earliest start date
- Initial screening call (30 minutes) - mutual fit, scope discussion, compensation, technical baseline questions
- Portfolio review or test task (if no relevant portfolio piece) - a small, focused UE5 scene demonstrating a photoreal outdoor prototype. Detailed brief provided.
- Final discussion (60 minutes) - we walk through your work together, discuss decisions, and finalize terms
We aim to make decisions within 2 weeks of receiving an application. Honest feedback at every stage.
