Job Description
We are passionate about educating our users, making fact-based decisions, and finding innovative solutions to complex problems. We offer meaningful work, limitless learning opportunities, and collaboration with world-class minds. Come brighten your life and over half a billion more!
Youโll elevate the way we use art and animation to make our products more engaging, immersive, and interactive.
This role reports to the Senior Art Manager as a member of the Design Studio team and partners closely with our Product, Design, Systems, and Engineering teams. At Duolingo, we take pride in our craft and agonize over high-quality design with a user-friendly (and fun) experience for everyone.
You Will...
- Test, learn, and promote new tools and technologies to further gamification and interactivity in our products
- Collaborate with artists, product teams, and engineers to understand creative and product decisions and devise technical solutions that propel them forward confidently
- Set up state machines, build character rigs, debug tool issues, and animate
- Quickly create prototypes to test ideas, mechanics, and tool capabilities
- Share knowledge and best practices with and mentor artists
- Get consensus when technical recommendations impact other teams
- Complete work within production timelines and communicate needed adjustments to schedules with management
- Maintain professionalism in a fast paced and dynamic work environment
You Have...
- Experience delivering delightful visuals while adhering to performance constraints, reducing technical complexity while still hitting MVP requirements
- A firm understanding of current and next-gen art techniques
- The principles of design and animation down
- A minimum of 5 years experience in a Technical Art role (rigging, technical animation, scripting gameplay, state machines, etc.)
- Experience succinctly communicating trade-offs, ideas, and recommendations to managers, engineers, and artists
- A portfolio that demonstrates your prototyping savvy
- A Technical Artist demo reel that is no more than 2 minutes long
- A reel breakdown calling out your work in the reel
- The ability to relocate to Pittsburgh, PA
Exceptional Candidates Will Have...
- Proficiency in Python, C++, or similar scripting languages
- Experience writing plugins, scripts, and tools
- Experience working at a small game studio, VFX house, or tech start-up
- Experience with interactive animation for mobile content
- Experience with Rive
- General 3D Skills like modeling, texturing, rigging, and animating
- An understanding of game design principles and player experience.
- Experience with Maya, Toonboom Harmony, or similar tools
We invest in and support our Duos! This role is eligible for a robust compensation package of base salary, equity, and Duolingoโs world-class benefits. The starting base salary range for this role is, $107,000 - $201,100. Actual salary may vary based on level, work experience, performance, and other factors evaluated during the hiring process.
