Character Artist

Job Description

We’re looking for a Character Artist to join our team as we move into full production on our debut game Ardem, an open world survival game developed in Unreal Engine 5.

In this role, you will focus on character customization systems, clothing, and character related assets built on top of Unreal Engine MetaHumans. Rather than creating characters from scratch, you will work closely with the team on our character editor, helping to shape how players customize their characters through facial sliders, blend shapes, hairstyles, and modular clothing systems. The role requires a strong technical understanding of character pipelines, a keen eye for realism, and a collaborative mindset.

Techtive Games is an ambitious indie studio based in Germany with a close knit team that focuses on building deep, interconnected gameplay systems and immersive, authentic worlds. We value creativity, ownership, and personal growth. Rather than working through rigid ticket pipelines, our team members are encouraged to actively shape systems and content, collaborate closely across disciplines, and grow together not only on Ardem, but on future projects as well.

If you enjoy working on character customization, care deeply about realism and technical quality, and are passionate about working on or playing open world survival games, we’d love to hear from you.

Tasks

On a day to day basis, you will:

• Create facial blend shapes for MetaHuman based characters to enable player driven customization
• Create hairstyles, beards, eyebrows, and other facial hair using hair card workflows
• Design and build modular clothing and equipment, including shoes, pants, shirts, jackets, gloves, hats, and accessories
• Support engine integration, working with materials and validating assets in Unreal Engine until they are production ready
• Collaborate closely with the Art Lead, Technical Animator, and Technical Artist to ensure quality, consistency, and performance
• Take ownership of your assigned character related features and assets, driving them to a production ready state

Requirements

• 3 to 5 years of professional experience as a Character Artist or in a comparable role
• Strong experience working with realistic character assets, particularly clothing, hair, and facial features
• Solid understanding of PBR workflows and realistic material creation
• Experience creating facial blend shapes and supporting character customization systems
• Proven experience with hair card workflows
• Good technical understanding of character pipelines, including retopology, UVs, and texturing
• Familiarity with Unreal Engine, especially character asset integration and materials
• Ability to work independently, take ownership of features, and collaborate closely across disciplines
• Fluent spoken and written English

Bonus Skills

• Experience working on open world games
• Previous experience working on a character editor or character customization system
• Experience creating enemies or creature characters at a later stage of production
• Basic understanding of shaders and material setups
• Experience working in an indie or small team environment

Working Model

• Fully remote
• Freelance, with a full time option for candidates based in Germany
• Flexible working hours with a strong focus on ownership and trust
• Direct collaboration within a small, focused team

Benefits

• Work on Ardem, highly anticipated survival game and set a new benchmark
• Small team with high impact, results-driven mindset and fast decision-making
• High ownership and creative freedom
• Flexible working hours (results > green dots)

Please include the following in your application:

• Your CV and a short introduction about yourself and your background
• A portfolio (Git repositories, videos, or similar) showcasing recent work
• A brief description of your role and responsibilities on the showcased projects
• Your availability and your typical contract rate