Senior Level Artist

At Side, we partner with some of the world's leading developers and publishers to solve complex production challenges and help bring exceptional games to life. From concept through live operations, our co-development teams work as trusted extensions of our clients' studios, contributing expertise across design, engineering, art, audio, QA, and production.

We're looking for a Senior Level Artist to own game spaces from blockout through final polish, combining gameplay layout, world building, and visual composition. You'll work with a library of pre-generated assets to create, refine, and integrate spaces that are both visually compelling and effective to play.

This is a remote freelance contract for approximately 3–6 months, with up to 40 hours per week of support needed. Candidates must be available to overlap with the CEST team's working hours; location is otherwise flexible.

As these are project-based opportunities, positions may be amended, postponed, or withdrawn as a result of changing client requirements and project priorities.

Level & World Building

• →Own spaces from blockout through final polish, balancing gameplay layout with visual composition, staging, lighting, and world-building.
• →Create, refine, and integrate pre-generated assets into cohesive, playable game environments.
• →Make intentional decisions about player flow, composition, sightlines, and navigation to support the gameplay experience.

Unreal Engine & Performance

• →Build and polish environments in Unreal Engine with a strong understanding of composition, lighting, and in-engine presentation.
• →Manage streaming, HLODs, draw calls, frame budgets, and memory budgets, personally optimizing spaces to meet performance targets.
• →Use Unreal PCG and Houdini to support efficient world-building and asset placement workflows.

Gameplay Integration

• →Implement level features, triggers, and interactives using Unreal Blueprints.
• →Collaborate with design, art, and engineering teams to ensure spaces support both gameplay and visual goals.
• →Take ownership of spaces across multiple stages of development, from initial blockout through a shipped, cancelled, or personal project.

• 5+ years of experience in level design, level art, or world building.
• A portfolio demonstrating composition, staging, lighting, and playable spaces built in-engine; portfolios should show environments from a player's perspective rather than primarily props or asset reels.
• Deep experience building worlds and spaces in Unreal Engine, with the ability to own both gameplay layout and visual execution.
• Strong gameplay layout literacy, including the ability to make and articulate intentional decisions around player flow, navigation, sightlines, and spatial composition.
• Experience owning a space through multiple stages of a development pipeline, including shipped, cancelled, or personal projects.
• Proven experience managing and optimizing streaming, HLODs, draw calls, frame budgets, and memory budgets.
• Working knowledge of Unreal Blueprints for implementing level features, triggers, and interactives.
• Experience with Unreal PCG and Houdini.
• Ability to work independently and take ownership of a space from blockout through final polish.

• Experience with material and shader authoring.
• Experience with terrain tools such as Gaea, World Machine, or equivalent.
• Background in architecture, urban planning, or production design.
• Experience working on open-world or large-scale streaming worlds.
• Experience authoring tools using Python or Blueprints.