Character Outsource Lead

Character Outsource Lead (R27297)

At the core of Epic's success are talented, passionate people. Epic prides itself on creating a collaborative, welcoming, and creative environment. Whether it's building award-winning games or crafting engine technology that enables others to make visually stunning interactive experiences, we're always innovating. Being Epic means being a part of a team that continually strives to do right by our community and users. We're constantly innovating to raise the bar of engine and game development.

Epic Games is searching for an experienced Character Outsource Lead to help support several initiatives as part of our collaboration with Disney. In this role, you will work closely with Epic art leads, outsource managers, and external partners to help deliver high-quality 3D character content that fits within the Disney universe. You'll provide creative and technical direction for outsourced character assets, helping ensure they meet Epic's quality bar, pipeline standards, and gameplay requirements. Leveraging your expertise in character art production, communication, and real-time game development pipelines, you'll guide external teams through documentation, reference gathering, feedback, and final asset integration while helping push the quality and consistency of memorable player experiences.

Reporting to the individual art lead(s) and partnering closely with Outsource Management, you will serve as the front-line creative reviewer for outsourced character content and help maintain quality throughout production. In this role, you will:

• Work closely with Epic Art Leads, Outsource Managers, and internal artists to ensure external partners have all the required documentation, references, and technical information needed for asset production
• Partner with outsource vendors to deliver high-quality 3D character assets that align with Epic's visual quality standards and technical requirements
• Collect or create detailed documentation, video references, production examples, and engine requirements to support external development teams
• Create or support asset blockouts, paintovers, and example assets to help communicate creative direction and production expectations
• Clearly communicate artistic and technical feedback to outsourcing partners while ensuring creative goals, schedules, and quality expectations are met
• Review outsourced assets for visual quality, technical accuracy, optimization, and gameplay readiness before final integration
• Work cross-functionally with internal Epic art teams to ensure outsourced assets are correctly integrated into the pipeline and engine
• Troubleshoot and resolve issues related to outsourced art assets, including bug support, triage, and follow-through to completion
• When needed, contribute hands-on character art production work while maintaining familiarity with Epic pipelines, workflows, and production standards
• Help identify pipeline improvements and opportunities to improve communication, efficiency, and quality across external development partnerships

What we're looking for:

• Experience shipping AAA titles across multiple platforms
• Strong experience creating and reviewing high-quality 3D character assets for games
• Experience working with external vendors and outsourcing pipelines in a production environment
• Strong understanding of real-time game art pipelines, character creation workflows, optimization, and engine integration
• Proficiency with industry-standard art tools, including Maya, 3ds Max, ZBrush, Photoshop, Substance Painter/Designer, and related software
• Excellent communication and organizational skills, with the ability to deliver clear and actionable creative feedback across distributed external teams
• Ability to balance artistic quality with technical requirements and production timelines
• Self-motivated, highly collaborative, detail-oriented, and solutions-focused
• Experience working in fast-paced development environments with evolving priorities
• Passion for games, character art, and creating memorable player experiences

This role is open to multiple locations across the US (including CA, NYC, & WA).