Senior Procedural Artist

Studio Overview

We are Sports Interactive 🎮 The gaming studio behind: ⚽ Football Manager. Founded in 1994, Sports Interactive (SI) became a wholly owned subsidiary of SEGA Europe in 2006. Based at the Here East technology hub in Stratford, East London, the SI team continues to expand as we bring our titles to an ever‑growing audience across an increasing variety of platforms. To support our growth, we welcome the opportunity to connect with passionate people with the drive to match our ambitions and initiative to realise your individual potential.

Hybrid Working Status: Fully remote available / Hybrid Location: Here East, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London, E15 2GW

Position Overview

We are looking for a Senior Procedural Artist with deep expertise in Houdini to help drive the next evolution of our content pipelines and world‑building systems. This role is ideal for an artist who thrives at the intersection of creativity and technical problem‑solving — someone who can design scalable procedural systems while maintaining strong artistic direction and visual quality. You will work closely with environment artists, technical artists, designers, and engineering to build robust, reusable procedural tools that empower the wider art team.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain high‑quality procedural tools and systems in Houdini for asset generation and environment workflows.
• Create scalable procedural setups for environments, characters, props, terrain elements, modular kits, or systemic content.
• Build artist‑friendly HDAs with clean controls and clear documentation.
• Collaborate with the Head of Art and Animation to ensure procedural systems maintain strong visual identity and consistency.
• Work closely with Technical Art and Engineering to ensure efficiency and performance.
• Identify opportunities to improve existing pipelines through automation and procedural solutions.
• Mentor mid‑level and junior artists in procedural workflows and best practices.
• Maintain a balance between procedural efficiency and handcrafted artistic quality.

Essential Knowledge, Skills, and Experience

• Expert‑level knowledge of Houdini (SOPs, VEX‑based workflows, procedural modelling, instancing, scattering, attribute workflows, optimization).
• Strong understanding of procedural thinking and non‑destructive workflows.
• Experience building production‑ready HDAs for use in a game dev pipeline.
• Excellent artistic eye – composition, scale, silhouette, material breakup, environmental storytelling.
• Strong understanding of real‑time engine constraints (polycount, draw calls, LODs, memory considerations).
• Experience working collaboratively in a cross‑discipline game development team.
• Ability to communicate complex procedural concepts clearly to non‑technical artists.

Desirable

• Experience integrating Houdini workflows into Unity pipelines.
• Familiarity with Houdini Engine for Unity.
• Experience with terrain generation, world‑building systems, or large‑scale environment production.
• Knowledge of shader workflows and material systems.
• Experience supporting iterative production environments.

Benefits Of Working At Sports Interactive

• Private Healthcare and Dental Cover.
• Contributory Pension Scheme (employer contributions up to 7% of annual salary).
• Eligibility to participate in the company’s discretionary bonus scheme.
• Access to life assurance and income protection cover.
• Access to travel insurance for yourself and your family.
• Confidential mental health, therapy and coaching support with subsidised access.
• Flexible gym and fitness options via our benefits platform.
• Access to on‑site physiotherapy and massage services.
• Free onsite evening bar in the Sports Interactive London HQ.
• A well‑stocked breakfast bar with cereals, fruit, tea and coffee.
• Free access to games released under the SEGA Europe umbrella.
• Regular events and experiences in collaboration with our partnered football clubs.
• Multiple clubs and societies to join (including book club, art workshops and more).
• Personalised football shirt upon passing probation.
• Trophies & gift cards for length of service milestones.
• Cupcakes sent to you on your birthday.

What is it like to work here?

We approach everything with passion, whether that is making our mark on the gaming and football industries or doing our bit for the world around us. We want to share that outlook with everyone who shows up to work here each day. For us, talent wins games, but teamwork wins titles. Collaboration is the key to constantly topping our best. We believe everyone matters, no matter which part of the business you are in, so we encourage and support our people in driving your own growth and realizing your full potential. But, more than anything else, we are a team. A team with a down‑to‑earth dynamic that has a lot of fun doing what we do. Everything is geared at producing the best game possible for our players. To do that, we need to be tenacious, move quickly and not be afraid of switching things up. It is these principles that have enabled us to produce a game that has defined year after year, and that will continue to push us for many more to come. We’re also a London Living Wage employer, boast one of the lowest staff turnover rates in the industry and are proud to have won the ‘Best Places to Work’ award by Gamesindustry.biz in large company category in 2023.

We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from any relevant candidate irrespective of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, religion, or belief. SI is proudly a Disability Confident Committed employer, and we are dedicated to ensuring our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible. Our studio has disabled access and facilities but please ensure you advise us if you require any other reasonable adjustments to be made to support you during the recruitment process.

Our Values

• Keep collaborating: Teamwork wins titles – ideas belong to everyone, whatever department you’re part of.
• Be flexible: We think fast and adapt faster.
• Stay Tenacious: We don’t overlook the details.
• Show Ambition: Let your drive lead the way.
• Bring the Passion: Have fun doing your thing.
• Consider the Bigger Picture: Keep things in perspective – we want our impact to be a positive one.