Senior Material and Texture Artist

Hi there, we’re Article. 👋 Since 2013, we have been redefining the furniture industry one sofa at a time, it’s not easy — it requires solving challenging, meaningful problems. This is where you come in, as a Senior Material and Texture Artist , you'll create accurate, photorealistic digital textures, materials and shaders that help our products look and feel true to life across Article’s digital experiences. Why We Need You: As we continue to scale our digital asset production, we need strong material and texture expertise to improve quality, consistency, reuse, and efficiency across our CG pipeline. You’ll translate physical material references, photography, scan data, supplier information, and other source material into production-ready textures, materials, and shaders. You’ll independently solve moderately complex artistic and technical challenges while helping us build a scalable, reliable material library and workflow. Why Article? As a Particle (people of Article), you will have a high level of autonomy to solve challenging, meaningful problems the best way you can. That means you’re trusted to explore solutions you believe will work best (you’re the expert, after all). You’ll do all this while growing your skills within a company that is redefining the furniture industry. About the CG Production team: The CG Production team works across modeling, visualization, digitization, Creative, Virtual Production, and other teams to create high-quality digital representations of Article products. We also collaborate with vendors, suppliers, and production partners to make sure our assets are visually accurate and technically consistent. We are a hybrid team - you'll be in the office 3 days per week. What You’ll Do Texture, Material & Look Development Create high-quality, photorealistic textures, shaders, and materials for furniture, including upholstery, wood, stone, metal, glass, plastics, and other hard and soft surface finishes. Accurately reproduce real-world color, material, finish, scale, surface variation, reflectance, roughness, and other physical properties using photography, physical samples, scanned material data, supplier information, and other references. Material Library & Standards Develop tileable and asset-specific textures using procedural, scan-based, and hand-authored techniques, including UV layout, mapping, and texture preparation where required. Carry out look development and material validation in 3ds Max and Corona Renderer, troubleshoot material, UV, shading, color, and rendering issues, and resolve differences between physical products, source references, and rendered output.- Support the quality, organization, and ongoing development of Article’s centralized digital material and texture library by creating reusable materials, following established standards, and reviewing existing assets for duplication, inconsistency, or technical issues. Material Capture & Source Data Support material capture workflows, including photography, photogrammetry, photoscanning, and other digitization techniques, and identify when additional reference, capture, or physical samples are needed. Partner with the Manager, CG Production and modeling, visualization, and digitization teams to improve material and texture workflows, increase reuse, reduce rework, identify opportunities for automation, and support increasing asset production volumes. Quality Assurance & Production Review texture and material work produced internally and by external vendors against Article’s artistic and technical standards, providing clear, actionable feedback when quality or workflow issues arise. Document workflows, standards, and best practices, share functional knowledge with the wider CG team, and collaborate with geographically distributed teams, vendors, suppliers, and production partners. Manage assigned work and priorities independently, balancing visual quality, production efficiency, asset performance, and delivery requirements while maintaining a consistently high standard of output. We use G Suite (Gmail, Sheets, Google Docs, Meet, etc) to work and Slack to collaborate and communicate, with your choice of Mac or PC device. Who You Are You have 5+ years of professional experience in texture artistry, look development, material creation, VFX, animation, product visualization, or a related CGI discipline A portfolio showing exceptional photorealistic material creation across a broad range of real-world surfaces. You have advanced proficiency with the Adobe Substance 3D suite and strong production experience with 3ds Max and Corona Renderer, or similar digital content creation (DCC) tools. You understand how color, scale, surface detail, roughness, reflectance, normal and displacement information affect photorealistic rendering, and you can create accurate materials from photography, physical samples, scan data, and other references. You have advanced knowledge of physically based rendering principles, texture authoring, shaders, UV mapping, procedural and scan-based texturing workflows, and real-world material properties. You have experience working within a structured CG production pipeline, following technical standards, diagnosing artistic and technical material issues, and taking ownership of complex material challenges. You bring strong attention to detail, organization, visual judgment, communication, and collaboration skills. You’re adaptable when priorities or production needs change and can clearly communicate artistic and technical feedback. Nice to Have: Experience creating CGI for furniture, interiors, architecture, or high-end product visualization, with knowledge of furniture materials and construction, Colour, Material and Finish (CMF) principles, material scanning, photogrammetry, photography, or other physical-to-digital material capture techniques. Experience with large production material libraries or digital asset management systems, external CGI vendors, procedural material systems or automation, and modern workflows such as Universal Scene Description (USD) and Physically Based Rendering (PBR) asset standards. Experience supporting real-time experiences, AR, configurators, or other downstream digital product applications is also an asset. Experience developing procedural material systems, templates, tools, or workflow automation. Additional Requirements: Legally able to work in Canada. Completion of a criminal background check. Perks & Benefits Wealth: The salary range is $120,000 to $140,000 Starting salary is determined by your transferable skills, knowledge, work experience, and the hiring team’s budget, which is based on business needs, market compensation data, and internal equity We believe in Winning Together. When Article hits its annual financial goals, eligible employees will receive a cash bonus 4% RRSP matched contributions through Wealthsimple Life: 15 days of vacation* 1 extra day off (Inclusion and Diversity Day) 6 well-being (sick) days Hybrid work: 3 days a week in the office Work remotely (anywhere in the world) for up to 3 weeks Total Health: Excellent extended health, dental and vision benefits $1000 health/lifestyle spending account* for your total physical and mental well-being TELUS Health App Mental Health Assistance/Counseling Virtual medical appointments Office Space: The Article HQ is a converted warehouse, with an open accessible layout and no offices (even for our founders) Work from your desk, an Article sofa, collaboration spaces, or a private meeting room Standup desks can be requested too Our kitchens are stocked with salty, sweet and healthy snacks, & all the premium coffees and teas to keep you buzzing Onsite fitness equipment with showers and towel service Pickleball, badminton, and table tennis matches happen, from very competitive to very casual A dog-friendly office - well-socialized pups are welcome Getting here: Free street parking (first come, first serve; no reserved spots for senior leaders) Indoor secure bike storage with change rooms and showers 20-minute walk to either Main Street- Science World or VCC Clark Skytrain stations Extra: 45% discount on our entire product range (15% for friends and family) *Prorated #INDARTICLE