Chromed LLC is hiring a full time Lead Digital Matte Painter for an unannounced media and video gaming project to join our Seattle office.

Interested in working for a startup that wants to push cinema and gaming in a bold new direction?

At Chromed LLC, we're blending a TV-like cinematic experience with an accessible and interactive format, published regularly over the internet. TV for video games.

And we need your help.

Chromed is looking for a skilled Lead Digital Matte Painter to help us bring our vision to life.

This is a lead level position, with a mixture of creative and management responsibilities. We're looking for a talented artist that can meet our current art needs, and a capable manager that can help us grow to accommodate the ambitious trajectory of our project.

This is a fantastic opportunity to work on the bleeding edge of media - defining the visual direction of an ambitious media project, dabbling in game design, and forging a brand new creative property - a serious modern-day noir tale with a dark and surreal twist.

You'll be working hand-in-hand with our creative staff, taking our growing collection of production notes and scripts and turning them into something visual and engaging - a mixture of 2D stills intermixed with processed animation generated from live video recording.

This is an important project for our company, and you'd be an important part of it. We're a small startup trying to do something huge and daunting - we're forging a new media, and you'll have a strong hand in its direction and growth.

For this opening, an ideal candidate:

• Is skilled at creating compelling backdrops and visuals for a predominantly 2D production. We need photo-realistic but-surreal environmental content ranging from decayed urban landscapes to dark-and-twisted fantasy.
  
  
• Thinks cinematically. Your work will breathe life into a very visual production, taking on the appearance and conventions of film and television.
  
  
• Able to take a lead role in visualize compelling and creative imagery. You'll be instrumental in taking our growing collection of production notes and scripts and turning them into something visual and engaging.
  
  
• Has strong digital art skills. Particularly photo processing and image manipulation - a substantial portion of our art needs revolve around visuals constructed from digitally manipulated real-world photographs.
  
  
• Is technology savvy. You'll have a hand in equipment and software purchasing decisions, and help guide the development of internally developed software to aide our content creation pipeline.
  
  
• Thrives in a collaborative environment. You'll be working alongside a growing creative staff, passionate about creating something great.
  
  
• Is excited about working in the chaotic, guerilla development environment of an ambitious media startup. We're a small team that's trying to do something entirely too big. And we like it that way.
  
  
• Is self-motivated and able to work without direct supervision.
  
  
• Has great communication and people skills.
  
  
• Is able to take an active role in evaluating and bringing on-board quality hires and resources.
  
  
• Comfortable managing subordinates. This includes motivating and supervising reports, assigning tasks, tracking schedules, and evaluating output.
  
  

We expect all these traits in an ideal candidate. With that in mind, we also have a number of additional qualities we'd like to see in our future Lead Digital Matte Painter. We are willing to consider qualified candidates who don't meet this extended set of criteria, but will look more favorably on ones that meets some or even all of the elements on this extend list:

• Has strong and flexible art and graphic design skills. We'd be particularly happy to find a candidate whose qualifications are substantial enough that they can step up to fill our project's vacant Art Director position. While we're actively recruiting separately to fill that post, we see enough value and overlap between the Lead Digital Matte Painter and Art Director responsibilities for this project that we'd look very favorably on a candidate who can capably assume both roles and provide us a unified visual direction. Our Art Director requirements overlap many of the qualifications we're looking for in a Lead Digital Matte Painter, but executed over a broader set of mediums (in-product art assets, print and online promotional materials, concept art, user interfaces, etc).
  
  
• Has a solid film and video production skill set - solid enough to act as our primary cinematographer for envisioning and handling the production of our live action video assets. Our digital backdrops and video production needs are intimately meshed parts of our visual production, and we see significant value in unifying them under one person for a stronger, more cohesive vision.
  
  
• Has a solid photography skill set, with a particular interest in urban and architectural subject matter. An appreciation for the decayed visual aesthetic captured by Urban Exploration photography is particularly appropriate.
  
  
• Is connected to a diverse art and urban photography community. An art director who can help us tap a large pool of creative talent (both locally in the Seattle area and abroad) would significantly simplify our production logistics.
  
  
• Is familiar with video gaming, possibly even a self-professed "gamer". An interest in graphical adventure games (ex: Monkey Island, King's Quest, Grim Fandango, etc) is particularly relevant.
  
  
• Has relevant industry experience, preferably in a lead or higher position with management responsibilities.
  
  

To be clear - while we're not opposed to hiring a capable Lead Digital Matte Painter with a strong 3D skill set, we're looking for someone to generate primarily 2D art assets.

We're looking to fill a local, full time position. Salary is negotiable, depending on experience and qualifications.

Email your cover letter, targeted portfolio, and resume to jobs@chromed.com. Be sure your portfolio includes samples that demonstrate your capacity to creating moody and engaging photorealistic backdrops. If there are specific pieces in your portfolio you'd like to highlight, mention them in your cover letter.

While we're focusing on recruiting local talent, we're willing to consider qualified out-of-area candidates as long as they're legally eligible to work in the US. That said, we are recruiting to fill a local position in our Seattle, WA office.

We apologize in advance if we're unable to respond to you personally regarding your submissions. Based on the enthusiastic response we've gotten in the past, we expect quite a few responses. That said, we are committed to reviewing and evaluating every applicant.