Matte Painter/Environment Generalist (Senior & above) – Expression of Interest – Vancouver

Job Position(s): Matte Painter / Environment Generalist (Senior & above) - Expression of Interest - Vancouver

Wētā FX is accepting expressions of interest for a Matte Painter / Environment Generalist at the Senior level and above, based onsite in Vancouver. This role sits within the Matte Painting department and covers the full pipeline of environment creation, from USD-based scene assembly and procedural world building in Houdini Solaris through to 2.5D digimatte and compositing work on feature film and TV productions. It suits a working environment artist who is as comfortable inside a scene graph as they are making a shot look believable.

About the Role

Wētā FX runs its Matte Painting department as a fully integrated environment generalist team, meaning artists are expected to own the work across 3D, lookdev, layout, and comp rather than hand off between specialisms. You would be working across a slate of feature film and episodic television projects, partnering closely with lighting, FX, and compositing departments to build and extend photo-real environments. A typical day moves between shot work, team rounds, and pipeline problem-solving within a USD-native, Houdini-centric VFX pipeline.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain the technical approach to matte painting work across a project, adapting workflows as production demands shift.
• Run scheduled rounds with the matte painting team, reviewing and supporting artists to keep quality consistent across a high volume of shots.
• Build, extend, and enhance environments using fully rendered 3D and 2.5D digimatte methods to achieve photo-real results in feature film production.
• Develop environment assets and lookdev to support DMP work across sequences, integrating photographic and rendered elements at a production-ready standard.
• Participate in bidding and scheduling with the Head of Department and department production, representing the team at show dailies and cross-department meetings.
• Organize complex 3D and 2.5D setups clearly so other artists can access and build on them without friction inside the VFX pipeline.

What You Bring

• 5 or more years creating photoreal environment work for feature film, television, or a comparable high-end production environment.
• Hands-on proficiency in Maya, Houdini, Solaris, Nuke, and Photoshop as core production tools.
• Recent working knowledge of lighting, compositing, modelling, lookdev, and layout as they apply to environment work.
• Experience with procedural modelling and USD-based scene assembly workflows is a strong advantage.
• Familiarity with tools such as Gaea, Terragen, Mari, ZBrush, or Substance is desirable but not required.

Why This Role

Wētā FX is one of the few VFX studios where the matte painting department operates at a true generalist level, meaning the scope of work here is broader than most comparable senior roles in the industry. The Vancouver studio is actively hiring across multiple feature film and television projects, so there is real production volume behind this expression of interest. For an environment artist looking to work at the top end of the craft inside a studio with a serious production slate, this is a role worth putting your name forward for.

Submit your expression of interest for the Matte Painter / Environment Generalist role at Wētā FX in Vancouver through the apply button on this listing.