How to Get Hired at Respawn Entertainment
What Respawn actually looks for in game artists, how the hiring process works, salary ranges by role, and how to build a portfolio that passes their Apex and Jedi bar.
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About Respawn Entertainment
Art Style by Franchise
Each franchise has a distinct visual language. Match your portfolio to the specific team you are targeting.
Stylised Sci-Fi Hero Design
Legends are designed for instant silhouette recognition at 100m in a gunfight. High-saturation colour palettes, exaggerated proportions, and heavily readable silhouettes. Character art requires a costume design sensibility — each legend is a fashion statement as much as a warrior. Skin cosmetics are a major revenue driver; concept-to-3D accuracy is commercially critical.
Realistic Action-Adventure
Cal Kestis and the SW universe require film-accurate character art with high texture fidelity. Environments span SW biomes (desert, jungle, frozen worlds) at high visual quality. Art direction stays faithful to ILM SW aesthetics. Technical character cloth and hair work matches near-cinematic standards.
Hard Sci-Fi Mech Design
Mech and exosuit design with heavy industrial realism. While Titanfall 3 is unconfirmed, the visual language still informs Apex’s futuristic world design. Hard surface artists should note the material and design DNA carries into current projects.
The Hiring Process
Respawn Entertainment’s process is thorough and multi-stage. Understanding each phase helps you prepare the right material at the right time.
Portfolio Review + Application
Respawn reviews portfolios before moving to an interview. For Apex roles, your portfolio needs characters or environments that match either stylised sci-fi or live-service cosmetic quality. For Jedi roles, realistic character and environment work at SW fidelity is expected. Submit via EA’s Workday system.
Typical duration: 1-3 weeksRecruiter Screen
30-minute call covering experience, tools (Maya, Substance, ZBrush, Unreal/Source), and team fit. EA’s central recruiting team often runs the screen before handing off to Respawn’s internal leads. Confirm which project and team the role supports.
Typical duration: 1-2 weeksArt Lead / Director Interview
Portfolio deep-dive with the Apex or Jedi art lead. Expect specific questions about how you tailor work to a franchise’s visual language, how you handle creative direction from leads, and what your typical revision cycle looks like. Respawn leads value artists who understand the purpose of their art — engagement, readability, brand — not just craft.
Typical duration: 1-2 weeksArt Test
Required for most mid and senior roles. Apex art tests frequently involve a character skin concept or a 3D character bust at cosmetic-ready quality. Jedi tests involve environment or character work at AAA fidelity. Budget 25-35 hours regardless of the brief’s stated time estimate.
Typical duration: 2-3 weeksPanel Interview + Offer
Cross-functional panel including art, production, and sometimes design. Offers are processed through EA’s HR system. Salary bands are set at the EA level, not Respawn-specifically — bands are competitive for Los Angeles but negotiation is possible with a counter-offer.
Typical duration: 1-2 weeksSalary Ranges
Estimates based on job posting data and industry salary surveys. Ranges vary by studio location, seniority, and negotiation.
| Role | Level | Salary | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Character Artist | Mid-level | $80,000 – $110,000 | Los Angeles, CA |
| Character Artist | Senior | $115,000 – $150,000 | Los Angeles, CA |
| Environment Artist | Mid-level | $75,000 – $108,000 | Los Angeles, CA |
| Environment Artist | Senior | $110,000 – $145,000 | Los Angeles, CA |
| Concept Artist | Mid-level | $80,000 – $112,000 | Los Angeles / Remote |
| Concept Artist | Senior | $115,000 – $155,000 | Los Angeles / Remote |
| Technical Artist | Senior | $120,000 – $160,000 | Los Angeles, CA |
| VFX Artist | Mid-level | $80,000 – $110,000 | Los Angeles, CA |
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Portfolio Tips by Discipline
What Respawn Entertainment’s art directors actually want to see. Specific to their franchise requirements.
Character Artists
- Apex requires understanding of hero design as product — skins are paid cosmetics, quality directly affects revenue
- Show your understanding of silhouette readability at small screen sizes — competitive game clarity matters
- Jedi character roles need film-quality skin and cloth at Star Wars fidelity — reference ILM SW visual style
- Include breakdowns showing your rigging-friendly topology decisions, not just the final render
Environment Artists
- Apex environments are designed for competitive play — readability, cover placement, and lighting for combat visibility are as important as visual quality
- Jedi environments span multiple SW biomes — show range: arid, jungle, interior, space-age
- Include a modular kit breakdown showing how you build environments efficiently
- Show your understanding of real-time performance trade-offs in your writeups
Concept Artists
- Apex character concepts need silhouette thumbnails, material breakdown, and a final presentation-quality sheet
- Understand Respawn’s diversity of legend characters — avoid applying with concepts that duplicate existing legend roles
- Jedi concept roles prioritise strong fundamentals and SW universe knowledge — authentic-feeling world design over generic sci-fi
- Show your collaboration process — how does your concept transition to 3D? Include any handoff sheets you have used.
VFX Artists
- Apex VFX must be readable in competitive play — visibility, clarity in chaos, and hitbox-appropriate scale
- Show real-time VFX in Unreal or equivalent engine — portfolio must be realtime not pre-rendered
- Include a breakdown of particle budget decisions — Respawn leads want to see you understand performance constraints
- Unique cosmetic VFX for Apex skins (finisher effects, gun traces, ability VFX) are the core work — show this type of content explicitly
Application Volume
Respawn is an EA studio, which means hiring cycles are tied to EA’s quarterly planning. Headcount can be frozen mid-process if EA’s broader financial picture shifts. This happened to multiple candidates in 2023 after the Apex Mobile shutdown and subsequent restructuring. Ask early in the process whether the headcount has EA executive sign-off above the studio level.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is Respawn hiring remotely?
Partially. Some senior and principal roles have been offered remote or hybrid since 2020. The majority of mid-level roles at the LA studio still require in-person or hybrid presence. Check each posting for work model — Respawn has a Vancouver office that handles some fully remote roles.
What engine does Respawn use?
Apex Legends runs on a heavily modified Source Engine. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and Jedi: Fallen Order were built on Unreal Engine 4. Future projects may use Unreal Engine 5. Technical Artist roles should demonstrate experience with both engine families.
Does Respawn pay for art tests?
No. Like most AAA studios, art tests at Respawn are unpaid. Tests for Apex cosmetic roles are particularly intensive — the quality bar for live-service cosmetics is commercially high and tests reflect that. Ask for a clear decision timeline before you start.
How does EA ownership affect the hiring process?
EA runs background checks, sets salary bands, and processes offers through their central HR system. The actual role assessment and art direction decisions are made by Respawn internally. The EA ownership adds administrative steps but does not change what Respawn looks for artistically.
What career path exists at Respawn?
Character artist — senior — principal is the individual contributor track. Team lead and art director paths open for those interested in management. Respawn is a mid-sized studio (~700 people), which means senior artists have meaningful impact and visibility. Career movement within EA’s broader studio network (DICE, BioWare, Maxis, etc.) is possible for strong performers.
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