Lead VFX Artist

Job Description

Great Games Start with Great People! We pride ourselves on our unique vision for the industry, and we developed a team that cares about one another, our games, and our players. We treat each other with respect. We bring no egos. We focus on what is best for the game. We hire stunning peers. We own our mistakes. As we enter the next exciting chapter of our story, we look for people to grow with us. If you want to work with a world-class team on exciting new projects, then apply today! We look forward to hearing from you.

We are looking for a talented Lead VFX Artist who will inspire, mentor, and lead a team of high-caliber VFX artists to build immersive and compelling visual effects that millions of gamers across the globe enjoy. You will be a trusted gatekeeper for performance, efficiency, and quality. You will provide your team with guidance, goals, opportunities, and resources. As a Lead VFX Artist, you will be a role model who develops the team through challenge and change and builds individuals into highly engaged, efficient, and effective teammates. Above all, we are looking for an innovative and dedicated leader to bring all forms of real-time VFX to life, working with the VFX team to push the visual development of a new game.

What you'll be doing…
• Collaborate with Creative Directors, Designers, Engineers, Artists, Producers, and Animators to help plan and accomplish the strategic goals and deliver epic visual content for extraordinary player experiences
• Lead the team of VFX artists and be an active participant in team discussions, critiques, and reviews to ensure the timely completion of VFX assets on style and at the desired quality bar
• Have a solid understanding of 3D rendering engines, 3D content creation DCC apps, and experience designing VFX shaders, particle systems, physics, ribbons, etc.
• Be a proactive self-starter that can independently implement high-level direction
• Learn all aspects of the COD VFX development tools and engine features to provide educated direction and suggest features to push the quality of real-time visual effects
• Be a trusted gatekeeper for performance, efficiency, and quality
• Define team goals, action plans, and schedules for the project
• Provide feedback to both internal teams and external partners
• Empower VFX artists to thrive on open and welcome constructive feedback
• As the team grows, help build a VFX team of highly talented artists who would thrive with the team and at the company
• Document and communicate specifications and visual benchmarks to support the game's artistic vision
• Contribute creative and original ideas towards all aspects of game production and development
• Champion best practices and advocate streamlining tools and processes
• Collaborate with other teams to ensure VFX requirements and plans are understood

To succeed you must have…
• 7+ years of proven experience on visual effects in games and/or film
• Highly skilled in in next-generation 3D VFX content creation tools, pipelines, and techniques for crafting AAA quality real-time visual effects
• Experience shipping a game as an art lead or art director, where you have been responsible for the quality, scheduling, and implementation of a large portion of the VFX development
• You've hired exceptionally talented artists onto a team and helped them ''learn and grow'' through constructive art feedback and coaching
• Have the ability to lead by example echoed through a professional personality
• Solid communication and problem-solving skills
• A proven ability to thrive in an exciting, challenging and often ambiguous environment
• The ability to effectively collaborate with every department of a game development team (game designers, programmers, tech art, animation, etc.)

We'd love it if you also have…
• Houdini expertise
• Coding experience in scripting or object-oriented languages such as Python, Java, C#, etc.
• Functional understanding of 3D vector math
• Passion for the Call of Duty franchise
• Strong traditional art foundation
• Experience creating VFX shaders using node graphs or shader languages

Note: A portfolio submission is required for this position. Please focus this portfolio on personal contributions to your projects and include a shot breakdown specifying what you were directly responsible for creating.

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-rb17ne-3-144-113-197-42 in your application.