Principal Technical Artist

WorkinGames; Toronto; Hybrid; CAD 145,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health & Wellness Coverage

Wellness Spending Account

Vacation: 25 days/year

Parental Leave & Family Support

RRSP Matching

Employee Assistance Program

Hybrid Work Environment

Job summary

Tripledot Studios is building a brand-new casual mobile title and seeks a Principal Technical Artist to shape visual and technical foundations. You will own how art is authored, integrated, optimized and rendered, including VFX and UI in Unity, while setting technical standards for the team.

You will prototype, build pipelines, and mentor others, balancing mobile performance with high-quality visuals on a global scale.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional experience as Technical Artist in mobile games.
• Extensive hands-on Unity experience, including render/asset pipelines and editor tooling.
• Strong shader development, lighting, and rendering techniques.
• Portfolio showing own VFX work shipped in games.
• Experience with Unity UI Toolkit and mobile memory budgets.

Responsibilities

• Prototype visual and technical ideas to test direction and fun.
• Architect and implement art pipelines and tools from scratch.
• Author shaders and rendering solutions for mobile performance budgets.
• Create production-quality VFX/PFX and tooling for the team.
• Establish UI implementation standards in Unity UI Toolkit.
• Define technical specs and asset standards and tooling for validation.
• Profile and optimize art content for memory, draws, and load times.
• Develop automation tools in C# or Python for art pipelines.
• Debug and resolve visual and performance issues; stay current with mobile graphics trends.

Skills

Unity proficiency

Shader development

VFX pipelines

UI Toolkit

Mobile optimization

C# programming

Python scripting

Tools

C#

Python

Unity

Job description

Who are we? Tripledot Studios is one of the largest independent mobile games companies in the world. We are a multi-award-winning organisation, with a global 2,500+ strong team across 12 studios. Our expanded portfolio includes some of the biggest titles in mobile gaming, collectively reaching top chart positions around the world and engaging over 25 million daily active users. Tripledot's guiding principle is that when people love what they do, what they do will be loved by others. We're building a company we're proud of. One filled with driven, incredibly smart and detail-orientated people, who LOVE making games. Our ambition is to be the most successful games company in the world, and we're just getting started.

Position Overview

PeopleFun is seeking a Principal Technical Artist to help stand up a brand new game team and shape the visual and technical foundation of a new casual mobile title. You will be one of the earliest people on the project, working shoulder to shoulder with artists, engineers, and designers to get ideas on screen fast, learn from them, and turn the ones that work into durable pipelines, shaders, tools, and systems. This is a deeply technical role for someone who thinks in pipelines and profilers but still has the eye of an artist. You will own how art gets authored, integrated, optimized, and rendered, including the game's VFX and its UI implementation in Unity UI Toolkit, and you will set the technical standards the rest of the team builds against as it grows.

Responsibilities

• Rapidly prototype visual and technical ideas to help the team evaluate direction, prove out feasibility, and find the fun early.
• Architect and implement art pipelines, tools, and workflows from scratch, scaling them as the team and project grow.
• Author shaders and rendering solutions that deliver the intended look while staying within mobile performance and memory budgets.
• Author production-quality VFX/PFX yourself - particle effects, shader-driven effects, and animated feedback - and build the systems and tooling that let others create them.
• Establish UI implementation standards in Unity UI Toolkit, including hierarchy structure, layout systems, and responsive behavior across mobile resolutions, aspect ratios, and safe areas.
• Define technical specifications and asset standards, and build validation tooling that keeps assets compliant as the project scales.
• Profile and optimize art content - draw calls, overdraw, atlasing, texture and memory budgets, load times, and runtime performance across device tiers.
• Develop tools and scripts in C#, Python, or similar to automate repetitive art and build tasks, including asset export, import, and marketing asset generation.
• Debug and resolve visual and performance issues, finding creative solutions within platform constraints.
• Stay current with developments in mobile graphics, tools, and techniques, proactively bringing best practices into production.

Requirements

• 5+ years of professional experience as a Technical Artist in mobile games, with a demonstrated track record of technical depth and artistic judgment.
• Extensive hands-on Unity experience, including the render pipeline, asset pipeline, prefab and scene architecture, and editor tooling.
• Strong proficiency in shader development, lighting, and rendering techniques.
• Demonstrated ability to author VFX/PFX to a shippable quality bar, with a reel or portfolio showing your own effects work.
• Proven track record of prototyping and rapid iteration, with the judgment to know when to move fast and when to build something that lasts.
• Demonstrated expertise with Unity UI Toolkit - layout systems, hierarchy design, UXML/USS, and responsive UI implementation for mobile.
• Deep understanding of optimizing art assets for mobile platforms, including memory management, profiling, and performance debugging.
• Proven experience building tools and scripts for art pipelines using C#, Python, or similar languages.
• Solid grounding in 2D art, animation, and UI design principles, with enough craft sensibility to evaluate and elevate the work of the art team.
• Excellent problem-solving skills, with the ability to work both independently and collaboratively in a fast-paced, cross-functional team.

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior professional experience within casual mobile gaming, including a deep understanding of the visual style and player expectations.
• Prior experience joining or founding a new game team, and comfort operating without established process or precedent.
• Prior experience taking a title from pre-production through soft launch, building visual and technical solutions from the ground up.
• Experience automating or supporting marketing and store asset production through tooling.
• Applied knowledge of animation systems, procedural asset generation, and VFX pipelines.
• Familiarity with mobile graphics limitations and strategies for maximizing visual impact within those constraints.
• Experience setting technical direction across multiple disciplines or mentoring other technical artists.
• Adaptability to new technologies and tools, with a proactive approach to learning and implementing new techniques.
• Working at Tripledot

Benefits & Compensation

• Comprehensive Health & Wellness Coverage – We offer extended health, dental, and wellness benefits. Coverage becomes effective on your start date, provided your enrolment forms have been completed.
• Wellness Spending Account – Employees receive a $500 annual Wellness Spending Account to support their physical well-being, personal development and lifestyle interests.
• Generous Vacation Time – Employees receive 25 vacation days annually, in addition to statutory holidays.
• Parental Leave & Family Support – We offer a generous parental leave program and foster a supportive, family-friendly workplace culture.
• RRSP Matching – We match 100% of employee RRSP contributions up to 3.5% of annual salary, helping you build long-term financial security.
• Employee Assistance Program – Confidential support and resources are available whenever needed through our Employee Assistance Program.
• Hybrid Work Environment – We operate on a hybrid work model, with in-office collaboration Monday through Thursday and a flexible work-from-home day on Fridays. Employees also enjoy complimentary breakfast, lunch and evening snacks on all office days.
• Team Events & Celebrations – We regularly host social events and celebrations to recognize achievements, strengthen connections, and build a positive workplace culture.
• Professional Development – We are committed to employee growth and encourage career advancement through ongoing learning and professional development opportunities.

The anticipated base salary range for this role is CAD $145,000-$170,000.

At Tripledot Studios, it is not typical for new hires to be placed at the top of the salary range. Compensation decisions are made based on the unique qualifications, experience and circumstances of each candidate. Actual compensation is determined based on a variety of factors, including, but not limited to an individual's skills, experience, education, training, licenses and certifications (where applicable), as well as business and organizational needs. The final compensation package will be based on the specific position offered in addition to a full range of medical and other benefits.

Tripledot Studios is proud to be an equal-opportunity employer that is committed to inclusion and diversity. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status, or other legally protected characteristics.