Lead Shader & Material Artist – Unreal Engine 5

SussexDigital; Brighton; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Hangar 13 seeks a Lead Shader/Material Artist with deep UE5 expertise to define material workflows, drive look development, and lead both internal and external teams toward world-class visuals. You will enhance shaders, materials, and rendering pipelines while balancing performance across platforms.

You will collaborate with Art Directors and engineers, mentoring a team and ensuring alignment with production goals. Onsite presence is required at least 3 days per week.

Qualifications

• 7+ years in games industry with shipped AAA titles.
• Senior/Lead Shader/Material Artist on large projects.
• Expert UE5 material editor, shader graph, and rendering pipeline.
• Strong understanding of physically-based shading (PBR) and materials.
• Hands-on experience with Lumen and Nanite in UE5.
• Able to balance high fidelity with performance.
• Proven leadership, mentoring, and cross-discipline collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Define quality bar for shaders & materials across project.
• Establish shader/material pipeline for fidelity and performance.
• Lead R&D into UE5 features (Lumen, Nanite, virtual texturing).
• Collaborate with Art Director to align with art direction.
• Create and maintain modular, performant shader/material library.
• Develop complex materials for characters, environments, and cinematics.
• Work with lighting to achieve believable surfaces under dynamic lighting.
• Optimize materials for memory, draw calls, and runtime performance.
• Mentor and inspire shader/material artists and technical artists.
• Review work, set quality standards, and provide feedback.
• Collaborate with external partners to meet AAA expectations.

Skills

Unreal Engine 5

Shader authoring

PBR workflows

Leadership

Mentoring

Team leadership

Lumen / Nanite expertise

Tools

Substance Designer

Houdini

HLSL

Unreal Engine

Job description

Hangar 13 seeks a Lead Shader/Material Artist with deep UE5 expertise to define material workflows, drive look development, and lead both internal and external teams toward world-class visuals. You will enhance shaders, materials, and rendering pipelines while balancing performance across platforms.

You will collaborate with Art Directors and engineers, mentoring a team and ensuring alignment with production goals. Onsite presence is required at least 3 days per week.