Senior Graphics Programmer

Cast Iron Games; Wakefield; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 95,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible hours

Professional development support

No crunch

Competitive salary

Job summary

Cast Iron Games in Tileyard North is seeking a Senior Graphics Programmer to lead rendering feature development and optimization across multiple platforms. You will own graphics systems from concept to delivery, collaborating with artists and engineers to achieve high visual fidelity and performance.

You will mentor junior engineers, help shape rendering architecture, and drive best practices while shipping cross-platform titles with a focus on quality and efficiency.

Qualifications

• Experience building or maintaining rendering systems in a commercial game environment.
• Strong understanding of real-time rendering techniques and modern graphics pipelines.
• Experience working with shaders and GPU optimisation.
• Familiarity with DirectX, and ideally console specific APIs.
• Comfortable profiling graphics performance and diagnosing bottlenecks.
• Experience working with console or PC platforms.
• Familiar with Perforce or similar source control systems.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and maintain rendering and graphics systems
• Collaborate closely with art and technical art teams to support visual goals
• Optimise rendering performance across CPU and GPU workloads
• Investigate and resolve rendering bugs, visual issues, and platform-specific problems
• Contribute to graphics architecture and long-term technical planning
• Profile and improve memory usage, frame times, and rendering efficiency
• Support junior and mid-level engineers through mentorship and code reviews
• Help establish and maintain graphics programming best practices
• Contribute to tooling and workflows that improve visual iteration and development efficiency

Skills

Rendering systems

Real-time rendering

Shaders & optimization

DirectX & console APIs

Profiling graphics

Cross-platform development

Mentoring

Tools

Perforce

Job description

At Cast Iron Games, we build technically ambitious games in a calm, focused environment, where every team member has a voice. Based in Tileyard North, we collaborate with high quality partners on high-quality projects, guided by clarity, consistency, and mutual respect.

We're a young and growing studio delivering AAA games. Our experienced team has contributed to some of the industry's biggest AAA and independent titles, and we're building a supportive, balanced environment where great work happens without crunch.

The Role

As a Senior Graphics Programmer, you'll be responsible for developing and maintaining rendering systems that help bring our games to life. You'll work closely with artists, technical artists, and engineers to deliver high-quality visuals while ensuring performance targets are met across supported platforms.

You'll take ownership of graphics features from concept through implementation, helping shape rendering architecture, solving complex technical challenges, and mentoring less experienced programmers along the way.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and maintain rendering and graphics systems
• Collaborate closely with art and technical art teams to support visual goals
• Optimise rendering performance across CPU and GPU workloads
• Investigate and resolve rendering bugs, visual issues, and platform-specific problems
• Contribute to graphics architecture and long-term technical planning
• Profile and improve memory usage, frame times, and rendering efficiency
• Support junior and mid-level engineers through mentorship and code reviews
• Help establish and maintain graphics programming best practices
• Contribute to tooling and workflows that improve visual iteration and development efficiency

What We're Looking For

Technical Experience

• Experience building or maintaining rendering systems in a commercial game environment
• Strong understanding of real-time rendering techniques and modern graphics pipelines
• Experience working with shaders and GPU optimisation
• Familiarity with DirecxtX, and ideally console specific APIs
• Comfortable profiling graphics performance and diagnosing bottlenecks
• Experience working with console or PC platforms
• Familiar with Perforce or similar source control systems

Ways of Working

• Comfortable owning complex graphics features from planning through delivery
• Strong communicator who can work effectively with both artists and engineers
• Proactive in identifying risks, trade-offs, and technical solutions
• Passionate about visual quality, performance, and maintainable code

Bonus Points

• Experience shipping titles on Xbox, PlayStation, or Switch
• Knowledge of physically based rendering (PBR), post-processing, or lighting systems
• Experience with ray tracing technologies
• Familiarity with engine architecture and low-level engine systems
• Experience building graphics debugging or profiling tools

Why Cast Iron Games

• A people-first studio with a clear focus on craft, clarity, and collaboration
• A high-trust team where experience is valued and voices are heard
• A respectful, experienced team with a strong engineering culture
• The opportunity to ship performance-optimised, cross-platform games you're proud of
• Projects that offer real variety. Different game engines, new challenges, constant growth
• Creative surroundings at Tileyard North, with a supportive creative community
• Competitive salary, flexible hours and professional development support
• Opportunities to lead with clarity, autonomy, and real impact
• No crunch. No egos. Just good code, good people and good games

What to Expect / Key Benefits

• Start your day any time between 8:00am and 10:00am
• 35 working hours per week with a 1-hour lunch break (with the opportunity to flex down to 30 minutes or up to 2 hours)
• 25 days annual leave + 8 days bank holiday
• 1 day leave for your birthday and 1 day leave if you're moving house
• Length of service increases are 1 day per year of service up to maximum of 8 additional days
• Up to 8 days discretionary annual leave during our end of year break
• Potential for annual performance bonus
• Free breakfast options, juice, hot drinks and fruit
• Employee referral bonus (up to £2000!)
• Group Life Assurance – 4 x annual salary payable to nominated beneficiaries through an expression of wishes form.
• Income Protection – covers you up for up to 50% of monthly salary for 2 years (after a 26 week deferred period, i.e. when SSP runs out)
• Critical Illness Cover – lump sum of 1 x annual salary on diagnosis of a critical illness
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• EV & Hybrid Car Scheme
• Tech Purchase Scheme – split the cost of Tech or Home electronics through salary deduction, interest free
• Healthcare Cash plan – claim back the cost of everyday healthcare, dental, physio, chiropractor, opticians, podiatry etc
• Private Medical Insurance with Vitality
• Reward Gateway with cashback and discounts on 900+ retailers
• Employee Assistance Programme including Virtual GP service
• Wellbeing Centre based on Mind, Move, Munch and Money