Shader Technical Artist - Contract

Playground Games Limited; Royal Leamington Spa; Hybrid; GBP 30,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a leading Xbox Game Studio as a Shader Technical Artist and contribute to the BAFTA award-winning Forza Horizon franchise. This role offers the chance to work in a hybrid model, combining studio time with remote flexibility. Collaborate with talented artists and engineers to create high-quality shaders that enhance the visual experience of our games. You'll be part of a diverse and inclusive team dedicated to innovation and creativity. If you're passionate about game development and eager to make a significant impact, this opportunity is perfect for you.

Benefits

Relocation Assistance

Qualifications

• Experience with shaders and game art creation is essential.
• Strong collaboration and communication skills are needed.

Responsibilities

• Manage the core shader library for flexibility and performance.
• Support VFX and lighting with shader authoring and development.
• Identify visual improvements in shaders with artists.

Skills

Shader Development

Node-based or HLSL

Game Art Creation

Collaboration Skills

Visual Quality Assessment

Communication Skills

Education

Art or Programming Degree

Job description

Playground Games is looking for Shader Technical Artist to join our talented Forza Horizon team here in Leamington Spa on a contract basis.

About us:

As a premier first-party Xbox Game Studio, we are passionate about making genre-defining games that are accessible, beautiful, and most of all fun. We are looking to expand our diverse team as we continue driving forward our BAFTA award-winning Forza Horizon franchise.

About the role:

As a Shader Technical Artist, you will collaborate closely with the artists and rendering engineers to identify requirements, undertake prototyping and maintain high-quality, optimal shaders.

This is a contract role based at our state-of-the-art facilities in Royal Leamington Spa. We have a hybrid work model in place with a minimum of 3 days a week in studio. Relocation assistance is available if required.

What you’ll do:

• Take ownership of the core shader library, ensuring it strikes an effective balance between flexibility, usability, and performance.
• Provide support where necessary to VFX and lighting with shader authoring and look development exercises.
• Proactively identify areas for visual improvement in our shaders and work with artists to ensure effective usage.
• Take responsibility for profiling and optimising our shaders and their usage.

What you’ll bring:

• Experience working with shaders (node-based or HLSL)
• Experience creating game art and/or supporting an art team to create realistic content.
• Effective collaborator with growth mindset and desire to help others to do their best work.
• Strong verbal and digital communication skills. Comfortable discussing rendering, memory, lighting, and other art-related topics.
• Critical eye for visual quality
• Art or Programming degree is a bonus.

This is a fantastic opportunity to make a world-class game with an established, talented, and collaborative team at one of the industry’s most exciting first-party game studios.

Playground Games is proud to be an equal opportunity employer, we believe that diversity and inclusion fuels creativity. We are dedicated to creating a safe, comfortable, and welcoming working environment.

We strive to build an inclusive culture that encourages, supports, and celebrates the diverse voices of our team members. It drives our innovation and connects us closer to our players. We are committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion across age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

At Playground Games we recognise the importance of self-development, career progression, well-being and retention of our colleagues. We celebrate difference and welcome everyone to join us and to be themselves at work.

If you require any reasonable accommodation to apply for this position, please contact us on [e-mail]