Senior VFX Artist - GameSim - Talent Pipeline

Keywords Studios Plc; United States; Hybrid; USD 85,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

3 weeks paid leave

Benefits package including medical, (d

Sick Leave

Disability Coverage

Performance bonus

401(k) Retirement Plan with company m

Job summary

GameSim is seeking a Senior VFX Artist to lead and implement real-time visual effects across UE5/Unity or proprietary engines. The role blends leadership, collaboration, and hands-on creation of textures, materials, and particle systems to deliver ship-ready effects aligned with art direction.

You’ll mentor teammates, set quality standards, optimize effects for performance, and partner with Designers, Concept Artists, and Tech Art to ensure delivery meets client expectations.

Qualifications

• Minimum 8-years of professional game industry experience with at least one shipped title.
• Experience in in-engine implementation using Unreal Engine 4 or 5 and Niagara.
• Strong texture and material creation skills in Photoshop and/or Substance Designer.
• Leadership-level communication and mentoring experience.
• Ability to work Central (CT) core hours with overlap with PT/ET; remote/hybrid/onsite options.

Responsibilities

• Create custom real-time visual effects and implement them in engine (UE5, Unity, or proprietary).
• Create all necessary textures and materials; maintain clean, readable graphs and parameterization.
• Utilize additional software tools like Photoshop, Blender, Houdini, or Maya as needed.
• Understand complex material setups, blueprints, or scripting hooks; troubleshoot issues and partner with Tech Art/Engineering.
• Own optimization fundamentals: budgets, overdraw, particle counts, memory/perf constraints, and console targets.
• Set quality bar, provide clear reviews/paintovers, and guide VFX execution for small pods or strike teams.
• Proactively identify risks and propose solutions; elevate early.
• Collaborate with Designers, Concept Artists, and the Art Director; partner with Tech Art/Engineering as needed.

Skills

Leadership communication

Mentoring teammates

In-engine VFX implementation

Tools

Unreal Engine 4/5

Niagara

Photoshop

Substance Designer

Unity

Job description

GameSim is a game development studio that partners with clients to build games across PC/console and a range of art styles. We care about craftsmanship, collaboration, and shipping work we’re proud to put our names on. If you love building environments and believable spaces we’d like to meet you. Our headquarters is based in Orlando, FL!

Talent Pipeline Posting Notice
Please note that this posting is not tied to an immediate vacancy. We are proactively building a pipeline of qualified candidates in anticipation of potential hiring needs over the coming months. Applications will be reviewed and retained for future consideration as opportunities arise.

We are seeking a Senior VFX Artist (~20% leadership / ~50% particle effects / ~30% materials) to join our team! You’ll create game-ready real-time VFX end-to-end: texturing/materials → particle effects → implementation in a proprietary or commercial engine. This is a senior, production-focused role with leadership responsibility: you’ll translate art direction into shippable effects, set a quality bar, mentor other artists, and help keep VFX delivery aligned across teams and client expectations.

90-day success looks like

Within your first 90 days, you:

• Depending on the project, you may need to learn a proprietary engine quickly and work effectively inside its constraints or work effectively in modern engines like UE5 and Unity.
• Deliver multiple complete, optimized effects and/or specialty materials (assets + assembly + implementation) that match concept and art direction.
• Establish trust as a lead: communicate progress and risks clearly, align cross-discipline dependencies early, and help unblock teammates.
• Contribute meaningfully to VFX standards (templates, naming, budgets, review checklists) that improve consistency and throughput.

Day-to-day responsibilities

• Create custom real-time visual effects and implement them in engine (UE5, Unity, or proprietary).
• Create all necessary textures and materials; maintain clean, readable graphs and parameterization.
• Utilize additional software tools like Photoshop, Blender, Houdini, or Maya as needed.
• Understand complex material setups, blueprints, or scripting hooks; troubleshoot issues and partner with Tech Art/Engineering.
• Own optimization fundamentals: budgets, overdraw, particle counts, memory/perf constraints, and console targets.
• Set quality bar, provide clear reviews/paintovers, and guide VFX execution for small pods or strike teams.
• Proactively identify risks (missing hooks, perf spikes, unclear direction), propose solutions, and elevate early.
• Collaborate closely with Designers, Concept Artists, and the Art Director; partner with Tech Art/Engineering as needed.
• Support client-facing communication when required: clarify requirements, share WIP, and align on “definition of done.”
• Assign tasks, set short-term priorities, and maintain a healthy backlog.

Requirements

• Minimum 8-years of professional game industry experience with at least one shipped title.
• Proven end-to-end real-time VFX workflow experience working in-engine implementation in Unreal Engine 4 or 5 and Niagara.
• Strong particle animation fundamentals and shape language (readability, timing, impact).
• Strong material and texture creation skills in Photoshop and/or Substance Designer.
  Demonstrated optimization knowledge (particle counts, overdraw budgets, performance constraints).
• Leadership-level communication: clear written and verbal updates, actionable feedback, strong collaboration habits.
• Experience mentoring or leading other artists (formal lead role not required, but leadership behaviors are).
• Can work Central (CT) core hours with possible overlap hours with Pacific (PT) or Eastern (ET).
• Work options are flexible: remote / hybrid / onsite.

Nice-to-have

• Houdini experience.
• Substance Designer experience.
• EmberGen experience.
• Unity experience.
• Scripting or coding skills (C#, Python, etc.).
• 2D or 3D animation skills.
• Versatility across stylized and realistic work; foliage/atmospherics experience.
• Experience establishing VFX standards/pipeline (templates, naming, libraries, scalability rules).

Portfolio requirements

Your portfolio must include:

• Run-time VFX assets with strong readability and clearly understandable elements.
• Strong material definition and texture work (clean, readable, well-constructed).
• Evidence of fundamentals: composition, mood, readability, color choices, animation timing, and understanding of natural energies (fire, water, smoke, etc.).
• At least one example shown in a real-time context implemented in-game (video of the effect happening during gameplay).
• Bonus (strongly preferred): an example showing leadership impact—before/after mentorship, a small set of effects kept consistent across a style bar, or breakdowns/templates you built.

_ If your portfolio is mostly effects alone in a scene without runtime gameplay context, this is probably not the right fit. _

This position is currently open to candidates residing in the following Canada Provinces: Ontario or British Columbia.

Salary Range: $85,000 USD to $90,000 CAD

Benefits

What’s in it for you?

• Opportunity to work on different projects
• 3 weeks of paid leave
• Benefits package including medical, dental and vision
• Sick Leave
• Disability Coverage
• Performance bonus
• Corporate holidays
• 401(k) Retirement Plan with company matching
• Professional Development

GameSim is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome applicants of all backgrounds and identities and evaluate candidates based on skills, experience, and alignment with the role.

Keywords Studios is dedicated to following a well-established Equal Opportunities Policy. We endeavor to create a workplace which provides for equal opportunities for all employees and potential employees.

_ PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION POLICY _

By providing your information in this application, you understand that we will collect and process your information in accordance with our Applicant Privacy Notice. For more information, please see our Applicant Privacy Notice at https://www.keywordsstudios.com/en/applicant-privacy-notice.