Senior VFX Technical Artist - Unpublished R&D Product

Riot Games; Sydney Township (ND); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical Insurance

Employee Assistance Program

Wellness fund

Donation matching

Learning and Development opportunities

Flexible work schedules

Co‑op gaming areas

Job summary

Riot Games is seeking a Senior VFX Technical Artist to lead the evolution of our VFX systems and content pipelines. You will prototype Niagara‑based solutions, develop artist‑facing tools, and refine Houdini workflows to support artists, designers, and engineers.

You will own end‑to‑end technical problems, optimize performance, and maintain documentation while partnering with Art, Design, and Engineering to raise production quality.

Qualifications

• Senior‑level experience as a Technical Artist or VFX Technical Artist in games or real‑time content.
• Advanced hands‑on Unreal Engine experience, including Niagara systems and Scratchpad.
• Strong scripting for artist tools in Python, Blueprint, or similar.
• Hands‑on pipeline development for procedural workflows and asset generation.
• Proven ability to design modular, reusable VFX systems and workflows.
• Solid understanding of real‑time VFX readability, profiling, and performance budgets.
• Ability to collaborate across Art, Design, and Engineering and communicate trade‑offs.

Responsibilities

• Own and evolve scalable VFX systems, tools, libraries, and pipelines in Unreal and Niagara.
• Build reusable, modular effects and workflows for rapid iteration.
• Partner with VFX Art, Design, Engineering to translate needs into technical solutions.
• Develop artist‑facing tools and Houdini workflows with DCC integration.
• Prototype in Unreal using Niagara modules, Scratchpad, Blueprint, and materials.
• Profile and optimize effects for quality, clarity, and runtime performance.

Skills

Unreal Engine

Niagara

Scratchpad

Blueprint

Material Graphs

Houdini

Python scripting

Asset pipelines

Tools

Unreal Engine

Niagara

Scratchpad

Blueprint

Material Graphs

Houdini

Job description

At Riot, Senior Technical Artists build the systems, tools, and workflows that help artists create high-quality content efficiently and sustainably. In this role, you’ll combine hands‑on real‑time VFX craft with technical problem‑solving to turn creative and gameplay goals into reusable, scalable solutions that support artists, designers, and engineers.

As a Senior VFX Technical Artist on an unpublished R&D product, you’ll help establish and evolve the VFX systems and content pipelines that bring the experience to life. You’ll own meaningful technical problems end to end, from prototyping Niagara‑based solutions and artist‑facing tools to developing Houdini workflows, documenting best practices, and improving performance and production reliability.

You will report into the Technical Art Manager of the team.

Responsibilities:

• Own and evolve scalable VFX systems, tools, libraries, and content pipelines in Unreal Engine and Niagara.
• Build reusable, modular, and parameterized effects and workflows that reduce one‑off production, support rapid iteration, and empower artists to create varied content from a maintainable foundation.
• Partner with VFX Art, Design, Engineering, and Technical Art to translate creative and gameplay needs into robust technical solutions, advocating for artist workflows and clear player‑facing readability.
• Develop artist‑facing tools, scripts, and automation, including Houdini‑based procedural workflows and integrations between DCC applications and real‑time content pipelines.
• Work hands‑on in Unreal Engine to prototype and validate systems using Niagara modules and Scratchpad, Blueprint, and material workflows.
• Profile and optimize effects for visual quality, gameplay clarity, memory, and runtime performance, helping establish practical budgets for high effect density and resource‑constrained scenarios.
• Maintain documentation, standards, and production support practices that make VFX workflows easier to adopt, troubleshoot, and improve over time.

Required Qualifications:

• Senior‑level professional experience as a Technical Artist, VFX Technical Artist, or closely related role in games or real‑time content production.
• Advanced hands‑on Unreal Engine experience, including Niagara systems, Niagara modules and Scratchpad, Blueprint, and material authoring or Material Graphs.
• Strong scripting and automation skills for artist‑facing tools and content workflows, with the ability to work productively in Python, Blueprint, or comparable scripting environments.
• Hands‑on pipeline development experience, including procedural workflows, asset generation, and integration with real‑time content pipelines.
• Proven experience designing or maintaining reusable, modular, and parameterized VFX systems, libraries, or production workflows.
• Strong understanding of real‑time VFX readability, profiling, optimization, and performance budgeting, with the ability to balance visual quality and runtime constraints.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate across Art, Design, and Engineering, communicate technical trade‑offs clearly, and support artists through tool iteration and problem‑solving.

Desired Qualifications:

• Experience supporting large‑scale multiplayer or live‑service content pipelines, where consistency, scalability, and maintainability are central production concerns.
• Experience developing procedural content workflows or reusable generation systems in Houdini, Unreal, or related tools.
• Experience with streaming, resource, memory, or workload optimization for content‑rich real‑time experiences.
• Familiarity with shader or engine‑level development, including HLSL, C++, or comparable low‑level graphics and runtime technologies.
• A portfolio or reel that demonstrates technical breakdowns, reusable systems, artist‑facing tools, pipeline improvements, and the impact of your work on content production.

For this role, you'll find success through craft expertise, a collaborative spirit, and decision‑making that prioritizes the delight of players. We will be looking at your past studies, experience, and your personal relationship with games. If you embody player empathy and care about players' experiences, this could be your role!

Our Perks:

At Riot we strongly believe in work / life balance, and we encourage that with our open paid time off policy, paid parental leave (for both primary and secondary carers) and flexible work schedules to fit your lifestyle. We also believe that work should be fun, we have co‑op gaming areas, a play fund so you can broaden and deepen your knowledge of players and community, and all the snacks you would ever need to power through your day (even healthy snacks!). And that’s not all we offer, there’s also:

• Medical Insurance that covers you and your dependents
• Employee Assistance Program
• Wellness fund
• Donation matching of time and money to registered charities
• Learning and Development opportunities

At Riot Games, we put players first. That mission drives every decision in our quest to create games and experiences that make it better to be a player. Whether you’re working directly on a new player‑facing experience or you’re supporting the company as a whole, everyone at Riot is part of our mission. And just like in our games, we’re better when we work together. Our goal is to create collaborative teams where you are empowered to bring your unique perspective everyday. If that sounds like the kind of place you want to work, we’re looking forward to your application.