Tech Art Intern- Undergraduate

Insomniac; Burbank (CA); On-site; USD 41,000 - 59,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance

Job summary

Insomniac Games is seeking a Technical Artist Intern to design, develop, and optimize shaders within our content pipelines. You will work with artists and programmers to create real-time visuals while maintaining performance and efficient production workflows.

The internship provides hands-on shader development experience, real-time rendering techniques, and graphics optimization. Relocation assistance is available for eligible candidates, and you must be able to commit to the full 12-week

Qualifications

• Pursuing a degree in Computer Science, Computer Graphics, or related field.
• Proficiency in shader programming languages such as HLSL.
• Experience with real-time rendering and graphics pipelines.
• Strong understanding of 3D math and graphics algorithms.
• Experience optimizing shaders for performance and quality.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement small-scale shaders for game assets.
• Collaborate with artists and programmers on technical solutions.
• Maintain and improve shaders for rendering performance and visual quality.
• Debug and fix material graphs to resolve issues.
• Document technical implementations to support workflows.
• Develop sample content to test workflows and demonstrate solutions.
• Explore new techniques to support shader development and real-time rendering.

Skills

Shader programming

Real-time rendering

3D math

Problem solving

Communication

Collaboration

Education

Undergraduate (May 2026 - Dec 2029)

Pursuing CS/CG degree

Tools

HLSL

Unity

Unreal Engine

Job description

Join Insomniac Games and gain hands‑on experience developing and optimizing shaders that help bring game environments and characters to life.

As a Technical Artist Intern, you'll combine technical programming skills and artistic creativity to design, develop, and improve shaders within Insomniac’s content creation pipelines and processes. You'll work alongside artists and programmers to create visual effects while maintaining real‑time rendering performance and efficient production workflows.

This internship offers practical experience in shader development, real‑time rendering, and graphics optimization while strengthening your technical problem‑solving skills and learning how technical art supports game development.

What You’ll Be Doing:

• Design and implement small‑scale shaders that help content creators (Environment Art, Character Team) develop game assets.
• Collaborate with artists and programmers to develop creative technical solutions that support game production.
• Maintain and improve existing shaders for various applications in the game environment, focusing on visual quality and rendering performance.
• Debug and fix materialgraphs to resolve visual and technical issues.
• Document technical implementation details to support development workflows and team collaboration.
• Develop sample content to test new workflows, evaluate tools, and demonstrate technical solutions.
• Explore technological developments in the game industry and learn how new techniques can support shader development and real‑time rendering.

What We’re Looking For:

• Currently pursuing a degree in Computer Science, Computer Graphics, or a related field.
• Proficiency in shader programming languages such as HLSL.
• Experience with real‑time rendering and graphics pipelines.
• Strong understanding of 3D math and algorithms related to computer graphics.
• Experience optimizing shaders for performance and quality.
• Familiarity with game engines such as Unity or Unreal Engine.
• Strong problem‑solving and debugging skills, with the ability to identify and resolve visual issues.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively with artists and programmers.
• Knowledge of PBR (Physically Based Rendering) and post‑processing effects.
• Interest in learning about emerging game development technologies and staying informed about industry trends.
• Students with expected graduation between May 2026 and December 2029 from an accredited university. Undergraduate
• Able to work during one of the following periods: May 17th - August 6th or June 14th - September 3 rd . Relocation assistance is available for eligible candidates.
• Must be available for the entire 12‑week internship period.

At this time, SIE will only consider applicants who are authorized to work for any employer in the United States and who will not require work visa sponsorship from SIE now or in the future to maintain their authorization to work in the United States.

Our intern positions offer a fixed hourly pay rate. Please note that the pay rate is exclusive to the internship period and may not reflect what pay may look like following the completion of an internship.

At SIE, we consider several factors when setting each role’s base pay range, including the competitive benchmarking data for the market and geographic location.
Please note that the base pay range may vary in line with our hybrid working policy and individual base pay will be determined based on job‑related factors which may include knowledge, skills, experience, and location.

Intern Pay Range

$36.50 - $36.50 USD

Please note, Sony Interactive Entertainment conducts background checks at the offer stage for all new employees (which may include criminal background checks for some roles) and will need to process personal information to support these checks.

Please refer to our Candidate Privacy Notice for more information about what personal information we collect, how we use it, who we share it with, and your data protection rights.

The application deadline for this role is November 21, 2026