VFX Director

Studio Wildcard; Bellevue, Washington (WA, Washington County); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Studio Wildcard, renowned for ARK, seeks a seasoned VFX Director to lead real-time visual effects across our games and cinematic experiences in Unreal.

You will define artistic direction, production workflows, and performance-conscious VFX for expansive game worlds, guiding a team of artists and collaborating across disciplines to push visual storytelling.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of professional experience creating VFX for AAA games, film, animation, or comparable real-time entertainment.
• Proven leadership or directing experience of a VFX team.
• Strong understanding of real-time VFX production and Unreal 5+.
• Ability to establish and maintain a cohesive visual style across large projects.

Responsibilities

• Establish and maintain the overall VFX artistic vision and quality bar for Studio Wildcard projects.
• Lead and mentor a team of VFX artists, providing creative direction and professional development.
• Develop VFX style guides, visual standards, workflows, and production best practices.
• Collaborate with Art Director, Creative Director, Designers, Animators, Engineers, and Cinematics teams to create cohesive visuals.
• Oversee gameplay VFX including environmental effects, abilities, weapons, creatures, destruction, weather, and magical effects.
• Ensure VFX assets meet performance, scalability, readability, and platform requirements.
• Improve VFX tools, shaders, materials, particle systems, and pipelines with Technical Artists and Engineers.
• Establish efficient review and iteration processes for VFX production.

Skills

VFX Leadership

Unreal Engine

Real-time VFX

Team Mentorship

Cinematic VFX

Visual Storytelling

Tools

Unreal Engine

Houdini

Substance tools

Job description

Studio Wildcard, creators of the hit game ARK, was founded in 2014 by industry veterans Jeremy Stieglitz and Jesse Rapczak. ARK is the most successful Steam Early Access and Xbox Game Preview title ever and continues to break industry records on consoles and PC. We are seeking an experienced and highly creative VFX Director to lead the visual effects vision across our games and cinematic experiences. This role will define the artistic direction, technical standards, and production workflows for real-time visual effects while collaborating closely with Art, Engineering, Design, Animation, Cinematics, and Production teams.

The ideal candidate is both a strong visual leader and an experienced VFX artist who understands how to create spectacular and performant effects for large-scale game worlds in Unreal.

Responsibilities

• Establish and maintain the overall VFX artistic vision and quality bar for Studio Wildcard projects.
• Lead and mentor a team of VFX artists, providing creative direction, feedback, and professional development.
• Develop VFX style guides, visual standards, workflows, and production best practices.
• Collaborate with Art Director, Creative Director, Designers, Animators, Engineers, and Cinematics teams to develop cohesive visual experiences.
• Oversee the creation of gameplay VFX including environmental effects, abilities, weapons, creatures, destruction, weather, magic, explosions, and other interactive effects.
• Ensure VFX assets meet performance, scalability, readability, and platform requirements.
• Work closely with Technical Artists and Engineers to improve VFX tools, shaders, materials, particle systems, and pipelines.
• Establish efficient review and iteration processes for VFX production.
• Balance visual quality with gameplay readability and technical performance.
• Participate in creative reviews and provide clear, actionable feedback to artists.
• Help define staffing, scheduling, task prioritization, and resource requirements for VFX production.
• Identify emerging VFX technologies and techniques that could improve the quality and efficiency of Studio Wildcard's projects.
• Maintain awareness of current real-time rendering, simulation, procedural, and cinematic VFX techniques.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of professional experience creating VFX for AAA games, film, animation, or comparable real-time entertainment.
• Previous experience leading or directing a VFX team.
• Strong understanding of real-time VFX production and Unreal 5+.
• Demonstrated ability to establish and maintain a cohesive visual style across a large project.
• Strong artistic understanding of color, composition, timing, motion, lighting, scale, and visual storytelling.
• Experience with particle systems, shaders/materials, textures, animation, simulations, and procedural effects.
• Strong understanding of performance optimization and real-time rendering constraints.
• Excellent communication, leadership, and collaboration skills.
• Ability to provide clear artistic feedback while maintaining a positive and creative team environment.
• Experience working across multiple disciplines in a game-development environment.
• A strong portfolio demonstrating high-quality VFX work.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with Unreal Engine and/or other modern real-time engines.
• Experience creating VFX for large open-world or multiplayer games.
• Experience with creature, environmental, elemental, weather, destruction, and combat VFX.
• Experience directing cinematic VFX and trailer work.
• Familiarity with Niagara, Houdini, Substance tools, or comparable procedural/VFX technologies.
• Experience building or improving VFX production pipelines and tools.
• Experience working with technical artists and graphics programmers.
• Passion for dinosaurs, creatures, survival games, science fiction, fantasy, or large-scale worlds.

What You'll Bring

We are looking for a VFX leader who can think beyond individual effects and help define the visual language of an entire game.

You should be comfortable moving between high-level creative direction and detailed artistic feedback. You understand when an effect needs to be spectacular, when it needs to be subtle, and-most importantly- when it needs to communicate clearly to the player.

You will have a major influence on how players experience the world, from the smallest environmental details to massive creature encounters and world-changing events.

Leadership Expectations

As VFX Director, you will:

• Set a clear creative vision for the VFX team.
• Build and maintain a strong artistic culture.
• Mentor artists and help develop the next generation of VFX talent.
• Champion experimentation while maintaining production discipline.
• Establish quality standards and hold the team accountable to them.
• Work collaboratively across departments rather than operating in isolation.
• Be proactive when gathering design requirements for VFX tasks
• Advocate for VFX team during production planning and technical development.
• Help create a team environment where artists can take creative risks, iterate, and produce their best work.

Portfolio Requirements

Applicants should provide a portfolio or reel demonstrating:

• Real-time gameplay VFX
• Combat or ability effects
• Environmental effects
• Creature or character effects
• Large-scale effects and simulations
• Shader/material work where applicable
• Cinematic VFX where applicable

Why Studio Wildcard

At Studio Wildcard, VFX plays a critical role in bringing expansive worlds, creatures, environments, and gameplay systems to life. The VFX Director will have the opportunity to help establish the visual identity of our projects while working alongside a multidisciplinary team of worldclass artists, designers, engineers, and developers.

If you're passionate about creating unforgettable real-time visual experiences and want to help push the boundaries of game VFX, we'd love to see your work.

Required Application Materials:

• Resume
• Portfolio
• Cover Letter which should include
  • Why you are interested in working for Studio Wildcard
  • What games you are currently playing