Lead VFX Artist - AAA Games, Cape Town

Placements24; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 850,000 - 1,350,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Medical aid

Retirement benefits

Annual bonus structure

Relocation assistance

Career advancement opportunities

Job summary

Placements24 in Cape Town seeks a Lead VFX Artist to head the VFX department. You will guide a skilled team, define the visual direction for all in-game effects, and deliver high-performance shaders and particle systems for explosions, magic, and environmental phenomena.

You will collaborate with art directors and designers to elevate gameplay and narrative, optimize VFX for multiple platforms, and establish robust pipelines and asset management practices.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience in VFX art for video games.
• 2 shipped AAA titles in a lead or senior capacity.
• Proven leadership experience mentoring a team of artists.
• Expert in 3D DCC packages and real-time VFX editors.
• Strong shader development, material creation, and optimization knowledge.
• Excellent eye for composition, color, timing and motion.
• Portfolio demonstrating high-impact, optimized VFX for games.

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and inspire a team of VFX artists to achieve outstanding visual results.
• Develop and implement the overall visual style and technical direction for in-game VFX.
• Create high-performance particle effects, shaders, and post-processing for explosions, magic, environment effects, and UI feedback.
• Collaborate with art directors and game designers to enhance gameplay and narrative through VFX.
• Optimize VFX for performance across target platforms with attention to frame rate and memory usage.
• Establish best practices for VFX creation, pipelines, and asset management.
• Review team work regularly, provide constructive feedback and uphold quality standards.
• Stay updated with industry trends, tools, and real-time VFX advancements.
• Troubleshoot and resolve technical issues related to VFX implementation.

Skills

Leadership

Team mentorship

VFX artistry

Collaboration

Problem-solving

Tools

Maya

3ds Max

Unreal Engine Niagara

Unity VFX Graph

Job description

Placements24 in Cape Town seeks a Lead VFX Artist to head the VFX department. You will guide a skilled team, define the visual direction for all in-game effects, and deliver high-performance shaders and particle systems for explosions, magic, and environmental phenomena.

You will collaborate with art directors and designers to elevate gameplay and narrative, optimize VFX for multiple platforms, and establish robust pipelines and asset management practices.