# VFX Artist - GameSim - Talent Pipeline **Company**: GameSim **Location**: New Orleans **Work arrangement**: remote **Experience**: senior **Job type**: full-time **Salary**: $90,000–$120,000 **Category**: Engineering **Industry**: Technology **Wikidata**: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15070342 **Apply**: https://apply.workable.com/j/8B79622F7B?utm_source=yubhub.co&utm_medium=jobs_feed&utm_campaign=apply **Canonical**: https://yubhub.co/jobs/job_4c4e2171-092 ## Description We are looking for a VFX Artist with strong real-time effects skills, solid technical judgment, and the potential to grow into broader lead responsibilities over time. This role is ideal for someone who enjoys creating high-quality visual effects while also helping teams stay aligned, organized, and efficient. As a VFX Artist at GameSim, you will create custom real-time visual effects and implement them in-engine using Unreal Engine 5, Unity, or proprietary tools. You will build high-quality effects for gameplay, environments, cinematics, atmosphere, combat, interaction, destruction, UI/game feedback, and other project needs. Responsibilities: - Create custom real-time visual effects and implement them in-engine using Unreal Engine 5, Unity, or proprietary tools. - Build high-quality effects for gameplay, environments, cinematics, atmosphere, combat, interaction, destruction, UI/game feedback, and other project needs. - Create all necessary textures, flipbooks, materials, meshes, simulations, and supporting assets for real-time VFX. - Maintain clean, readable, well-structured material graphs, Niagara systems, parameters, naming conventions, and reusable effect setups. - Use tools such as Photoshop, Substance Designer, Blender, Houdini, Maya, EmberGen, or other software as needed to support effect creation. - Work with complex material setups, Blueprints, scripting hooks, animation events, gameplay triggers, or engine-specific implementation needs. - Troubleshoot VFX issues in partnership with Technical Art, Engineering, Design, Animation, Audio, and other disciplines. - Own VFX optimization fundamentals, including particle counts, overdraw, shader cost, texture memory, spawn rates, scalability settings, and platform performance constraints. - Help ensure effects are readable, performant, and aligned with gameplay needs, art direction, timing, mood, and player feedback. - Review work from internal artists, partner studios, or external vendors and provide clear, constructive, actionable feedback. - Help maintain a consistent quality bar across a set of effects, a feature, a level, or a small team pod. - Support short-term planning by helping break down VFX requests into clear tasks, priorities, dependencies, risks, and definitions of done. - Proactively identify production risks, including missing gameplay hooks, performance spikes, unclear direction, pipeline gaps, dependency issues, or inconsistent style execution. - Collaborate closely with Designers, Concept Artists, Art Directors, Technical Artists, Engineers, Animators, Audio Designers, and Producers. - Support client-facing communication when needed by clarifying requirements, sharing WIP, explaining constraints, and aligning on expected outcomes. - Contribute to VFX workflow improvements, reusable templates, documentation, libraries, naming standards, or scalability rules when appropriate. Requirements: - 5+ years of professional game industry experience as a real-time VFX Artist or similar role. - At least one shipped game title. - Proven end-to-end real-time VFX workflow experience, from concept and asset creation through in-engine implementation and polish. - Strong experience implementing effects in Unreal Engine 4 or 5, with strong working knowledge of Niagara. - Strong particle animation fundamentals, including timing, rhythm, shape language, motion, impact, anticipation, dissipation, and readability. - Strong understanding of natural energies and materials such as fire, smoke, water, electricity, magic, dust, debris, explosions, atmospherics, and environmental effects. - Strong material and texture creation skills using tools such as Photoshop, Substance Designer, or similar software. - Ability to create clean, readable, and well-constructed material graphs and VFX systems. - Demonstrated understanding of real-time VFX optimization, including particle counts, overdraw, memory usage, material cost, scalability, and performance constraints. - Ability to balance visual impact, gameplay clarity, technical cost, and production schedule. - Strong communication skills, including clear written updates, verbal communication, documentation, and actionable feedback. - Ability to interpret vague creative, design, or client direction and turn it into clear VFX tasks or implementation plans. - Experience mentoring, reviewing, or guiding other artists. A formal Lead title is not required, but leadership behaviors are important. - Comfortable collaborating across disciplines and working with design, engineering, technical art, production, and art direction. - Strong ownership, follow-through, organization, and problem-solving ability. - Interest in growing into broader leadership responsibilities over time. Nice to Have: - Proficiency with common production tools such as Perforce, Jira, Miro, and Confluence. - Houdini experience. - EmberGen experience. - Unity experience. - Substance Designer experience. - Experience with proprietary engines or custom VFX tools. - Scripting or coding skills, such as C#, Python, Blueprint, or similar. - 2D animation or traditional animation experience. - 3D animation, simulation, or procedural content creation experience. - Experience creating both stylized and realistic effects. - Experience with foliage, atmospherics, environmental effects, weather, destruction, or ambient world VFX. - Experience working with outsourcing, co-development teams, partner studios, or external vendors. - Experience collaborating with teams across different countries, cultures, and time zones. - Experience establishing VFX standards, templates, naming conventions, libraries, scalability rules, or pipeline documentation. - Experience supporting client reviews, milestone deliveries, or cross-studio feedback loops. - Experience leading a small pod, strike team, feature group, or informal group of artists. Portfolio Requirements: - Please include a portfolio that clearly demonstrates your real-time VFX capabilities. - Your portfolio must include: - Real-time VFX assets with strong readability, timing, shape language, and clearly understandable visual elements. - At least one example shown in a real-time gameplay context, preferably a video of the effect happening in-game or during interactive gameplay. - Examples of strong material definition and texture work, with clean, readable, well-constructed setups. - Effects that demonstrate fundamentals such as composition, mood, color choices, timing, motion, impact, readability, and understanding of natural energies. - Examples of effects implemented in-engine, preferably in Unreal Engine 4 or 5 / Niagara. - Breakdowns showing your process, including textures, materials, emitters, and procedural content creation. ## Skills ### Required - Unreal Engine 5 - Unity - Niagara - Particle animation - Material and texture creation - Real-time VFX optimization - Visual effects creation - Gameplay implementation - Engine-specific implementation - Scripting or coding skills - Leadership behaviors ### Nice to have - Houdini - EmberGen - Substance Designer - Proprietary engines or custom VFX tools - 2D animation or traditional animation - 3D animation, simulation, or procedural content creation - Foliage, atmospherics, environmental effects, weather, destruction, or ambient world VFX - Outsourcing, co-development teams, partner studios, or external vendors - Collaborating with teams across different countries, cultures, and time zones - Establishing VFX standards, templates, naming conventions, libraries, scalability rules, or pipeline documentation - Supporting client reviews, milestone deliveries, or cross-studio feedback loops - Leading a small pod, strike team, feature group, or informal group of artists --- Source: [Apply at apply.workable.com](https://apply.workable.com/j/8B79622F7B?utm_source=yubhub.co&utm_medium=jobs_feed&utm_campaign=apply)