Senior VFX Artist

Core Responsibilities

• Create and implement real-time, high-quality visual effects for an open-world environment, including environmental effects, character abilities, destruction, and cinematic sequences.
• Take ownership of complex VFX features from concept to final integration, driving high-quality results and proactively solving technical challenges.
• Work closely with the VFX Director to perfectly execute the established visual style and tone of the project.
• Craft dynamic and visually dramatic effects that enhance gameplay and cinematics while strictly adhering to performance budgets.
• Proactively troubleshoot your own effects, ensuring they are highly optimized for memory and runtime performance across any engine environment.
• Stay current on real-time visual effects techniques and efficiently apply them to your daily workflow.
• Collaborate with Engineering and Tech Art to test new toolsets and clearly communicate the technical needs required to complete your tasks.

Core Qualifications

• Strong portfolio showcasing a high-quality, diverse range of real-time VFX work, demonstrating mastery of visual effects principles regardless of the engine used.
• 5+ years of proven experience as a VFX artist in the games industry.
• Shipped at least one AAA title as a VFX artist.
• Deep proficiency in real-time VFX authoring within a major game engine (e.g., proprietary AAA engines, Unity, etc.).
• Foundational experience with Unreal Engine (Niagara, materials, sequencing) and a strong aptitude for translating your senior-level skills into a UE5 pipeline.
• Expert understanding of particle systems, shaders, lighting, and real-time rendering pipelines.
• Proven track record of balancing high-fidelity visual quality with strict technical optimization.
• Able to collaborate seamlessly with other departments (design, lighting, environment, cinematics), providing polished elements for seamless integration.
• Exceptional eye for the timing, animation, weight, and motion of real-world phenomena and visual FX.
• Strong problem-solving skills and a proactive approach to overcoming day-to-day development challenges.
• Excellent communication skills, taking and implementing feedback effectively.
• Familiarity with physically based lighting (PBR) concepts and physics-based effects.
• Experience with third-party packages and workflows (Houdini, 3ds Max, Maya, or EmberGen).
• Passion for creating immersive and visually compelling game worlds.
• Hands-on experience implementing dynamic weather systems, large-scale destruction effects (e.g., using Chaos physics), or systemic open-world VFX (plus if).
• Advanced experience with specific UE5 rendering and simulation features, such as Dataflow or Substrate material systems (plus if).
• Familiarity with scripting languages (Python, Blueprint) to assist in your own VFX implementation (plus if).

Description

• Full-time job with benefits.
• Role is on-site in San Rafael, CA.
• Office is in downtown San Rafael – near freeways, bus and train stations.
• The base pay range for this position is $145,000 to $180,000 per year. Actual compensation is based on market location and may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.
• We also offer a competitive package of benefits including paid time off, sick time, company holidays, parental leave, medical/dental/vision insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, and 401(k) to regular full-time employees. Certain roles may also be eligible for bonus and equity.

About Absurd Ventures

Absurd Ventures is a media company creating new IP across all platforms and for all formats. Absurd Ventures is building narrative worlds, creating characters, and writing stories for a variety of genres, without regard to medium, to be produced for live-action and animation; video games and other interactive content; books, graphic novels, and scripted podcasts.