Riot VFX Artists design and implement the sleek, dynamic and dramatic special effects that add atmosphere and depth to gameplay, enabling teams to build beautiful, performant, and expressive game experiences.
As a
VFX Artist II on an unpublished R&D product, you will be foundational in developing the visual identity of new gameplay experiences. Your work will empower rapid iteration, unblock engineering and design, and establish the visual groundwork for the product's long-term development. You will partner across disciplines to contribute to a cohesive and exciting end product. You will create aesthetically astounding visual effects that communicate essential game information, and define the workflows that enable scalable content creation. You will operate directly inside the game engine, leveraging your experience to accelerate delivery, reduce iteration time, and create a strong foundation for future art direction and team expansion. This role will report to the Senior Manager of Art Direction.
Responsibilities: - Design and implement sleek, dynamic, and dramatic special effects spanning the entire game from the game scene to the UI that is aligned with the art direction of the team.
- Balance gameplay needs and thematic direction while hitting craft quality benchmarks for VFX consistently.
- Create aesthetically astounding visual effects that communicate essential game information.
- Implement and integrate art assets directly in the engine including, VFX, particles, and UI-related visual elements.
- Surface visual/technical risks early, proposing pragmatic solutions that enable the team to avoid rework and maintain rapid velocity.
- Provide artistic feedback to outsourced VFX vendors to ensure creative alignment
- Rapidly creating temporary FX to prototype new gameplay mechanics.
- Proactively engage with discipline and team rituals including regular feedback and iteration cycles.
- Collaborate on creative and complex assignments with multiple disciplines to achieve a shared vision.
- Use your craft skills to draw, paint, animate and or model with equal proficiency as-needed.
Required Qualifications: - 3+ years as a VFX artist creating stylized real-time VFX in the game industry
- Professional experience implementing assets directly into game engines like Unreal, Unity, etc.
- Experience working within software such as Photoshop, Maya, AfterEffects
- Proficiency in VFX fundamentals like timing, shape language, and color theory.
- Experience optimizing content, solving cross-discipline integration issues, and improving real-time performance.
- Demonstrated ability to partner effectively with engineers, designers, and artists in a fast-moving environment.
- Strong foundational art skills, including expertise in shape design, color theory, anatomy, and visual hierarchy.
Desired Qualifications - Experience working in small, high-velocity strike teams or pre-production prototyping environments.
- Experience creating in-game motion graphics assets.
- Experience shipping cross-platform games.
- Experience with modeling, rigging and animating.
- Experience making complex materials for use on characters.
- Knowledge of shader authoring, texture optimization, or procedural workflows.
- Strong understanding of performance constraints for cross-platform real-time content.
- Ability to reason about the intersection of art, gameplay intention, and engine constraints balancing clarity, performance, and production speed.
For this role, you'll find success through craft expertise and a collaborative spirit that prioritizes the delight of players. We will look at your past studies and experience, but for this role, we also look for dedicated people with a personal relationship with games. If you embody player empathy and care about players' experiences, this is the role for you!
Our Perks: Riot focuses on work/life balance, shown by our open paid time off policy and other perks such as flexible work schedules. We offer medical, dental, and life insurance, parental leave for you, your spouse/domestic partner, and children, and a 401k with company match. Check out our
benefits pages for more information.
- (Los Angeles Only) Base salary range between $122,600.00 - $171,800.00 USD + incentive compensation + equity + 401K with company match + medical, dental, vision, and life insurance + short and long-term disability + open PTO.
