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Senior Shader Technical Artist

2K


Job Location:

San Mateo, CA - USA

Yearly Salary: USD 112700 - 164860
Posted: 1 October 2026 (4 days ago)
Application Deadline: 29 December 2026
Vacancies: 1 Vacancy

Job Summary

WE ARE GAME MAKERS

Who We Are:

We are a diverse team of developers driven by a passion for our art united by our core values and inspired by a culture of inclusivity to build amazing games that thrill players everywhere. We pursue growth and innovation in an environment of safety and trust. Our culture is built on the belief that the more varied voices in our collective will strengthen our team and our games. We are looking for our next teammate who will raise our bar and make us better.

What We Need:

Were seeking a Senior Shader Technical Artist to leverage their technical skills and artistic understanding to help develop and maintain a strong shader pipeline that will serve teams across multiple disciplines. Your passion knowledge and experience will be integral to the look and style of a new generation of player-driven experiences stemming from your ability to create high-quality shaders and technology that bring life to the worlds we build.

What Youll Do:

  • Utilize extensive experience in Unreal Engine to meticulously craft and optimize shader/master materials using Unreal Engines node-based shader graph and HLSL/GLSL/CG shader code ensuring they are built cleanly and efficiently for seamless integration and user-friendly utilization by the materials team.
  • Collaborate with development teams to establish and uphold artistic and technical shader standards pushing the boundaries of real-time rendering while adhering to performance constraints.
  • Drive the development of innovative approaches to address complex technical and creative challenges participating in the creation of shaders shading validation tools and defining shading standards.
  • Provide technical support in identifying and resolving inefficient content pipelines conducting performance profiling and optimizing shaders to enhance overall visual fidelity and maintain desired frame rates.
  • Demonstrate a strong sense of ownership and autonomy in task execution producing high-quality work with minimal oversight and actively seeking opportunities to enhance pipeline efficiency and visual quality.
  • Create documentation examples and reusable best practices for distributed development teams establishing and maintaining practical standards for assets materials textures meshes LODs collision naming and project organization.
  • Work with Art Engineering Design Animation Lighting and other disciplines to solve cross-discipline production problems.
  • Evaluate workflows and identify technical risks or production bottlenecks before they become larger problems.

What Will Make You a Great Fit:

  • 7 years of experience or at least one shipped title in a Technical Art role with proficiency in creating stylized and PBR shaders using node-based shader editors tiled layered material systems shader networks procedural texturing and HLSL code.
  • Strong understanding of the technical foundations behind visually stunning textures and shaders in a physically-based rendering pipeline.
  • Ability to communicate and collaborate across disciplines sharing ideas and articulating visions.
  • Familiarity with all the tools techniques and asset creation pipelines: UE5 Substance Designer Substance Painter Photoshop modeling baking and texturing.

Bonus:

  • Experience in Unreal Engines node-based shader graph.
  • Strong understanding of console PC and mobile platforms and how to scale shaders to optimize for each.

The pay range for this position in California at the start of employment is expected to be between $112700 and $164860 per Year. However base pay offered is based on market location and may vary further depending on individualized factors for job candidates such as job-related knowledge skills experience and other objective business considerations.

Subject to those same considerations the total compensation package for this position may also include other elements including a bonus and/or equity awards and eligibility to participate in our 401(K) plan and Employee Stock Purchase Program.

Regular full-time employees are also eligible for a range of benefi ts at the Company including: medical dental vision and basic life insurance coverage; 14 paid holidays per calendar year; paid vacation time per calendar year (ranging from 15 to 25 days) or eligibility to participate in the Companys discretionary time off program; up to 10 paid sick days per calendar year; paid parental and compassionate leave; wellbeing programs for mental health and other wellness support; family planning support through Maven; commuter benefi ts; and reimbursements for fi tness-related expenses. Ontario only: The use of Artifi cial Intelligence is not being used to screen candidates. The position is for an existing vacancy.

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Required Experience:

Senior IC


About Company

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2K publishes titles in today's most popular gaming genres, including shooters, action, role-playing, strategy, sports, casual, and family entertainment.

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