VFX Artist
San Francisco, CA - USA
Job Summary
Visual Effects Artist
Salary: $150000 - $225000 Base Salary Competitive Equity
Location: San Francisco CA (Onsite)
No Relocation
No Visa Sponsorship
About Our Client
Our client operates at the high-growth intersection of gaming fintech and digital entertainment. Backed by top-tier venture capital firms ($65M raised) and currently growing over 10x year-over-year they build category-defining real-money gaming and digital collectibles platforms. With a team featuring ex-quant traders world-champion competitive gamers and elite artists they offer an environment with zero red tape high autonomy and massive upside.
The Opportunity
As a VFX Artist you will own the end-to-end visual effects and animation experience for our clients flagship platforms reward and pack-opening mechanics (rips). You will be the first dedicated game artist at the company setting the VFX standards building out pipelines and designing high-dopamine anticipation and payoff sequences across 50 unique themes and seasonal drops.
This role comes with zero design-by-committee creative friction and offers a clear direct trajectory into a player-coach Lead VFX role where you will eventually build and manage your own team.
Key Responsibilities
- Own the Experience: Design author and animate high-impact pack-opening and reward VFX sequencesfocusing on anticipation escalation and payoff.
- Establish Pipelines: Build the VFX standards art pipelines and workflows from the ground up as a founding artist.
- Drive Art Direction: Take complete creative ownership of in-game real-time visual effects without corporate micromanagement.
- Scale the Team: Act as an individual contributor initially with a clear path to hire mentor and lead future VFX artists as the company expands.
- Rapid Execution: Ship initial key animations and establish robust processes within your first 90180 days.
Candidate Qualifications
- Strong Portfolio: An active portfolio (ArtStation link strongly preferred) showcasing exceptional real-time mobile visual effects reward reveals and game feel.
- Engine Mastery: Deep proficiency in Unity (experience with Cocos Creator is a strong plus).
- VFX Toolchain: Hands-on experience with 3D/VFX creation tools such as Houdini Blender and Photoshop.
- Mobile Experience: Strong background in mobile-first game art direction (studio experience at companies like Supercell Niantic Gameloft or similar is highly valued).
- Growth Mindset: Ability to balance elite individual contribution with a desire to step into a leadership role as a player-coach.