1

Compositor Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Principal Graphics Engineer

New York, NY · Remote

$143K - $177K/yr

CPU/GPU bottlenecks, shader cost, texture and buffer management, compositor interactions, and end-to-end streaming latency. * Investigate and resolve faults in complex environments, tracing issues ...

Principal Graphics Engineer

New York, NY · On-site

$153K - $189K/yr

CPU/GPU bottlenecks, shader cost, texture and buffer management, compositor interactions, and end-to-end streaming latency. * Investigate and resolve faults in complex environments, tracing issues ...

Principal Graphics Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$164K - $203K/yr

CPU/GPU bottlenecks, shader cost, texture and buffer management, compositor interactions, and end-to-end streaming latency. * Investigate and resolve faults in complex environments, tracing issues ...

Senior C/C++ Linux Engineer

Philadelphia, PA

$123K - $163K/yr

Familiarity with Wayland protocols and compositor-client architecture * Experience with Git-based version control and CI/CD pipelines (Bitbucket, GitLab, etc.) * Strong understanding of Linux system ...

Principal Graphics Engineer

San Francisco, CA · Remote

$143K - $177K/yr

CPU/GPU bottlenecks, shader cost, texture and buffer management, compositor interactions, and end-to-end streaming latency. * Investigate and resolve faults in complex environments, tracing issues ...

Principal Graphics Engineer

Santa Clara, CA · On-site

$164K - $203K/yr

CPU/GPU bottlenecks, shader cost, texture and buffer management, compositor interactions, and end-to-end streaming latency. * Investigate and resolve faults in complex environments, tracing issues ...

Principal Graphics Engineer

Santa Clara, CA · Remote

$143K - $177K/yr

CPU/GPU bottlenecks, shader cost, texture and buffer management, compositor interactions, and end-to-end streaming latency. * Investigate and resolve faults in complex environments, tracing issues ...

Principal Graphics Engineer

Austin, TX · On-site

$138K - $171K/yr

CPU/GPU bottlenecks, shader cost, texture and buffer management, compositor interactions, and end-to-end streaming latency. * Investigate and resolve faults in complex environments, tracing issues ...

Principal Graphics Engineer

Austin, TX · Remote

$143K - $177K/yr

CPU/GPU bottlenecks, shader cost, texture and buffer management, compositor interactions, and end-to-end streaming latency. * Investigate and resolve faults in complex environments, tracing issues ...

Principal Graphics Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site +1

$164K - $203K/yr

CPU/GPU bottlenecks, shader cost, texture and buffer management, compositor interactions, and end-to-end streaming latency. * Investigate and resolve faults in complex environments, tracing issues ...

Familiarity with modern display protocols, especially Wayland, including compositor-client architecture and protocol handling * Understanding of GUI migration strategies, including porting from Motif ...

next page

Showing results 1-20

Compositor information

See salary details

$5

$27

How much do compositor jobs pay per hour?

As of Jun 5, 2026, the average hourly pay for compositor in the United States is $26.92, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $26.44 and $27.40 per hour, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is the difference between Compositor vs Graphic Designer?

AspectCompositorGraphic Designer
Required CredentialsTypically a degree or diploma in film, media, or related fields; proficiency in compositing softwareDegree or diploma in graphic design, visual arts, or related fields; proficiency in design software
Work EnvironmentPost-production studios, film sets, visual effects companiesAdvertising agencies, design studios, corporate offices
Industry UsageFilm, television, visual effectsMarketing, branding, print and digital media
Common Search & ComparisonYesNo

The main difference between a Compositor and a Graphic Designer lies in their focus and work environment. Compositors specialize in combining visual elements in post-production for film and video, requiring skills in visual effects software. Graphic Designers create visual content for branding, advertising, and print, working primarily in design studios or agencies. While both roles involve visual creativity, their tools, industries, and end goals differ significantly.

What are some common challenges a Compositor faces when integrating CGI elements with live-action footage?

A key challenge for Compositors is achieving seamless integration between computer-generated imagery (CGI) and live-action footage. This often involves matching lighting, color grading, and perspective to ensure visual consistency. Compositors must also address issues like edge blending, motion tracking, and removing unwanted artifacts. Attention to detail and strong collaboration with other VFX team members are essential, as multiple iterations may be required to meet the director's vision and the project's technical standards.

What job makes $10,000 a month without a degree?

A compositor in the film and video industry can earn around $10,000 a month with extensive experience and a strong portfolio, often working freelance or in high-demand projects. Success in this role depends on skills in visual effects, editing software, and a good reputation, rather than formal education. However, such high earnings are typically achieved after years of building expertise and a solid client base.

What Is a Compositor?

A compositor is responsible for constructing the final image in a film, animation, or video by combining all the layers into the finished product. The artistic and technical skills of these creative interpreters come into play at the end of the production process. As a compositor, your job duties entail taking computer generated or animation images and adding effects such as enhanced lighting, motion blur, and adjusted color levels. You use the latest in compositor software to act as the translator of the various inputs into the finished image.

What are compositors?

Compositors are professionals in the visual effects (VFX) and film industry who combine visual elements from different sources into single images, creating the final look of a shot or scene. They use specialized software to blend live-action footage, computer-generated imagery (CGI), matte paintings, and other elements seamlessly. Their work ensures that all visual components appear as if they were filmed together, enhancing the overall realism and artistic intent of the project.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a Compositor, and why are they important?

To thrive as a Compositor, you need a strong understanding of visual effects principles, color theory, and digital image manipulation, often supported by a degree in animation, film, or a related field. Proficiency with industry-standard software such as Nuke, After Effects, or Fusion, as well as familiarity with render management systems, is essential. Attention to detail, problem-solving abilities, and effective communication are crucial soft skills for collaborating with teams and ensuring seamless final shots. These skills ensure high-quality visual integration, efficient workflow, and the delivery of compelling, believable content in film, television, or advertising.
What cities are hiring for Compositor jobs? Cities with the most Compositor job openings:
What are the most commonly searched types of Compositor jobs? The most popular types of Compositor jobs are:
What states have the most Compositor jobs? States with the most job openings for Compositor jobs include:
Infographic showing various Compositor job openings in the United States as of May 2026, with employment types broken down into 80% Full Time, 8% Temporary, and 12% Contract. Highlights an 76% Physical, 8% Hybrid, and 16% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $56,000 per year, or $26.9 per hour.

Principal Graphics Engineer

Parallelz

New York, NY • Remote

$143K - $177K/yr

Full-time

Medical, Dental, Vision, Retirement

Posted 24 days ago


Job description

About Parallelz

Parallelz is building a new technology platform that enables new ways of delivering, discovering, and extending mobile applications, ways that were never thought possible. We allow developers to, with no modifications to their code, transform existing mobile apps into web-native apps that can run anywhere, all without a walled garden app store.

You will be getting in at a pivotal stage, contributing to the technical strategic roadmap, helping build a world-class technical team, and working in a small, agile, flat organization to evolve our R&D initiatives into a live, scaled operational platform that will have an impact across the industry.

Parallelz is an AI-native organization. We expect every engineer to use AI tools and agentic systems as a core part of how they design, build, debug, and ship. Not as a side experiment, but as a multiplier on judgment, velocity, and quality.

Our founding team and advisors are serial entrepreneurs and technologists from Google, Mozilla, MIT Media Labs, and other top organizations. The company is joined by top-tier and global venture funds and angel investors.

About the Role

We are seeking a passionate and resilient Principal Graphics Engineer to own a foundational piece of our infrastructure: the rendering and runtime layer that lets unmodified mobile apps execute and stream pixel-perfect, low-latency experiences to any browser.

You will spend your time deep in graphics pipelines, shaders, GPU compositing, frame timing, and the cross-stack interactions between Android/Linux graphics, browser engines, and WebGL/WebGPU. The role demands first-principles thinking, an instinct for getting to the root of difficult problems, and the maturity to ship performance-critical code that holds up at scale.

We are equally interested in candidates with a deep graphics engineering background (game engines, browser graphics, GPU systems, real-time rendering) and candidates from adjacent low-level systems backgrounds with demonstrated graphics depth.

What You'll Do
  • Own the design, implementation, and evolution of our graphics and rendering stack across native (Android/Linux) and web (WebGL, WebGPU) targets.
  • Write efficient, maintainable, performance-critical C/C++ for system-level and rendering components, with hard requirements on frame budgets, memory, and latency.
  • Profile and tune the full pipeline: CPU/GPU bottlenecks, shader cost, texture and buffer management, compositor interactions, and end-to-end streaming latency.
  • Investigate and resolve faults in complex environments, tracing issues from the browser engine down through the runtime to the OS, kernel, and graphics driver.
  • Drive upgrades to the underlying platforms (AOSP versions, browser engines, GLES/WebGPU evolution) while keeping the system stable and shippable.
  • Partner with other teams to define and implement robust testing strategies for rendering correctness, performance regressions, and cross-device fidelity.
  • Operate as a senior independent contributor: scope your own work, drive it to completion, and communicate clearly with a small, high-trust team.
  • Work natively with AI coding agents and tooling (Claude Code, Cursor, agentic workflows, custom internal agents) to accelerate research, prototyping, code generation, debugging, and review, treating these tools as a junior pair you direct and verify, not a passenger.

Requirements

This is a technically demanding role that rewards resilience, creative problem-solving, and out-of-the-box thinking.

Must-Haves
  • Strong systems programming foundation: C/C++ proficiency on performance-critical, low-level codebases, with deep familiarity with Linux and OS-level internals.
  • Deep experience with one or more real-time graphics stacks: OpenGL ES, WebGL, WebGPU, Vulkan, Metal, or DirectX, including shader programming, GPU memory and pipeline optimization, and frame/latency budgeting.
  • Track record of owning complex, multi-component graphics or systems products end-to-end, from research prototype through production at scale.
  • Daily fluency with AI coding agents and LLM tooling, with a clear bias toward verifying and pushing back on AI output rather than accepting it.
  • A "dig until it bleeds" investigative instinct: the drive to understand every layer of the system.
  • Strong written communication and a self-directed working style suited to a small, senior, high-trust team.

We'd love to see depth in two or more of the following:

  • Browser engine internals (Chromium/Blink, Gecko, WebKit), particularly the graphics, compositor, or rendering subsystems.
  • Game engine internals, real-time renderers, or GPU compute frameworks.
  • Android internals and custom AOSP development (kernel, HAL, SurfaceFlinger, System Services, GMS, Android Build System).
  • Android/Linux graphics stack (EGL, Gralloc, DRM/KMS, Mesa) and graphics driver work.
  • Web platform technologies: WebAssembly, WebRTC, and the surrounding browser security/sandboxing model.
  • Containers and virtualization (LXC, namespaces, cgroups) and their interaction with hardware-accelerated graphics.
  • Real-time network and socket programming, including low-latency streaming protocols and frame pacing.
  • Linux device driver programming.
Nice-to-Haves
  • Experience building, fine-tuning, or evaluating internal AI/agent tooling that augments engineering work.
  • A data-driven mindset, relying on qualitative and quantitative signal to make informed decisions.
  • Mobile game development experience, including engines, SDKs, and the broader ecosystem.
  • Background in advanced compression, video codecs, or color management.
  • Graduate work or research background in computer graphics, systems, or a related area.

Benefits

  • Group Retirement Savings Plan matching and participation
  • Comprehensive benefits package (health, dental, vision), including Health and Wellness spending account
  • Generous time off policies
  • Access to leading AI tools and platforms