Game Developer Jobs in Columbia, MO (NOW HIRING)

Job Title Senior VFX Artist I

Requisition ID R027087

Game Team Unannounced Project Team

Location Irvine, CA (Blizzard Way)

Work Model Hybrid (On-site / Home split arrangement)

Employment Type Full-Time

Experience Level Senior (Minimum 8+ years of professional real-time VFX experience)

Core Software Ecosystem Unity Engine, Adobe Creative Suite, Autodesk Maya, Custom FX Tools

We are seeking a highly creative, technically fluent Senior VFX Artist I to integrate directly into our unannounced game project team as an essential early contributor. In this vital role, you will hold direct artistic ownership over the design, execution, and implementation of high-fidelity, real-time visual effects that clarify gameplay, amplify narrative moments, and delight our player base.

Operating at a senior level within an early-stage project requires a nimble mind capable of navigating fluid production deadlines, shifting design goals, and an ambiguous creative landscape. You are not simply an asset builder; you are a holistic game developer who operates at the vital intersection of high-tier stylized illustration and rigorous technical implementation inside the engine. You will collaborate daily across multiple disciplines to ensure our visual effects are breathtaking, clear, performant, and perfectly tuned to emphasize core game feel.

• Asset Authoring: Conceptualize, author, and polish spectacular real-time visual effects (such as environmental anomalies, elemental magic, combat impacts, and user interface transitions) from scratch.
• Fundamental Design: Apply classical animation principles, timing, weight, secondary motion, and silhouette value to VFX development to support visual storytelling.
• Aesthetic Continuity: Leverage an exceptional eye for color theory, localized lighting, value contrast, micro-details, and core human motion to build visual effects that align with the team’s creative goals.

• Engine Implementation: Construct your visual effects from the ground up on a stable technical foundation, handling the initial setup, structural nesting, and real-time integration of FX systems inside Unity.
• Performance Engineering: Partner closely with gameplay programmers and optimization engineers to create VFX assets in a performant, sustainable, and memory-efficient manner.
• Budgets & Profiling: Monitor runtime particle counts, draw calls, and overdraw metrics to ensure smooth, high-fidelity player experiences across all intended hardware configurations without compromising visual punch.
• Gameplay Clarity: Collaborate closely with game designers to ensure that all real-time visual effects clearly emphasize and elevate core gameplay telegraphs, character hitboxes, and systemic combat actions.
• Feedback Advocacy: Foster a positive, growth-oriented studio atmosphere by giving and receiving constructive, clear feedback that lifts the quality of work across the entire art team.
• Workflow Iteration: Partner with technical art disciplines to develop, document, and iterate upon internal VFX pipelines, asset workflows, and content creation tools.

• Professional Longevity: A minimum of 8+ years of professional game development experience focused exclusively on creating real-time visual effects for commercially released video games.
• Engine Proficiency: Expert-level, highly confident production fluency using modern real-time game development suites—with particular emphasis on Unity or Unreal Engine.
• Pipeline Mastery: A proven, deep understanding of real-time VFX production pipelines, tracing assets smoothly from initial concepts and texture generation through to final engine integration.
• Stylized Art Prowess: Strong, demonstrable stylized art skills balanced with a high technical aptitude for structural game engine asset deployment.
• DCC Software Expertise: Advanced, practical mastery of the Adobe Creative Suite, Autodesk Maya (or directly comparable industry-standard 3D modeling and animation software), and real-time particle nodes.
• Shipped Track Record: A record of success demonstrated by having shipped at least one AAA game title acting in a Senior VFX Artist capacity or showing equivalent educational and practical development history.
• Soft Skills & Attributes: Self-motivated, with highly developed interpersonal communication skills and a collaborative nature that excels within tight-knit, multi-disciplinary teams.

• Direct professional experience designing, profiling, and deploying real-time visual effects for resource-constrained formats, including mobile platforms.
• Familiarity with contemporary, advanced VFX generation software and simulations tools such as SideFX Houdini, Substance Designer, or EmberGen.
• Technical skills encompassing runtime shader authoring (HLSL/GLSL), pipeline scripting, or working with visual scripting architectures (e.g., Unity Playmaker or Unreal Engine Blueprints).
• Multidisciplinary artistic talent, including a background in classic 3D asset modeling, 2D illustration, or character concept art.

Blizzard Entertainment offers a suite of benefits under our “Benefits for Every World” framework, structured to promote the physical, emotional, and financial health of our staff.

• Physical Well-Being: Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance packages, along with Health Savings Accounts (HSA), Health Reimbursement Accounts (HRA), and dedicated medical/dependent care spending accounts.
• Financial Protection: Robust 401(k) retirement savings plans with a competitive company matching program, alongside company-paid life, AD&D, and disability insurance.
• Work-Life Support: Generous allocations of paid national holidays, accrued vacation time, floating holidays, paid sick time, compassionate bereavement leaves, and parental leave packages.
• Education & Community: Tuition reimbursement opportunities for authorized continuing education courses, alongside active corporate matching for personal charitable donations.
• Mental Health & Lifestyle: Confidential mental health coaching networks, health club/fitness program credits, corporate identity theft protection, and an abundance of free or heavily discounted digital game keys across Activision Blizzard platforms.