Lead VFX Artist

That's No Moon is an independent studio of storytellers and game-makers who believe in the power of narrative-driven experiences. With a diverse team of talented developers, from some of the top game studios in the world (Naughty Dog, Infinity Ward, Bungie), our shared vision is to create the future of AAA experiences with a culture of creativity, collaboration, and responsible production practices. Our passionate team of developers help shape our studio, our projects, and our future.

We are seeking a highly skilled Lead VFX Artist with a drive for crafting realistic destruction, volumetrics, environment dynamics and other FX for in-game and cinematic AAA content. As a lead you will define the studio Visual Effects workflows and will provide feedback and guidance to ensure that your team achieves our ambitious visual goals. Working closely with our Art and Visual Development Directors, you will help set the bar for FX and push the industry to new heights of realism, mood, gameplay and storytelling! 

Responsibilities:   

• Develop and communicate workflow and standard methodologies for realistic real-time visual effects, including explosions, fire, weapon fx, smoke, clouds, and debris within Unreal 5 Engine. 
• Gather reference to define visual goals and expectations for visual effects. 
• Work with Tech Art and Engineering teams to develop tools, solve technical challenges, and set performance benchmarks. 
• Collaborate with the Art and Visual Development Directors, Lighting Lead, Material Experts and other departments on the intersection of FX, lighting, and rendering. 
• Educate and clearly articulate FX concepts and processes to other departments through presentations, demonstrations, and discussions. 
• Prioritize, plan, and coordinate tasks for your team that align with Production goals. 
• Drive R&D on novel solutions and technology to improve quality and efficiency of visual effects. 

Requirements & Skills:   

• 5 or more years of experience crafting realistic and compelling VFX for Games. 
• Experience leading a small team but passionate VFX artists.  
• Deep understanding of in-game VFX performance, tuning and memory budgets. 
• Experience with budgeting, task planning and tracking. 
• Experience with Unreal Engine (UE5 preferred) and standard VFX software – Houdini, 3ds Max, Maya, etc. 
• Understanding of modeling, shading, and animation workflows. 
• (Bonus) Experience with Python scripting. 
• (Bonus) Experience with display calibration and HDR color grading. 

Qualities:   

• Self-motivated and able to work well in a multi-discipline team environment 
• Strong artistic …