Principal VFX Artist

As a Real-Time VFX artist, you will work closely with a team of artists and designers to deliver high quality premium content skin experiences. With your experience, you’ll create aesthetically astounding visual effects that wow and delight our fans adding richness and excitement to the games experience.

As a Principal VFX Artist on a Research & Development (R&D) game team, you will be responsible for all aspects of VFX prototype development, including highly iterative VFX for gameplay exploration. You’ll work closely with the design team to help refine the overall feel for the game. As your game project progresses into pre-production your responsibilities will also shift toward VFX style development. 

Responsibilities:

• Work with Design and Art Leads to create and maintain gameplay clarity
• Provide as-needed support of all aspects of VFX process; from set-up through production and troubleshooting
• Work alongside Animators, Tech Artists, and Sound Designers, to create satisfying VFX for 3rd-person action combat
• Quickly prototype VFX solutions that convey ideas simply and clearly
• Provide modular solutions that allow non-VFX artists to quickly prototype ideas with placeholder VFX
• Find creative and effective solutions to eliminate difficult problems in production and as-needed
• Create style guides and frameworks around shape language, contrast, and clarity, and help your team understand those constraints.

Required Qualifications:

• 7+ years of professional experience in working in VFX art roles
• Unity, Unreal, or equivalent game engine VFX tools
• Professional experience working as a senior artist
• Experience shipping 1 mobile and/or AAA game title

Desired Qualifications:

• Experience working with PhotoShop, Maya or 3DS Max
• Adobe Animate, AfterEffects, Houdini, FumeFX
• Professional experience working with mobile platforms
• Professional experience working on 3rd-person action gameplay 

When submitting your application, please provide a portfolio of your high-quality VFX art - including stylized artwork. And as a part of the application process, you may also be asked to complete an art test.

For this role, you'll find success through craft expertise and a collaborative spirit that prioritizes the delight of players. We will look at your past studies and experience, but for this role, we also look for dedicated people with a personal relationship with games. If you embody player empathy and care about players' experiences, this is the role for you!

Our Perks:

Riot focuses on work/life balance, shown by our open paid time off policy and other perks such as flexible work schedules. We offer medical, dental, and life insurance, parental leave for you, your spouse/domestic partner, and children, and a 401k with company match. Check out our benefits pages for more information.

At Riot Games, we put players first. That mission drives every decision in our quest to create games and experiences that make it better to be a player. Whether you’re working directly on a new player-facing experience or you’re supporting the company as a whole, everyone at Riot is part of our mission. And just like in our games, we’re better when we work together. Our goal is to create collaborative teams where you are empowered to bring your unique perspective everyday. If that sounds like the kind of place you want to work, we’re looking forward to your application.

It’s our policy to provide equal employment opportunity for all applicants and members of Riot Games, Inc. Riot Games makes reasonable accommodations for handicapped and disabled Rioters and does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, handicap, veteran status, marital status, criminal history, or any other category protected by applicable federal and state law. We consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with applicable federal, state and local law, including the California Fair Chance Act, the City of Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, and the Washington Fair Chance Act.

Per the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, the following core duties may create a basis for disqualifying candidates with relevant criminal histories:

• Safeguarding confidential and sensitive Company data
• Communication with others, including Rioters and third parties such as vendors, and/or players, including minors
• Accessing Company assets, secure digital systems, and networks
• Ensuring a safe interactive environment for players and other Rioters

These duties are directly related to essential operations, safety, trust, and compliance obligations within our organization. Please note that job duties may evolve based on business needs and additional responsibilities may be assigned as necessary to maintain operational efficiency and security.