Principal VFX Artist

Sumo Digital

Sheffield, GB

6d ago

The role Sumo

Sumo Sheffield is looking to expand our core teams experience and has a fantastic opportunity for a Principal VFX artist to develop and define our VFX pipeline and processes.

As a candidate you must be passionate about all aspects of VFX design and implementation as you will be responsible for defining the visual style and maintaining quality standards and working practices.

Working alongside the VFX Lead you will have responsibility for helping drive and mentor the team adding your distinctive leadership style and values to our evolving culture.

The ideal candidate will have a history of demonstrating an exceptional eye for detail, creative flair, stylistic versatility and the ability to effectively communicate artistic vision to the rest of the VFX and game teams.

Your solid communication skills combined with your passion and energy will enable the VFX team to be industry leaders.

If you can be an inspirational master of craft who will ultimately take us to the next level, we have the right team, the right opportunity and a wide variety of game genres.

Within this role you will :

Work with the Art Director / Lead to set the art style and visual standard for the team through the creation of VFX assets and creation pipelines, across multiple titles

Create pre-visualisation concepts to establish the visual effects direction

Collaborate with level design and gameplay teams to create visual effects that support gameplay requirements

Research and analyse current and emerging visual effect trends and technology and collect reference materials that support the visual quality and style for the VFX team

Create clear and accurate technical documentation regarding VFX production and implementation procedures

Work closely with the Graphical Rendering team / Technical Art team to develop new / improve upon current technologies to improve visual effect quality

Handle all aspects of the VFX pipeline, which includes creating content from concept to final polished result

We need you to have :

5+ years’ experience in Real Time VFX for Video Games as a Lead or Senior VFX artist

Expert understanding of real-time VFX authoring tools

Experience with 3D packages for creating 3D assets

Strong knowledge of Photoshop and After Effects

Strong and demonstrable understanding of the Principles of Real Time VFX

Understanding of VFX impact on console performance

Highly passionate and self-motivated to create high quality VFX

Shipped at least 2 AAA title in a Senior / Lead role

Ability to communicate and mentor other VFX artists in the team

The ability to work with various styles of art on multiple projects

Demo reel required

We'd also ideally like you to have (although it's not a deal breaker) :

Very strong problem-solving skills for technically challenging tasks

Experience with UE4 (Cascade and Niagara), Unity (Shuriken), PopcornFX and other game engines for creating real time VFX

Experience with fluid dynamics simulation software, such as Houdini and FumeFX, for fire, smoke, fluid and soft / rigid body dynamics

What We Offer : We offer a super benefits package including generous holidays and flexible working hours. Further perks include our legendary annual Sumo Big Day Out, plus epic Christmas parties, money on your birthday, on site free gym and free fruit for everyone! Our new, regular studio Game Jams are a highlight - staff spend a full day developing and pitching their own game ideas for possible development by Sumo.

Our environment is relaxed, friendly and built upon the basis of every team member having the opportunity to shine and have a realisable input into the games we create.

We are a very happy ship with lots of incredibly nice people that partake in shared interest groups, lunchtime clubs, charity fundraising events and lots of socialising.

We are proud to be located in Sheffield, just off J34 of the M1 offering easy road and rail access from Leeds, Manchester and the Midlands.

Sheffield itself enjoys wealth of facilities including world class sporting facilities, stunning theatres and galleries, the National Video Game Museum, shopping, restaurants and incredible parks and green spaces - all on the doorstep of the beautiful Peak District National Park. We love it here.

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