Artiste VFX Principal(e) / Lead VFX Artist

People Can Fly • Montreal, QC

87d • Remote

About The Position

People Can Fly is seeking a Lead VFX Artist to direct a team and foster an engaging atmosphere to achieve the best possible results for the project and personal growth of team members. This role involves producing high-quality VFX creation, suitable technically and artistically with the project's universe and visual direction. The Lead VFX Artist will collaborate on setting artistic vision with the Art Director, maintain quality standards across the development pipeline, and translate concept art into real-time VFX in the game. Responsibilities include overseeing ambient environment effects, ensuring work meets specifications and deadlines, and collaborating with the production team to maintain a healthy work-life balance. The role also involves providing feedback, solving problems creatively, and facilitating the creation of gameplay effects. Knowledge sharing, mentoring peers, and collaborating with Tech Art on R&D initiatives are key. The Lead VFX Artist will work with developers across multiple disciplines, communicate effectively with stakeholders, and collaborate with designers and the lighting department. Performance and compensation reviews, recruitment projects, and onboarding new hires are also part of the role. Additionally, the position requires creating high-fidelity effects for cinematics and marketing, innovating new techniques for next-gen hardware, analyzing scenes for performance issues, and utilizing various tools for VFX creation. Staying aware of industry practices to influence the VFX pipeline direction is essential.

Requirements

• 7+ years in console or PC game development including 5+ year in unreal engine and prior experience in any leadership capacity.
• A strong portfolio showcasing examples of real-time VFX work at a AAA quality.
• Excellent knowledge of industry-standard software packages for modeling, high-poly sculpting (Maya, Max, ZBrush, Photoshop, or their equivalents).
• Excellent understanding of the principles of animation.
• A critical eye and great feeling for the motion of real world objects and VFX.
• Solid understanding of the constraints of real-time VFX.
• Artistically interpret concepts or creatively push beyond an initial ideation .
• Excellent understanding of art fundamentals (shape, form, texture, value and color) and anatomical knowledge of both bipedal and quadrupedal forms.
• Solid understanding of the constraints of real-time VFX.
• Solid experience with a variety of techniques and tools for creating VFX animation (standard particle systems, fluid sims, physics sims, etc.).
• Solid skills in creation of all source art needed for VFX (textures, geometry, flipbooks, normal maps, vector field textures, etc.).
• Strong experience with UE5 tools for VFX creation (of any other similar engine tools).
• Solid experience in creating complex pixel and vertex shaders.
• Strong experience with scripting (visual or otherwise) and mathematics within the context of VFX.
• Ability to adapt, and develop specific art style, techniques and workflows with minimum guidance.
• Strong mentoring, coaching and leadership skills.
• Ability to collaborate with department leads, and different departments to solve artistic and technical challenges.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills in English.
• Self-motivation.
• Proficiency in English is required for this position, as the role involves regular communication with international colleagues, partners, and stakeholders based outside of Québec.

Nice To Haves

• HLSL shader creation experience.
• Houdini.
• JangaFX EmberGen

Responsibilities

• Lead a team and foster an engaging atmosphere within their team to achieve best possible result for the project and personal growth of team members.
• Produce high quality VFX creation suitable technically and artistically with the project's universe and visual direction.
• Collaborate on setting artistic vision with the Art Director, as well as maintaining the quality standards across the entire development pipeline.
• Translate concept art and any other available game design documents into prototype and implement it as real-time VFX in game.
• Oversee and facilitate the creation of ambient environment effects that enhance mood, tell a story, and make the world feel alive.
• Produce work within specifications and maintain workflow pipelines within given deadlines.
• Work closely with the production team on tasks assignment and schedule to meet deadlines, also ensuring healthy work-life balance by setting clear expectations and scope of work.
• Supervision of bug fixing and describing R&D case studies in knowledge base.
• Understand and employ established asset organizational structures and naming conventions to ensure cohesion within the VFX pipeline.
• Provide day-to-day feedback improvement to visual quality.
• Working with the team to find solutions and creatively solve problems.
• Oversee and facilitate the creation of gameplay effects that make the world feel exciting, and that give the player necessary gameplay feedback.
• Knowledge sharing and mentoring peers.
• Collaborate with Tech Art and drive R&D initiatives, to explore new techniques and implement improvements to pipelines and workflows.
• Work with developers in multiple disciplines and ensure that work gets integrated into the build.
• Collaborates and communicates effectively across departments with other Leads, Directors, and project stakeholders to ensure efficiency and minimize miscommunication.
• Work with designers to create effects for scripted events and story moments.
• Work with the lighting department to create atmosphere, a sense of depth in the scene, and to reinforce the color palette.
• Conduct consistent performance and compensation reviews of staff members.
• Conduct recruitment projects with HR collaboration.
• Conduct onboarding to new hires.
• Create high-fidelity effects for cinematics and marketing material.
• Innovate new techniques for next-gen hardware, and work with engineers and tech art to expand the VFX toolset.
• Analyze scenes for performance issues, and ensure all effects are built in the most efficient way possible.
• Use every tool at your disposal to create effects for the game (traditional particles, pixel shaders and vertex shaders for animated materials, baked physics simulations, stock animation, etc.).
• Track and seek awareness of state-of-the-art industry practices in order to influence the VFX pipeline direction.

Benefits

• Benefit package 100% paid by PCF.
• The insurance company reimburses 100% of claims (Up to $1000 per service a year, as well as individual family coverage).
• Full Dental coverage, including major dental.
• 4% RRSP matching before tax deductions, 100% vested on day 1.
• Paid week off during Winter Holidays.
• 20 paid vacation days and 5 paid sick days.
• Free virtual health and mental well-being sessions are included in the plan for members and their dependents.
• Personal development opportunities and ability to work in a global environment.
• Work in a creative team with people full of passion for what they do.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Principal
• Education Level: No Education Listed