Senior FX Artist – Permanent Role

Mikros Animation is hiring a Senior FX Artist on a permanent basis in Montreal, Canada. This role sits inside the 3D pipeline and is responsible for designing and delivering complex simulations, including fire, smoke, fluid dynamics, destruction, and abstract effects, across animated feature film production. It is a good fit for an experienced Houdini generalist who works with a high degree of autonomy and has a track record of taking FX shots from initial setup through to final render.

About the Role

The Senior FX Artist works within the FX department, reporting to FX and CG supervision while collaborating daily with lighting, layout, and compositing teams to ensure effects integrate cleanly across the VFX pipeline. Productions at Mikros Animation are feature-length animated films, meaning shots carry significant creative weight and technical complexity. A typical day involves running and refining simulations in Houdini, attending dailies to receive and apply feedback, managing cache output, and flagging any scheduling or technical risks to production.

Key Responsibilities

• Produce complex Houdini simulations using Pyro, FLIP, RBD, Vellum, and SOPs, ensuring each effect meets both the artistic brief and internal technical standards.
• Own assigned FX tasks from first setup through caching and final submission, maintaining quality control on all workfiles before they leave your hands.
• Check effect compatibility with layout, lighting, and compositing departments to avoid pipeline conflicts downstream.
• Identify technical problems early and deliver working solutions, looping in the pipeline team when new tools need to be tested or integrated.
• Participate actively in dailies, incorporate supervisor feedback constructively, and adapt simulations to the visual style and pacing of each scene.
• Share techniques and tools with colleagues in the FX department and contribute to documenting and improving departmental workflows.

What You Bring

• Several years of production experience as an FX artist with credits on animated feature film or high-end VFX projects.
• Strong, demonstrable proficiency in Houdini across Pyro, FLIP, RBD, Vellum, and SOPs.
• Experience optimizing caches and managing simulation setups within a structured VFX pipeline.
• Ability to give realistic time estimates and communicate clearly with production when priorities shift or delays are at risk.
• Familiarity with how FX output feeds into lighting and compositing workflows in a full CG animation context.

Why This Role

Mikros Animation has built a reputation in the animation studio world for technically ambitious feature film work, and this permanent position reflects genuine long-term investment in the FX department rather than a short contract gap-fill. Montreal is one of the most active production hubs in North America, with a deep pool of colleagues and a well-established post-production workflow culture. The scope of simulations this role covers, from destruction to abstract effects, offers real craft development across a wide range of FX disciplines.

Apply now for the Senior FX Artist role at Mikros Animation and bring your Houdini expertise to feature film production in Montreal.