Senior FX Artist – Water focus

Cinesite is hiring a Senior FX Artist with a water focus for their VFX studio in Vancouver, BC. This role sits within the FX department and is responsible for designing, building, and delivering fluid simulations and other effects work directly to picture on feature film and animation productions. It suits an artist with substantial Houdini production experience who has worked on water, fluids, and stylized simulations at a studio level.

About the Role

Working under the FX Supervisor, this Senior FX Artist position is embedded in a VFX pipeline that handles both photoreal and non-photoreal productions, meaning your simulations need to flex across different visual languages depending on the project. Day to day, you are building and refining water and fluid sims in Houdini, managing your own simulation files, optimizing for render efficiency, and staying in close communication with your supervisor and production coordinator about shot progress. This is a hybrid role based out of the Vancouver studio with a start date of June 2026.

Key Responsibilities

• Create fluid, cloth, particle, pyro, rigid body, and magical effects simulations using Houdini across a range of stylized and photoreal productions.
• Work directly with the FX Supervisor to break down individual shots and sequences, translating creative briefs into technically sound simulation setups.
• Adapt water and fluid simulations to match the specific visual style of each production, whether hyper-realistic or non-photoreal.
• Organize, document, and maintain simulation files and HDAs throughout the production pipeline to support efficient handoffs and revisions.
• Optimize simulations and renders to meet production resource constraints without compromising the integrity of the final image.
• Integrate FX elements using Nuke and work comfortably within a broader animation studio or VFX pipeline that includes lighting, rendering, and look development.

What You Bring

• More than five years of experience as an FX artist on animated features performing stylized simulations or on live action productions handling photoreal effects work.
• High proficiency in Houdini, with production experience using RenderMan, Arnold, or a comparable raytracing renderer.
• A strong understanding of physics and natural phenomena, with particular depth in water simulation.
• Experience with Nuke for compositing and integrating FX elements into final shots.
• VEX scripting or Python knowledge, familiarity with Solaris and USD workflow, and experience with Gaffer or Katana are all considered assets.
• Valid Canadian work authorization and current residence in British Columbia are required for this position.

Why This Role

Cinesite has been producing award-winning visual effects and animation work for over 30 years, with a studio culture that treats expertise and craft seriously across all levels. This Senior FX Artist position offers a hybrid work arrangement and a hiring range of $100,000 to $120,000 per year for a 40-hour work week. For an FX artist specializing in water and fluid simulation, this is a chance to work on high-profile productions within a studio that has the pipeline and the creative scope to support that specialization.

Apply now for the Senior FX Artist position at Cinesite and bring your simulation work to a production team that will put it on screen.