Senior II VFX Artist – Unannounced Game | Irvine, CA

Job Position(s): Senior II VFX Artist - Unannounced Game | Irvine, CA

Activision Blizzard, Inc. is hiring a Senior II VFX Artist for an unannounced game project based out of Irvine, CA. This role sits within the VFX department of a new title in development at Blizzard, responsible for creating and owning real-time particle effects, destruction, environmental atmosphere, and gameplay feedback systems from concept through final implementation. It suits a senior individual contributor who has shipped titles on PC and console and can move comfortably between high-level visual direction and hands-on Niagara or Unreal Engine work.

About the Role

The Senior II VFX Artist joins a cross-disciplinary development team building a new, unannounced Blizzard game, working inside an established Unreal Engine pipeline alongside art, engineering, animation, and design. Day to day, this person is prototyping and validating VFX solutions, building reusable material libraries, profiling performance on console and PC targets, and feeding back on the work of junior and mid-level VFX artists. The role is hybrid out of Irvine, CA, with the option to work on-site full time.

Key Responsibilities

• Create and implement real-time VFX across gameplay, characters, and environments using Unreal Engine and Niagara, owning work from initial brief through final in-engine integration.
• Define visual and technical approaches for complex VFX systems, weighing artistic quality against performance budgets and platform scalability requirements.
• Author simulation, fluid, and RBD data using Houdini and deliver optimized assets that meet memory and draw call constraints across PC and console platforms.
• Build and maintain reusable VFX material libraries and documentation that keep implementation consistent across the team’s VFX pipeline.
• Identify technical risks and workflow inefficiencies early in production, then bring concrete proposals to leads and cross-functional partners.
• Provide direct craft feedback and mentorship to other VFX artists, helping raise the quality bar for the discipline across the project.

What You Bring

• 12 or more years of experience creating real-time VFX for games or interactive media, with shipped credits on PC and console platforms including Xbox and PlayStation.
• Expert-level proficiency in Unreal Engine and Niagara, with a portfolio that includes breakdowns demonstrating technical execution and implementation ownership.
• Strong working knowledge of Houdini, Substance Designer, Photoshop, After Effects, and Maya for texture authoring and simulation pipelines.
• Advanced understanding of real-time VFX optimization, profiling, and memory management within a live game development environment.
• Demonstrated experience mentoring artists and influencing quality standards across a VFX team.

Why This Role

Blizzard has a long track record of building games with unusually high production values, and this position puts a senior artist at the foundation of a new IP from pre-production forward. The hybrid structure and Irvine, CA studio location offer stability without sacrificing flexibility, and the scope of the VFX pipeline work here is the kind that builds a resume. Activision Blizzard, Inc. brings the infrastructure and platform experience to support complex, multi-year game development at a scale most studios cannot match.

Apply now for the Senior II VFX Artist role at Activision Blizzard, Inc. and bring your real-time VFX experience to a project being built from the ground up.