Senior Technical Artist (Animation, Unity, VFX)

Job Position(s): Senior Technical Artist (Animation, Unity, VFX)

VEGA Americas is hiring a Senior Technical Artist (Animation, Unity, VFX) based in Irvine, CA, to sit at the intersection of art and engineering across a portfolio of more than 30 mobile and evergreen games. This role lives inside the game development pipeline, owning particle systems, shaders, prefab and UI construction, and animation, turning art mockups into polished, playable experiences inside Unity. It suits a tech artist with serious Unity editor depth who genuinely enjoys building tools that make the artists and engineers around them faster.

About the Role

The Senior Technical Artist (Animation, Unity, VFX) works across VEGA Americas’ full game slate, supporting multiple titles simultaneously and iterating quickly as designs evolve. Day to day, that means moving between VFX pipeline work, animation timing, shader development, and pipeline tooling, often in the same afternoon. The studio runs tight, well-organized sprints, and this person is expected to own their tasks and communicate timelines clearly across art, design, and engineering.

Key Responsibilities

• Build and maintain particle systems, VFX, and shader setups inside Unity that meet both visual and performance targets across a large game portfolio.
• Translate 2D art mockups into fully realized in-engine experiences, handling prefab construction, UI integration, and animation from start to finish.
• Develop internal tools and pipeline scripts that reduce friction between the art and engineering departments.
• Optimize visual assets for mobile and evergreen platforms, balancing fidelity with runtime performance requirements.
• Own sprint tasks end to end, tracking timelines and flagging blockers before they affect adjacent departments.
• Integrate AI-assisted workflows where they meaningfully improve output speed or quality across the animation and VFX pipeline.

What You Bring

• 5 or more years of professional game development experience, with deep, hands-on Unity editor expertise.
• Proven ability to build production-quality particle systems, VFX, shaders, and character or UI animations inside Unity.
• Proficiency with standard art tools including Photoshop, Illustrator, and Figma.
• A track record of shipping titles, with comfort working across a large, concurrent game portfolio.
• A degree in a relevant field, or equivalent professional studio experience in lieu of formal education.

Why This Role

VEGA Americas is self-funded and profitable, which means no external production pressures driving crunch, and the studio has built a genuine no-crunch culture around that stability. Benefits include fully paid medical, dental, vision, and life insurance, unlimited PTO, a 401K with competitive contribution, free daily lunch, and an annual all-inclusive company trip for the employee and a guest. The annual base salary range for the Senior Technical Artist (Animation, Unity, VFX) role is $120,000 to $150,000.

Apply now for the Senior Technical Artist (Animation, Unity, VFX) position at VEGA Americas and bring your Unity and VFX pipeline expertise to a studio that is built to last.