Senior VFX Artist – Art Center

Snail Games USA is hiring a Senior VFX Artist to serve as the VFX domain authority within their Art Center, with a preference for candidates based in the Los Angeles area. This role sits above project-level production and functions as the cross-project standard-setter for real-time visual effects across multiple Unreal Engine titles, covering everything from Niagara system architecture to combat feedback and environmental effects. It suits a senior-level VFX artist who is comfortable operating with autonomy, diagnosing pipeline problems before they escalate, and stepping in hands-on when a project needs it most.

About the Role

The Art Center at Snail Games USA oversees VFX execution across a slate of fantasy, stylized, and sci-fi game projects, and this role is the single point of VFX authority across all of them. Day-to-day work moves between monitoring cross-project quality, building and standardizing Niagara systems, and providing direct feedback to distributed teams in the US, Poland, and Suzhou. When high-visibility moments arise, this person is expected to produce critical work directly rather than delegating through a chain.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and maintain VFX standards across multiple simultaneous Unreal Engine projects, ensuring consistency in visual quality and gameplay readability.
• Build scalable, reusable Niagara systems and clean VFX pipelines that distributed teams can work within reliably.
• Lead performance optimization across particle counts, shader complexity, and overdraw budgets for PC and console targets.
• Identify artistic and technical risks in the VFX pipeline before they surface as production problems, and develop solutions without waiting for leadership escalation.
• Create benchmarks, documentation, and best-practice references that standardize VFX execution across the studio.
• Deliver direct, constructive feedback to artists across disciplines and time zones, covering both combat effects and environmental VFX work.

What You Bring

• Proven track record delivering high-quality real-time VFX in UE4 or UE5, with strong command of Niagara systems and real-time shader and material workflows.
• Deep understanding of gameplay readability, combat feedback hierarchy, and visual clarity as it applies to real-time VFX pipeline work.
• Experience optimizing effects for both PC and console performance budgets.
• Comfort diagnosing workflow inefficiencies and proposing concrete fixes in ambiguous production environments.
• Experience across multiple visual styles, including realistic, stylized, fantasy, and sci-fi, is a strong plus.

Why This Role

Snail Games USA offers a remote position with genuine schedule flexibility, paid holidays, vacation, separate sick leave, medical, dental, vision, life and LTD coverage, and a 401k with company match. The salary range for this Senior VFX Artist position is $115,000 to $160,000 annually. This is a studio-level authority role, not a staff position embedded in a single project, which makes it a meaningful step for a VFX artist who wants broader influence over how effects work gets done.

Apply now to be considered for the Senior VFX Artist role at Snail Games USA.