VFX Artist – Agency Contract

Playground Games is hiring a VFX Artist on an agency contract at their studio in Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. This role sits within the art department on the Forza Horizon franchise, responsible for creating and implementing real-time visual effects that drive the look and feel of one of the most recognised names in AAA game development. It suits a mid-to-senior VFX artist with shipped game credits and a strong grounding in real-time VFX pipeline work.

About the Role

The VFX Artist works within an established art team contributing directly to the Forza Horizon series, a BAFTA award-winning franchise developed under Microsoft’s first-party Xbox Game Studios label. Day to day, this means building and implementing particle systems and real-time effects, working across art, design, and engineering disciplines to hit visual targets and solve technical problems as they arise. The position operates on a hybrid model with a minimum of three days per week on-site in Leamington Spa.

Key Responsibilities

• Create and implement real-time VFX assets that serve both gameplay systems and environmental storytelling across the Forza Horizon world.
• Work within the real-time VFX pipeline to ensure effects meet performance budgets without compromising visual fidelity.
• Collaborate with engineering teams to develop new tools, technologies, and production workflows that push the technical ceiling of the game.
• Apply a solid understanding of animation principles, lighting, and dynamics to produce effects that read correctly across varied in-game conditions.
• Plan and manage your own tasks through production cycles, delivering work to agreed quality standards with appropriate autonomy.
• Contribute creative ideas during development that elevate the visual quality of the game alongside the wider art team.

What You Bring

• Demonstrable credits on at least one shipped AAA game project in a VFX artist capacity.
• Hands-on experience with PopcornFX, Niagara, or Houdini for particle simulation work.
• Working knowledge of HLSL, GLSL, Python, or a comparable shading and scripting language used in real-time VFX pipelines.
• Strong art fundamentals with a focus on realistic visual styles rather than stylised or offline rendering.
• Please note this role is offered through a managed service provider and visa sponsorship is not available.

Why This Role

Playground Games has built one of the most consistent track records in AAA game development, with the Forza Horizon series earning industry recognition and a large, dedicated player base over multiple entries. Working as a VFX Artist here means contributing to a game at genuine scale, within a team that has the technical infrastructure and creative ambition to match. This is an agency contract position, with the successful candidate employed through a trusted agency partner and assigned directly to Playground Games.

Apply now for the VFX Artist role at Playground Games and put your real-time effects work in front of one of the most established first-party studios in the business.