Senior Unreal FX

Key Responsibilities

• Create and develop high-quality FX elements and simulations using Unreal Engine.
• Build and integrate real-time effects such as fire, smoke, explosions, dust, debris, atmospheric effects, fluids, and environmental phenomena.
• Develop and optimise Niagara systems for cinematic and real-time applications.
• Work with Unreal Engine's FX, materials, particles, and simulation workflows to achieve desired visual results.
• Collaborate with FX, CG, Lighting, Environment, and Compositing artists to ensure seamless integration of effects.
• Translate creative briefs and reference material into technically accurate and visually compelling FX.
• Optimise FX assets and simulations while maintaining visual quality and performance.
• Troubleshoot technical and artistic issues within Unreal Engine.
• Follow established studio pipelines, naming conventions, versioning, and production workflows.
• Take direction and feedback from Supervisors and Leads and implement changes efficiently.
• Maintain a high level of quality, consistency, and attention to detail throughout production.

Required Skills & Experience

• Strong working knowledge of Unreal Engine, particularly Niagara.
• Understanding of FX principles including particles, dynamics, forces, timing, scale, and motion.
• Strong understanding of Unreal Engine FX and simulation plugins, including Zibra and Fluid Flux, with hands-on knowledge of fluid, smoke, VDB, water, and mesh-based simulations, as well as their integration into real-time environment and cinematic production pipelines.
• Experience creating procedural and real-time FX.
• Good understanding of cinematic composition, scale, lighting, and visual storytelling.
• Familiarity with shaders, materials, textures, and procedural workflows.
• Ability to optimise real-time FX for performance without compromising visual quality.
• Understanding of VFX production pipelines and asset management.
• Strong problem-solving and troubleshooting skills.
• Ability to work effectively within a collaborative production environment.
• Strong attention to detail and a passion for high-quality visual effects.
• Strong understanding of Unreal Engine rendering technologies, including Lumen and Path Tracing, with experience in real-time global illumination, reflections, lighting optimization, cinematic-quality rendering, and production-ready rendering workflows.

Good to Have

• Experience with Houdini and Houdini-to-Unreal workflows.
• Hands-on experience with Blender and Blender-to-Unreal Engine workflows.
• Knowledge of Houdini Niagara integration and procedural FX workflows.
• Experience with traditional FX simulations such as Pyro, RBD, FLIP, and POPs.
• Familiarity with Blueprints and Unreal Engine scripting.
• Knowledge of Python or other scripting/programming languages.
• Experience working on feature films, episodic content, commercials, or AAA game cinematics.
• Understanding of Unreal Engine rendering technologies such as Lumen and Nanite.
• Experience with real-time VFX optimisation and profiling.