Senior VFX Artist

People Can Fly is one of the leading independent AAA game development studios. Our international team consists of hundreds of talented individuals working from offices in Poland, the UK, Ireland, the US, and Canada, as well as remotely across the globe.

Founded in 2002, we made our mark on the shooter genre with titles such as Painkiller, Bulletstorm, Gears of War: Judgment, and Outriders. As one of the most experienced Unreal Engine studios in the industry, we continue to expand on our expertise and push the boundaries of what’s possible in game development.

Our creative teams are currently working on several exciting titles: Gears of War: E-Day developed in collaboration with Microsoft; Project Echo for KRAFTON; and Lost Rift, an original IP we are developing in-house under our self-publishing model. We are also exploring new platforms and experiences with VR and other unannounced projects.

With over 20 years of experience, PCF continues to explore new horizons. We aim to combine our expertise with the creativity of the best and most forward-thinking talent in the industry, building the next generation of action games for players worldwide.

If you join us on this journey, you’ll have the chance to perfect your craft, expand your knowledge, and work alongside industry leaders to create unique, unforgettable experiences for gamers everywhere.

Maintain artistic direction and quality

• Produce high quality VFX creation suitable technically and artistically with the project's universe and visual direction.
• Translate concept art and any other available game design documents into prototype and implement it as real-time VFX in game under lead’s supervision.
• Create ambient environment effects that enhance mood, tell a story, and make the world feel alive.

Production/Deadline

• Produce work within specifications and maintain workflow pipelines within given deadlines.
• Bug Fixing and describing R&D case studies in the knowledge base.
• Understand and employ established asset organizational structures and naming conventions to ensure cohesion within the VFX pipeline.

Feedback

• Participate in reviews, adapt to, and implement feedback from leads and peers in a professional manner.
• Provide feedback and improvement to visual quality.
• Create gameplay effects that make the world feel exciting, and that give the player necessary gameplay feedback.

Collaboration/communication 

• Work with developers in multiple disciplines and ensure that work gets integrated into the build.
• Knowledge sharing.
• Work with designers to create effects for scripted events and story moments.
• Work with the lighting department to create atmosphere, a sense of depth in the scene, and to reinforce the color palette.
• Collaborate in R&D initiatives, to explore new techniques and implement improvements to pipelines and workflows.
• Occasionally support leads and HR collaboration in recruitment efforts.
• Occasionally support new hires during the onboarding process.

Other artistic specificity

• Create high-fidelity effects for cinematics and marketing material.
• Innovate new techniques for next-gen hardware, and work with engineers and tech art to expand the VFX toolset.
• Analyze scenes for performance issues, and ensure all effects are built in the most efficient way possible.
• Use every tool at your disposal to create effects for the game (traditional particles, pixel shaders and vertex shaders for animated materials, baked physics simulations, stock animation, etc.).

• 5+ years in AAA console/PC game development including 3+ year in unreal engine.
• A strong portfolio showcasing examples of real time VFX work at a AAA quality.
• Artistically interpret concepts or creatively push beyond an initial ideation.
• A solid understanding of traditional art skills along with foundational design competencies (shape, form, texture, value and color).
• Excellent understanding of the principles of animation.
• A critical eye and great feeling for the motion of real world objects and VFX.
• Great understanding of the constraints of real-time VFX.
• Good Understanding of the constraints of real-time effects.
• Good experience with a variety of techniques and tools for creating VFX animation (standard particle systems, fluid sims, physics sims, etc.).
• Good skills in creation of all source art needed for VFX (textures, geometry, flipbooks, normal maps, vector field textures, etc.).
• Great experience with Cascade UE4 / UE5 tools for VFX creation (of any other similar engine tools).
• Strong experience in creating complex pixel and vertex shaders.
• Good experience with scripting (visual or otherwise) within the context of VFX.
• Adaptive. 
• Ability to quickly learn and adapt to new styles, techniques and workflows with basic guidance.
• Ability to collaborate with department leads, and different departments to solve artistic and technical challenges.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills in English.
• Good mentoring skills.
• Self-motivation.

Nice to have:

• Texturing, modeling, skinning, animation, or lighting experience.
• HLSL shader creation experience.
• Houdini.

What we offer:

• Private medical healthcare including dental treatment for PCF members and their families (Signal Iduna).
• MultiSport card for you and your family members or friends.
• Free library with a wide range of games and books you have unlimited access to.
• In-company Polish and English language classes.
• Fresh fruit, snacks, and beverages for everyone in the office.
• Flexible working hours.
• Free virtual health and mental wellbeing sessions are included in the plan for members and their dependents.
• Personal development opportunities and ability to work in a global environment.
• Work in a creative team with people full of passion for what they do.