Lead VFX Artist (Mobile / Casual Games)
Summary
A hands-on leadership role heading the VFX direction for a casual mobile games portfolio: you lead and mentor a VFX team while personally building real-time gameplay, character, and UI effects, mainly in Unity and Spine, balancing visual quality against mobile performance limits.
We are seeking a proactive and skilled Lead VFX Artist to head our VFX direction and foster the growth of our artistic team. In this role, you will hold complete ownership over the visual and technical excellence of real-time effects across our game portfolio — ranging from dynamic gameplay and character interactions to polished UI animations, rewards, and feedback systems.
This is a high-impact, hands-on role within our client’s team where your ideas, technical insight, and artistic vision will directly shape the player experience. You will collaborate closely with Cross-Functional Teams, including 2D/Spine Animators, UI/UX, Art, Tech Art, Game Design, Product, and Development.
Key Responsibilities & Expectations
Team Leadership & Mentorship: Guide, inspire, and manage the VFX team through regular 1:1s, performance evaluations, continuous feedback, and knowledge sharing.
Hands-on Execution & Quality: Drive visual effects from early conceptual stages to final, polished in-game integration.
Pipeline & Workflow Optimization: Establish clear technical standards, refine production pipelines, and manage team allocation and delivery timelines.
Cross-Disciplinary Approach: Assess features to select the best execution path (Spine, Unity, VFX, or a hybrid approach) and solve production blockers effectively.
Artistic & Technical Balance: Ensure game visual hierarchy, timing, composition, and visual feedback remain top-notch while staying within mobile technical limits.
What We Are Looking For
Leadership Experience: Proven track record of leading, mentoring, and managing artists in a game development environment.
Casual Mobile Expertise: In-depth knowledge of casual mobile game visual dynamics and performance constraints.
Unity Proficiency: Solid hands-on experience with Unity (Particle System, Shader Graph, custom shaders, and mobile optimization).
Spine Animation: Ability to create/review animations, prepare assets, and integrate Spine assets smoothly into Unity.
Motion & Visual Design: Exceptional grasp of timing, anticipation, readability, and overall game feel.
Technical Art Foundations: Understanding of mobile platform limitations, performance profiling, and optimization best practices.
Communication: Ability to articulate creative and technical proposals clearly to stakeholders and cross-functional teams.
Portfolio: A rich collection of work showcasing gameplay effects, character VFX, and dynamic UI animations.
Gamer Mindset: Deep passion for games and a curiosity about why specific visual solutions resonate with players.
Nice-to-Haves / Bonus Points
Experience with Poker, Card, or Casino-style games (or a strong curiosity to master these mechanics and player behaviors).
Multilingual skills (fluency in two or more: English, Ukrainian, Mandarin Chinese).
Familiarity with After Effects or other advanced motion design tools.
Experience supporting multiple production pipelines/projects simultaneously.
Openness to potential relocation to Japan.
How to Apply
If you want to combine hands-on creation with team leadership and leave a real mark on mobile games, we’d love to connect!
Please share your CV along with a link to your Portfolio.