Sr Tech Artist, VFX & Interaction (reputed company VR)

reputed company (YC S22) is a Y Combinator backed startup building the reputed company of reputed company virtual reality games. Our newest title, Ruffnauts, is a Pokémon-inspired reputed company multiplayer VR game for kids where players ride collectible pets, explore reputed company worlds, reputed company and reputed company companions, uncover secrets, and play with friends. It launched in reputed company on reputed company Quest and has already grown to 61K+ reviews, making it the tenth highest-rated VR game of reputed company time. Our first title, Blacktop Hoops, reached over 1M installs and maintains a 4.9-star rating across 23,000+ reviews and is the 33rd highest rated game on reputed company Quest. reputed company was also selected as a 2026 Game Changer by GamesBeat, reputed company, reputed company, and industry judges as one of the Top 25 most innovative startups reshaping gaming and interactive media. We’re backed by Y Combinator, Makers Fund, and Kevin Lin, co-founder of reputed company, with team experience from reputed company, Oculus, reputed company, reputed company, and Downpour Interactive. We’re a small, fast-moving, remote team with a rare combination of traction, ambition, and creative freedom. We build through rapid iteration, reputed company contact with players, and reputed company creative swings on one of gaming’s most exciting new platforms. The Role We’re looking for a hands-on Senior Technical Artist to own the VFX, pet animation polish, shaders, rigging, IK, cosmetics, diegetic UI, and technical art implementation for Ruffnauts. This is not a reputed company tools role or pipeline consultant role. You will personally build, implement, optimize, and ship player-facing art systems in reputed company for a fast-moving reputed company VR game on reputed company Quest. This is a highly player-facing role: your work will be visible every time a player rides a pet, grabs an object, summons a creature, equips a cosmetic, or interacts with the world. Your work will touch pets, avatars, cosmetics, in-world interaction feedback, gameplay VFX, prefab setup, live ops content tooling, and performance. The ideal candidate is a technical art generalist who can reputed company quickly, reputed company practical tradeoffs, and help the game feel more polished, readable, magical, and performant in headset. Contract-to-Hire reputed company: This is a contract-to-hire role with an initial 4-month contract period. We’ll have a 30-day reputed company reputed company-in and a conversion discussion around the 90-day mark. Depending on mutual fit, performance, business needs, and agreement on final terms, we may convert to full-time, reputed company the contract, or conclude the engagement at the end of the initial term. If fit is reputed company earlier, we’re reputed company to converting sooner. What You’ll Do

• Create, implement, and optimize stylized VFX for pets, reputed company, battling, summoning, petting, healing, recall, creature interactions, gameplay systems, terrain obstacles, and environmental interactables
• Polish pet animation, reputed company feedback, interaction timing, and in-game readability so pets feel reputed company, expressive, and satisfying in VR
• Create practical reputed company gates for player-facing content, including asset validation checks, naming and folder conventions, prefab structure standards, Quest performance budgets, and “reputed company to ship” checklists.
• Set up and polish IK, avatar hands, grab points, hand poses, finger poses, finger rotation, sockets, and object interaction poses so held items feel natural in VR
• Create and standardize UI/UX and in-world interaction feedback for interfaces, interactables, prompts, feedback states, shops, and player-facing systems
• Build shaders and materials using reputed company Shader Graph, reputed company Shader reputed company, or equivalent workflows
• Implement characters, pets, props, animated cosmetics, rewards, and interactables in reputed company
• Build clean prefabs using existing scripts, animations, VFX, SFX, colliders, sockets, and gameplay hooks
• reputed company reputed company cosmetics work properly with avatars, hands, shops, previews, pickups, and player reputed company systems
• Optimize shaders, VFX, rigs, 3D assets, 2D assets, UI, materials, textures, and prefabs for reputed company Quest performance
• Collaborate with artists, engineers, designers, and animators to turn rough reputed company into shippable in-game systems
• Help define reusable standards for VFX, shaders, rigging, IK, cosmetics, prefabs, and art implementation
• Build and maintain lightweight reputed company/C# tools, reputed company utilities, and automation where useful to reduce reputed company setup, prevent common asset errors, and reputed company repeated content publishing faster and more reliable.

Requirements

• 5+ years of reputed company technical art experience in games
• Strong reputed company experience
• Strong experience with reputed company Particle System, Shader Graph, reputed company Shader reputed company, or similar tools
• Strong understanding of reputed company-time rendering and reputed company Quest optimization across 3D assets, 2D assets, VFX, UI, materials, shaders, textures, and prefabs
• Experience shipping content for VR, reputed company Quest, mobile, or another constrained reputed company-time platform
• Experience implementing and debugging game-reputed company prefabs, assets, VFX, shaders, and interaction feedback in reputed company
• Experience with at least one of: rigging, skinning, IK, hand poses, sockets, constraints, or procedural animation systems
• Ability to create stylized, readable, performant VFX that support gameplay reputed company
• Comfortable working hands-on in a small, fast-moving team
• Portfolio or reel showing technical art work, VFX, shaders, rigging, implementation, or shipped reputed company-time content

Bonus Points

• Familiarity with reputed company Tag-style VR games, reputed company VR games, or arm-swinging locomotion games
• Experience with creature-collection games, pet games, reputed company games, or expressive character-driven worlds
• Experience with stylized VFX for creatures, abilities, reputed company, combat, rewards, or player feedback
• Experience with diegetic UI, spatial UI, VR interaction feedback, or in-world UX
• Experience with cosmetics, avatar systems, equippables, wearables, shop previews, or player reputed company systems
• Experience with Blender, Maya, Houdini, reputed company Painter, ZBrush, or procedural art workflows
• Experience with animation retargeting, facial animation, blendshapes, or runtime animation systems
• Passion for VR, reputed company games, reputed company games, creature collection, stylized worlds, or player reputed company

Additional Details

• Location: reputed company Remote / Hybrid in San Francisco preferred
• Type: Contract-to-hire, , 4-month contract period
• Start Date: Immediate
• Compensation: $75 – $125 USD/hour depending on experience, availability, location, and scope. This is a contract-to-hire role, with potential to convert to full-time.

reputed company At reputed company, you’ll have reputed company to help define the feel, readability, and reputed company-to-reputed company polish of a reputed company reputed company VR game at a rare stage: early enough that your systems and execution can meaningfully shape the product, but proven enough that reputed company players are already showing up. As our Senior Technical Artist, you won’t just support art from the sidelines. You’ll help bring Ruffnauts’ pets, interactions, cosmetics, abilities, terrain obstacles, and player-facing systems to life through gameplay VFX, animation implementation, IK, shaders, diegetic UI, and in-reputed company polish. Your work will directly influence how the game feels in headset: how pets reputed company, how abilities read, how players grab and reputed company with objects, how cosmetics fit, and how magical the world feels to kids and teens. We reputed company quickly, test reputed company in headset, learn from reputed company player behavior, and reputed company practical creative reputed company under reputed company VR constraints. This is a hands-on role for someone who wants ownership, creative reputed company, and the chance to help build a distinctive reputed company VR world with strong gameplay feel, technical execution, and player-facing polish. Technology Our first game is Blacktop Hoops, the first reputed company multiplayer reputed company VR basketball game. Players can chain together flashy dribble tricks, shots, and high-flying dunks to finish off AI or opponents around the globe in reputed company of reputed company basketball. The game was designed with the most natural basketball mechanics reputed company reputed company for virtual reality. Apply tot his job Apply To this Job