Associate VFX Director - Madden

EA SPORTS is one of the leading sports entertainment brands in the world, with top-selling videogame franchises, award-winning interactive technology, fan programs, and cross-platform digital experiences. EA SPORTS creates connected experiences that ignite the emotion of sport through industry-leading sports video games, including Madden NFL football, EA Sports FC soccer, NHL® hockey, and EA SPORTS UFC .

As an Associate VFX Director, you will be responsible for prototyping and creating Visual Effects for real-time use in games. You will work with other Artists, Art Directors, Engineers and Producers, to create visual effects that immerse players in the experience. You understand motion, physics, color theory, and animation and use all of those to create compelling effects that wow the player.

Your Responsibilities:

• Act as a leadership figure within the project, working closely with a diverse team of Artists, Technical Artists, Engineers, Project Managers, Producers and Art Directors
• Conceptualize and create industry-leading FX for our games
• Work with Design to understand requirements and create FX for gameplay mechanics
• Create behavior-driven FX for characters
• Create atmospheric FX and direct proper placement of assets to enhance living worlds
• Simulate physical phenomenon through a variety animation and simulation techniques
• Partner with Rendering and Tools teams to determine requirements for FX tools.
• Develop strategies to solve FX issues affecting rendering performance to maintain target FPS.
• Work with multiple Art Directors and leads to understand the content vision, direction, and quality expectations.
• Plan with directors and management to establish asset requirements, manage scope and escalate risks for feature reviews.
• Explore, recommend and implement new techniques, tools, and workflows that improve quality and efficiency.
• Establish and maintain team best practices.
• Mentor junior/intermediate artists.
• Participate in EA VFX community to grow together

Your Qualifications:

• 7+ years' experience as a real-time FX artist on shipped title
• Proficient in using Maya, Houdini, or any equivalent DCC tools for 3D authoring and fluid sim packages to generate source textures and models.
• Proficient in shader language (HLSL preferred)
• You know how to create high quality, optimized VFX for PC and gaming consoles, and have keen eye for timing, animation, and weight.
• Understanding basic mathematics and physics for 3d rendering and particle control
• Experience implementing FX assets in a real-time engine
• Experience with performance requirements and restrictions on console hardware
• Experience creating and editing shaders for FX
• Experience creating and modifying existing modeling assets for in-game FX use

Please note that this role will require the successful candidate to be hybrid on-site at our studio in Orlando, Florida. Relocation assistance will be provided if required.