Lead Tech Artist in England

Couch Heroes is a growing, international game studio building a persistent online world in the MMO space. We are developing in Unreal Engine with a team spanning multiple countries, currently in early production and scaling to support a multi-year live-service roadmap.

We are remote-first, with a legal entity in the UK, and we operate with the speed and ambiguity of an early-stage company building something ambitious. We value autonomy, clear communication, and people who take ownership of their work.

We are looking for a Lead VFX Artist to own the creative and technical direction of real-time effects across the project, while building and guiding a growing VFX function. You will report to the Art Director and take full ownership of VFX quality, consistency, and performance. You will work closely with gameplay, animation, lighting, and environment teams to ensure effects are both visually strong and performant at MMO scale. Pipelines, standards, and workflows are still being defined, so you will play a key role in building the foundations the project scales on.

• Define the overall VFX visual language, ensuring effects communicate gameplay clearly while reinforcing the world’s identity.
• Set and maintain quality standards across all effects work, reviewing and guiding the team.
• Translate art direction into clear, usable briefs, references, and standards.
• Partner with production to scope work, plan delivery, and identify risks early.
• Create high-quality benchmark effects in Unreal Engine 5 across abilities, combat, environments, and creatures.
• Collaborate with technical art to solve shared challenges.
• Define performance budgets for large-scale multiplayer scenarios and ensure effects meet them.
• Work closely with tech art and engineering to optimise performance and scalability.
• Develop shared material systems and libraries that support consistency across the game.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with engineering, animation, lighting, and environment teams.
• Ensure VFX integrates cleanly with gameplay systems and responds correctly to game states.
• Represent VFX in cross-discipline discussions, balancing quality with feasibility.

Significant experience as a VFX artist in games, including time in a senior or lead capacity.

• Strong portfolio demonstrating high-quality real-time VFX and creative direction.
• Deep expertise in Unreal Engine 5, particularly Niagara.
• Experience building VFX pipelines, workflows, and standards.
• Proven ability to optimise effects for real-time performance at scale.
• Experience with Houdini or similar tools for simulation and asset creation.
• Experience integrating VFX with audio systems.
• Scripting or programming experience such as Blueprints, C++, HLSL, or Python.
• You think about VFX as a communication tool, not just visual polish.
• You care about performance as much as quality and hold that line across the team.
• You are comfortable building structure in an environment where not everything exists yet.
• You are proactive, organised, and visible in a remote team.

We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We welcome applications from all backgrounds and do not discriminate on the basis of age, disability, gender identity or expression, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, or any other protected characteristic.

Privacy and Data: We process your personal data as part of the recruitment process. Couch Heroes and Skillsearch both act as data controllers in relation to your application. For details on how your information is collected, used, stored, and your rights under UK GDPR, please review the relevant Privacy Policies below.