3D Shader and Materials Artist

About us

At DFS Group, we're proud to help people create spaces they love to live in. We're home to DFS, Sofology, and The Sofa Delivery Company: three brands with their own personalities, brought together by a shared mission. Behind our brands is a passionate Group team. From Finance and Technology to People, Marketing and Supply Chain, our Group functions power everything we do. They create the foundations that allow our brands to thrive, innovate and grow. Whether you're supporting our brands or serving our customers, the mindset that connects us means we expect more of ourselves and each other. It means every customer is our favourite, every voice is valued, and every interaction is one we're proud of. When you're part of a community that shares your way of thinking, the wins feel bigger. The effort feels worth it. It's a place where people stay because they feel valued, and find room to grow because they're challenged.

About the role

We are seeking a highly skilled 3D Material & Shader Specialist to take ownership of our digital fabric library, with a strict focus on V-Ray rendering and render farm scalability. In this role, you will be responsible for creating, optimizing, and managing a massive, high-end library of digital upholstery. You will bridge the gap between technical shading and digital artistry, ensuring that every digital sofa, chair, and footstool looks as tactile and luxurious on a screen as it does in our showrooms, while also rendering flawlessly across our distributed pipeline, as well as optimizing and baking those complex shader networks into lightweight, performant formats (glTF/USDZ) for web and AR.

What you'll be responsible for:

• Creating realistic PBR materials for furniture fabrics including linens, bouclés, velvets, leathers and synthetics.
• Building and refining V-Ray materials to accurately capture fabric textures and properties.
• Optimising materials for web, real-time 3D and AR platforms.
• Ensuring materials look consistent across CGI, websites and AR experiences.
• Using Substance 3D Designer to create and efficiently produce fabric variations.
• Supporting render farm workflows, troubleshooting material and texture issues.
• Working with commercial teams to colour-match digital fabrics against physical samples and maintain accuracy across platforms.

We're looking for someone who has:

• Minimum of 3 years specialised in technical art, shading, or PBR material authoring, with a portfolio centred on high-end product visualisation or VFX.
• Advanced technical proficiency in V-Ray (3ds Max or Maya).
• Comprehensive understanding of light transport, sampling math, and the ability to deconstruct and solve complex shading bottlenecks.
• Extensive experience managing complex scenes for network rendering via Backburner, with a focus on memory management and UNC pathing consistency.
• Proven experience using Adobe Substance 3D Designer and Substance 3D Painter to create and develop high-quality, realistic materials.
• Technical fluency within core DCC applications (3ds Max or Maya).
• A meticulous eye for detail, textile physics, scale, and the subtle nuances of colour and light interaction.
• Must be able to showcase photo realistic digital upholstery, demonstrating expert control over weave patterns, micro-surface qualities, and final high-fidelity V-Ray renders.

Don't let it discourage you if you don't have all of this experience, it's a guideline that will help you hit the ground running. If the role sounds like it would be a great fit for you and you're confident that it suits you, we'd love you to apply.

Room to grow

Everyone at DFS Group begins with a structured induction designed to help you understand our brands, our culture and how we work together. From day one, you will have access to our online Learning Hub, filled with digital courses, tools and resources to support your development. For leaders, we offer virtual workshops focused on building confident, capable leadership. We also run skills-based workshops to strengthen core capabilities across the business. Colleagues can also undertake nationally recognised qualifications through our apprenticeship programmes, giving you the opportunity to gain external accreditation while you grow your career with us.

Our DFS Group benefits

We believe great work deserves great support. That's why we offer benefits that help you grow, feel looked after, and enjoy life beyond work. Here's what we have to offer:

• 23 days holiday, plus the option to buy up to 5 more.
• Enhanced parental leave.
• Health cash plan from £2 a month, with everyday cashback.
• Employee Assistance Programme for support when you need it.
• Extras like flu vouchers, menopause support and health check.
• Pension with company contributions.
• Life assurance for peace of mind.
• Sharesave scheme to save each month and invest in our future.
• Structured induction from day one.
• Access to our Learning Hub and skills workshops.
• Leadership development and apprenticeship programmes.
• 30% colleague discount, plus 15% for friends and family, three times a year.
• Discounts and cashback at hundreds of retailers.
• SmartTech scheme to buy tech up to £1,000 through salary sacrifice.
• Cycle to Work scheme for bikes and accessories up to £1,500.
• Electric vehicle lease scheme with Octopus to help you save and reduce your impact.
• One paid volunteering day each year.

Equal opportunities

We're proud to be an equal opportunities employer, committed to building a workplace that reflects the communities we serve and makes room for different backgrounds, perspectives and experiences. We turn that commitment into action through colleague networks, trusted partnerships and recognised accessibility initiatives such as the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower. If your experience does not quite match every part of the role, we'd still love to hear from you. If you need any adjustments or additional support during the application process, please contact our Talent Team and we will be happy to help.