Senior Technical Artist (Unity) - Creative Vision & Real-Time Effects

Welcome to the world of land-based gaming. At Light & Wonder, it's all about the games, and our Gaming team builds cutting-edge technology, products, and content for the most iconic casinos and operators across the globe.

We're seeking a Senior Technical Artist who thrives at the intersection of artistic vision and technical execution. If you're passionate about bringing game designers' ideas to life, crafting stunning in-engine effects, and pushing the boundaries of what's possible in Unity, this role is for you.

You'll be a key creative force, translating artistic direction into immersive real-time visuals using Unity's powerful toolset. From shader magic to particle wizardry, you'll help shape the visual identity of our games while ensuring performance and polish across platforms.

Key Responsibilities

Creative Vision & Visual Realization

* Collaborate closely with game designers and art directors to interpret and realize creative vision through technical artistry.

* Prototype and implement dynamic visual effects that enhance gameplay, mood, and storytelling.

* Act as a visual problem-solver, finding elegant technical solutions to artistic challenges.

In-Engine Effects & Visual Fidelity

* Design and implement real-time VFX using Unity's Visual Effect Graph, Particle System, and Shader Graph.

* Create stylized and realistic effects such as explosions, weather, magic, UI flourishes, and environmental ambiance.

* Develop and optimize custom shaders for 2D and 3D assets, balancing beauty and performance.

3D Rigging & Animation Support

* Build and maintain rigs for 3D characters and props, including IK/FK systems, blend shapes, and physics-based rigs.

* Support integration of skeletal and sprite-based animations, including Spine and Unity's animation systems.

* Collaborate with animators to ensure smooth transitions, expressive movement, and runtime performance.

Optimization & Performance

* Work with artists to provide optimized 2D assets and 3D assets for real-time performance.

* Work with engineers to profile and debug rendering, memory, and performance issues using tools like Unity Profiler, and GPU analyzers.

* Balance visual quality and performance, ensuring the best experience across various hardware specifications.

Collaboration & Technical Support

* Act as a technical bridge between art, design, and engineering teams to align creative vision with technical feasibility.

* Troubleshoot shader, lighting, and rendering issues in both 2D and 3D environments.

* Provide technical guidance to artists and designers on best practices for sprite management, UI rendering, and 3D asset optimization.

* Stay updated on new Unity features and industry trends to enhance team workflows and improve project efficiency.

This is an on site role based at our studio in Reno, Las Vegas. Team members are expected to be in the office to support collaboration and studio culture. Flexibility and will be moving to hybrid once we launch!

Required

* 5-7 years of experience as a Technical Artist with at least one shipped Unity title.

* Proven ability to translate creative vision into technical execution.

* Expert-level proficiency in Unity, including VFX Graph, Shader Graph, and custom tooling.

* Strong experience with shader development, particle systems, and real-time effects.

* Solid understanding of 3D rigging, animation systems, and character pipelines.

* Proficiency in C# for editor scripting and workflow automation.

* Familiarity with 2D/3D asset pipelines and DCC tools (e.g., Blender, Maya, Photoshop).

* Experience optimizing GPU, CPU, and memory performance for real-time applications.

Preferred Qualifications

* Experience developing for low-end or mobile devices.

* Background in casino or casual game development with shipped products.

Education

* A degree in Art, Animation, Game Development, Interactive Media, or a related field.

* Equivalent experience in lieu of a degree may be considered.

Physical Requirements

* The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit, stand, walk, bend, use hands, operate a computer, and have specific vision abilities to include close and distance vision, and ability to adjust focus working with computer and business equipment.

Work Conditions

* The work conditions are representative and typical of similar jobs in comparable organizations.

Light & Wonder and its affiliates (collectively, L&W) are engaged in highly regulated gaming businesses.As a result, certain L&W employees may, among other things, be required to obtain a gaming or other license(s), undergo background investigations or security checks, or meet certain standards dictated by law, regulation or contracts. In order to ensure L&W complies with its regulatory and contractual commitments, as a condition to hiring and continuing to employ its employees, L&W requires all of its employees to meet those requirements that are necessary to fulfill their individual roles. As a prerequisite to employment with L&W (to the extent permitted by law), you shall be asked to consent to L&W conducting a due diligence/background investigation on you.

This job description should not be interpreted as all-inclusive; it is intended to identify major responsibilities and requirements of the job. The employee in this position may be requested to perform other job-related tasks and responsibilities than those stated above.

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Light & Wonder is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate against applicants due to race, color, sex, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, status as a veteran, and basis of disability or any other federal, state or local protected class. If you'd like more information about your equal employment opportunity rights as an applicant under the law, please click here for EEOC Poster.