Nex is on a mission to help families rediscover the joy of movement. Created by parents for parents, Nex combines technology and play to deliver fun, social, and interactive experiences powered by natural body motion, encouraging kids and adults to move more, play more, and have fun together. Nex Playground, the company’s award-winning active play system, is purpose-built to get families moving year-round, with safety and privacy as core considerations in its intentional design. It is certified kidSAFE+ COPPA compliant and built to support healthy, active play for all ages and abilities.
Nex Playground features a growing library of 50+ experiences, including motion and dance games, fitness and educational experiences, and Nex Originals. Content includes collaborations with partners like Hasbro, Sesame Workshop, and NBCUniversal. Nex has been recognized by Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, TIME’s Best Inventions, and Parents’ Best Entertainment System for Families, and has earned Red Dot, IDEA, and Core77 international design awards. We encourage you to explore Have Fun and Is Motion Gaming Back?, as they offer a deeper look into our culture, values, and explain how our approach to motion gaming differs from previous generations.
To protect yourself from recruitment scams, please note that Nex communicates through official company emails ending in @nex.inc. If you receive a suspicious email or message, please do not respond and report it immediately to us.
Location: Hong Kong
Type: Full Time
Reports to: Sr. Director, Design
We are looking for a skilled VFX Artist to join our team and help create immersive, dynamic, and deeply satisfying gameplay experiences. In this role, you'll bridge the gap between art and engineering, bringing stunning visual effects, polish, and tactile gameplay feedback to life in Unity.
You'll work closely with the art director, designers, artists, and engineers to develop and implement real-time effects, visual feedback systems, and environmental interactions that heighten player immersion and reinforce the impact of gameplay actions. The ideal candidate combines strong technical knowledge of Unity's rendering and shader systems with a keen artistic eye for timing, motion, and visual feedback to make every moment feel alive and rewarding.
What You'll Do- Implement real-time visual effects (e.g., impact feedback, slashes, dashes, explosions or magic) using Unity's VFX Graph, Particle System, and Shader Graph (or custom shaders).
- Collaborate with designers to amplify game feel, ensuring player actions are satisfying, readable and responsive.
- Optimize visual effects for performance while maintaining high artistic quality.
- Develop tools, scripts, and shaders to streamline asset integration and improve artist workflows.
- Work with environment artists and designers to enhance environmental storytelling through lighting, VFX, and dynamic world elements.
- Collaborate with character artists and designers to enrich character visuals using shaders, special effects, and dynamic components.
- Troubleshoot rendering, lighting, and material issues and propose creative technical solutions.
- Proven experience as a Technical Artist or VFX Artist in Unity-based game production.
- Solid understanding of real-time rendering, materials and shader creation.
- Strong grasp of timing, motion, and visual rhythm to enhance moment-to-moment player feedback.
- Experience with performance optimization techniques (profiling, LOD, draw call reduction, shader optimization, etc.)
- Proficiency with C# scripting to implement and control visual systems.
- A collaborative mindset, comfortable bridging the gap between the art and development teams.
- Exceptional analytical and problem-solving abilities with a proactive approach to finding solutions.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to clearly articulate complex technical concepts to both technical and artistic audiences.
- Passion for creating high quality and deeply satisfying experiences that touches players.
- Curiosity and drive for continuous learning and growth.
- Extensive knowledge of game performance optimization and provide guidance on art assets best practices. +++
- Be able to plan and maintain rendering budget with artists for individual project's requirement. ++
- Ability to design and concept VFX art. ++++
- Expertise with Unity’s render pipelines and the ability to customize them for specific hardware and project needs. ++
- Knowledge and experience in UI animations and UI VFX. ++
- Knowledge and experience in 3D animations pipeline, e.g. rigging, animating. ++
- Competitive compensation package.
- Flexible working hours and vacation policy.
- Product-driven culture that treasures talents and individual growth.
- Front-row seat and hands-on experience with cutting edge technologies in the evolving gaming field
Nex is located in San Jose, California, USA and Hong Kong. Learn more about us at https://www.nexplayground.com/about.
We encourage applications even if you don’t meet more than 50% of the requirements — we believe that experience comes in many forms!
Nex is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, ancestry, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. This policy applies to all individuals at every stage of the employment relationship, including all current and prospective employees, and covers all employment decisions including recruitment, hiring, job assignment, promotion, compensation, benefits, training, discipline and termination.
We are committed to providing a workplace free from discrimination and harassment and to fostering an inclusive environment for all employees.
Skills Required
- Proven experience as a Technical Artist or VFX Artist in Unity-based game production
- Solid understanding of real-time rendering, materials, and shader creation
- Strong understanding of timing, motion, and visual rhythm for player feedback
- Experience with performance optimization, including profiling, LOD, draw-call reduction, and shader optimization
- Proficiency with C# scripting for implementing and controlling visual systems
- Ability to collaborate across art and development teams
- Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills
- Passion for creating high-quality player experiences
- Curiosity and commitment to continuous learning and growth
- Extensive knowledge of game performance optimization and art asset best practices
- Ability to plan and maintain rendering budgets
- Ability to design and conceptualize VFX art
- Expertise with Unity render pipelines and customization for hardware and project needs
- Knowledge of UI animations and UI VFX
- Knowledge of 3D animation pipelines, including rigging and animation
What We Do
Nex is helping families reconnect with the joy of movement through fun, social, and interactive content that’s accessible to all ages. Its award-winning Nex Playground console, launched in December 2023, uses cutting-edge AI, mobile and vision technologies to merge digital and physical worlds, immersing players in the experience using their natural body movement. Nex Playground games range from original sports and fitness titles, to educational games and titles in collaboration with Hasbro and Sesame Workshop. Since its founding, Nex has been recognised as one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, TIME’s Best Inventions, Parents’ Best Entertainment System for Families, and has been awarded the prestigious Apple Design Award. Nex Playground is also kidSAFE+ COPPA certified, highlighting the company’s firm stance on privacy and safety for kids and families. To learn more, visit https://www.nex.inc or follow the company on Instagram and Facebook. See current job openings at https://www.nex.inc/careers
