Overview
Shape the visual language of our worlds by crafting procedural effects, simulations, and AI-enhanced technical art assets in Houdini. As a Houdini Technical Artist at Lunar Lizard, you will bridge creative ambition and engineering precision — translating complex design requirements into scalable, reusable systems that power our production pipeline. Working alongside ML engineers, animators, and pipeline developers, you will integrate emerging AI tools into Houdini workflows and help set a new standard for what procedural content generation can look like in modern game development.
Key Responsibilities
- Design and build procedural systems in Houdini for environments, destruction, FX, and character-adjacent assets
- Integrate AI/ML tools and generative techniques into Houdini-based workflows to accelerate content production
- Develop Houdini Digital Assets (HDAs) that non-technical artists can use safely and intuitively
- Collaborate with the Pipeline Technical Lead to ensure Houdini outputs integrate seamlessly with DCC tools and Unreal Engine
- Work closely with ML engineers to leverage generated animation data and apply procedural layering where needed
- Establish quality benchmarks for procedural assets and define acceptance criteria aligned with the creative vision
- Optimize simulations and procedural graphs for real-time or near-real-time production constraints
- Mentor artists on Houdini techniques, VEX scripting, and best practices for procedural thinking
- Evaluate and adopt emerging AI-assisted tools (e.g. generative texture/mesh tools, AI-guided simulation) as part of an evolving pipeline
Required Qualifications
- 4+ years of experience as a Technical Artist with Houdini as a primary tool in games, VFX, or animation
- Strong command of VEX and Python for procedural logic, automation, and pipeline scripting
- Hands-on experience building and publishing Houdini Digital Assets (HDAs) for cross-discipline use
- Solid understanding of FX simulation (fluids, destruction, cloth, crowds) and procedural generation techniques
- Familiarity with integrating Houdini outputs into Unreal Engine (Houdini Engine plugin, geometry caches, Niagara)
- Experience working within DCC pipelines involving Maya, MotionBuilder, or similar tools
- Awareness of AI/ML generative tools and a curiosity to incorporate them into technical art workflows
- Fluent English for cross-functional collaboration with international team members
Essential Soft Skills
- Team player: Works fluidly across animation, ML, and pipeline teams — translating needs in both directions
- Proactive mindset: Anticipates production bottlenecks and builds procedural solutions before they become blockers
- Motivation to grow: Genuinely excited about AI-assisted content creation and eager to push Houdini into new creative territory
- User-centric thinking: Designs HDAs and tools with the end artist in mind — robust, intuitive, well-documented
- Strong communicator: Can explain procedural systems clearly to both technical engineers and non-technical artists
- Iterative problem solver: Comfortable with experimentation, rapid prototyping, and refining systems based on feedback
- Office presence: Available on-site in Sofia for collaborative sessions, reviews, and hands-on technical problem solving