Senior CG Artist

About HF
We are HF (Happy Finish), a creative technology studio built on Content Design Thinking: visuals at the speed of culture, narratives that truly resonate and participatory experiences that inspire.

Our work spans Hero Visuals, Content Solutions, Immersive XR and Applied R&D. We pair craft with R&D that pushes boundaries and workflows engineered to perform, for global brands.

We're a team of versatile experts across strategy, concept, and craft and execution, with studios in London, Portland, Milan and Verona. HF is proud to be part of Different Factory.

The role

We're hiring a Senior CGI Artist to create photoreal stills and animation for world-class brands, from first brief to final frame. It's a full-time, permanent role in our London studio.

You'll be a hands-on senior artist with deep craft in product visualisation, lighting and look development. You'll own briefs with minimal oversight, set the quality bar for the team, mentor junior artists and help shape how our CG and AI pipeline evolves.

- Location: London, Shoreditch (hybrid, minimum 4 days a week in the studio)

- Reports to: Head of Operations

- Contract: Full-time, permanent

- Salary: From £55,000 + per year, depending on experience

What you'll do

Innovation and hybrid pipeline

- Own HF's innovative, hybrid CG and AI pipeline, taking new techniques from R&D to production-ready workflows the whole team can use.

- Explore and apply emerging techniques such as Gaussian splatting, 2D-to-3D asset generation and generative AI for image, video and texture work.

- Write scripts and small tools to automate repetitive tasks and connect CG and AI steps.

- Test new tools quickly, judge what's ready for client work, and share what you learn across the studio.

Craft and delivery

- Create high-end photoreal product stills and animation, including hero shots, exploded views, material variants and campaign sequences.

- Own creative briefs from layout and previz through lighting, look development and rendering to final delivery.

- Work across offline renderers (Redshift, Octane and Corona) choosing the right tool for each brief.

- Build lighting setups and material libraries that raise visual quality while staying efficient and scalable.

- Make sure every deliverable is product-accurate, technically correct and free of render errors before it goes to retouch, comp or dev teams.

Creative leadership

- Turn abstract briefs into clear technical approaches the team can execute against.

- Contribute to pitches and creative proposals with previz, look tests and R&D.

- Present work in client reviews, take feedback and translate it into clear direction for production.

- Explain and defend creative choices through mood boards, frames and tests.

Team and pipeline

- Mentor junior and mid-level artists through clear feedback on craft, workflow and problem-solving.

- Bring freelancers up to speed quickly and support them on projects.

- Spot bottlenecks early and propose pipeline improvements.

- Help scope CG tasks with producers so budgets, schedules and resourcing are realistic.

- Document new workflows and train the team to use them, so the studio stays hybrid and agile.

What you'll bring

- 7+ years' commercial experience in high-end CGI, with a portfolio of photoreal product work (footwear, apparel, tech or consumer goods is a strong plus).

- Proven experience owning hybrid CG and AI workflows, including Gaussian splatting, 2D-to-3D and generative AI, and a drive to keep finding new ways of working.

- Scripting skills (Python or similar) to automate tasks and build pipeline tools.

- Expert lighting, look development and photoreal shader creation using PBR workflows.

- Strong all-round 3D skills: hard-surface and organic modelling, texturing, animation and rendering.

- Solid previz skills and the ability to block out shots and camera moves quickly.

- A sharp eye for composition, proportion and colour, plus a working knowledge of colour pipelines.

- Experience handling complex assets and material variants accurately against reference and client briefs.

- Confidence owning a brief end to end and making sound technical calls under tight deadlines.

- Clear communication with creatives, producers and clients, and a low-ego, generous approach to sharing knowledge.

- A proactive, solution-focused mindset and genuine curiosity about new techniques.

Software

Please list the packages you use day to day when you apply.

- Essential: deep, hands-on expertise in at least one major DCC (Cinema 4D, Blender or Houdini) plus an offline renderer (Redshift, Octane).

- Essential: Substance Painter and/or Substance Designer.

- Essential: Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, After Effects).

- Essential: generative AI and 3D capture tools, for example ComfyUI, Gaussian splatting tools such as Postshot, and 2D-to-3D generators.

- Highly valued: Nuke, Houdini FX or fluid tools such as Phoenix FD.

- Useful: ZBrush, Marvelous Designer.

Bonus points

- Hands-on production experience with AI tools such as ComfyUI, Stable Diffusion, Runway or Adobe Firefly.

- Experience on VFX, live-action or real-time and immersive projects.

- Particle, cloth or fluid simulation for product storytelling.

- Experience with PBR scanning or photogrammetry for materials and products.

- Tracking, compositing or photo-compositing for stills.

- An appreciation of fashion, architecture, typography and contemporary visual trends.

Our culture and what we offer

At HF we thrive on creative problem-solving, and we treat freedom and responsibility as two sides of the same coin. We encourage initiative and innovation at every level, and we care as much about how you handle a project that doesn't go to plan as about your showreel.

- 20 days' holiday plus bank holidays

- Private medical cover, including medical, dental and optical.

- Time set aside for R&D and creative projects

How to apply

Send your CV and a showreel or portfolio to [email protected]. Tell us which shots you worked on and what your role was on each.

Come prepared to talk about

- A product project you're proud of, and how it came together from brief to delivery.

- A hybrid CG and AI workflow you've built or improved, and what it changed for your team.

- How you've helped other artists grow.

- Recent campaigns, techniques or tools you think stand out.

HF is an equal opportunities employer. We welcome applications from everyone, and we're happy to make reasonable adjustments during the process.