Fanatics is building a leading global digital sports platform. We ignite the passions of global sports fans and maximize the presence and reach for our hundreds of sports partners globally by offering products and services across Fanatics Commerce, Fanatics Collectibles, and Fanatics Betting & Gaming, allowing sports fans to Buy, Collect, and Bet. Through the Fanatics platform, sports fans can buy licensed fan gear, jerseys, lifestyle and streetwear products, headwear, and hardgoods; collect physical and digital trading cards, sports memorabilia, and other digital assets; and bet as the company builds its Sportsbook and iGaming platform. Fanatics has an established database of over 100 million global sports fans; a global partner network with approximately 900 sports properties, including major national and international professional sports leagues, players associations, teams, colleges, college conferences and retail partners, 2,500 athletes and celebrities, and 200 exclusive athletes; and over 2,000 retail locations, including its Lids retail stores. Our more than 22,000 employees are committed to relentlessly enhancing the fan experience and delighting sports fans globally.
About the Team
We're building a small, senior team to create exceptional real-time, web-first interactive experiences across our portfolio. Work that pushes what WebGL can do and sets the bar for high-craft fan engagement. We blend the creative sensibility of top interactive studios with the technical ambition of game development, and we're hiring the founding members who will shape everything that follows.
We're looking for someone who lives at the intersection of code and art, equally at home writing shaders as thinking about timing, feedback, and what makes an interaction feel alive. You'll own the visual and experiential quality of the work at a detailed level, bridging creative direction and technical execution.
You think in visuals first and build exactly the technology needed to achieve them. You bring assets to life at runtime, push the expressive limits of WebGL, and have a strong instinct for what makes something feel exceptional rather than just correct. You carry the sensibility of the best creative web studios, where interaction design, motion, and micro-detail define quality.
What you'll do
- Own the experience layer: shaders, particle systems, VFX, animation choreography, camera work, transitions, and the micro-interactions that define quality
- Build and maintain custom GLSL shaders that realize the visual intent defined by the Creative Director
- Create real-time VFX and particle systems within the WebGL renderer, not baked in authoring tools
- Own the full asset pipeline from asset specifications into the renderer: optimization, export settings, runtime validation
- Define and communicate asset budgets (poly counts, texture limits, bone constraints) upstream to the art team
- Ensure rigs, animations, and materials behave correctly at runtime, resolving translation issues between asset tool-chain and the engine
- Design and implement animation state machines, blend logic, and procedural animation where the experience demands responsive, living behavior
- Integrate audio cues and feedback layers (sound, haptics) that make interactions feel complete: timing, responsiveness, and "juice" across all experience types
Basic Qualifications
- Confident shader author with a portfolio demonstrating real visual craft at runtime
- Deep knowledge of the 3D asset pipeline: glTF/DRACO, LODs, atlasing, draw-call management
- Strong understanding of real-time performance constraints and how to work creatively within them
- Experience building VFX and particle systems in WebGL environments (Three.js, Babylon.js, or equivalent)
- Hands-on experience with animation state machines, blend trees, or procedural animation at runtime
- A creative web or interaction design sensibility. You understand micro-interactions, motion design, and what separates polished interactive work from merely functional work
- Experience integrating audio or sound design into interactive experiences, even if you're not an audio specialist
- A strong portfolio of shipped work at a creative technology studio, agency, or in game/interactive context
Preferred Qualifications
- Game development background, particularly technical art or real-time VFX (highly preferred)
- Familiarity with creative coding tools and communities (ShaderToy, etc.)
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