Shaders & Materials Tech Artist Intern

Crystal Dynamics invites dedicated individuals to apply for an internship at our Crystal San Carlos studio. As part of this 12-week program, you will take part in meaningful, hands-on work that contributes directly to active AAA projects. Throughout the program, you will step into a professional development environment where ongoing projects, experienced mentors, and collaborative teams give you a direct view into AAA game creation. This internship is designed to help you build industry ready skills, form strong professional relationships, and deepen your understanding of how world class games are made!

Eligibility Criteria: 

• Enrolled as a college Junior or Senior (Seniors could have graduated in Fall/Winter 2025 or will be graduating in Spring 2026).
• Pursuing a degree in Animation, Art, Game Art, Technical Art, Game Design, Game Development, Engineering, or related fields.
• Availability to work full-time (40 hrs / week) for the duration of the program (June 1st –August 21st, 2026).
• Able to work onsite at our studio in San Carlos, CA for the first 1- 2 weeks for onboarding.
  • The work arrangement for the remainder of the program (onsite, hybrid, or remote) will be confirmed prior to the start date and will vary based on assigned team and project needs.
• Legal eligibility to work in the United States.
• Submission of a complete application that includes a resume, cover letter, and a link to your portfolio or GitHub.

What You Will Gain:

• Practical Project Involvement: Contribute to active game development efforts while learning production scope, workflows, and the advanced tools used across modern AAA pipelines.
• Professional Mentorship: Receive guidance from experienced professionals with deep industry knowledge. 
• Skill Development: Expand your skill set, establishing a solid foundation for your professional journey.
• Team Collaboration: Work alongside our dedicated onsite and remote teams including fellow interns, building valuable professional relationships within the gaming industry.

What You Will Do:

• Acquire essential skills using industry-standard tools, software and scripting languages such as Unreal Engine, Maya, Python, Substance Painter & Designer and GPU debuggers.
• Participate in the authoring shaders and materials as a small, mentored project, following technical art development process -- moving from proposal and prototype through technical design documentation, implementation, iteration, and polish. 
• Use performance profiling tools such as Unreal Insights to identify GPU, CPU, and memory concerns and then distribute optimization recommendations to the team to support performance goals.
• Support more senior technical artists with authoring material features and resources, managing existing assets and content debt, fixing validation errors, and keeping documentation up to date.
• Enhance your understanding of advanced game development technology, focusing on Unreal Engine.

What Makes You Stand Out:

• Portfolio demonstrating foundational technical art skills, including one or more of the following:
  • In-engine shaders or materials, including screenshots of graph networks, shader code, performance notes, and videos and images of end results.
  • Tiling and one-to-one material assets, including screenshots of node networks, texture breakdowns, and workflow explanation.
  • Blog posts, articles, or other documentation that showcase an understanding of PBR, rendering pipelines, or optimization.
• Industry involvement outside classroom curriculum such as game jams, personal projects and/or contributions to group projects that show going above and beyond.
• Exposure to industry-standard development software tools and engines.
• Willingness to tackle challenges, learn from feedback, and adapt to new tools or workflows.
• Ability to communicate your ideas with eagerness to learn and put feedback into action.

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Compensation & Benefits:
Compensation for this internship is $20-25 per hour, plus a stipend to help with expenses during the duration of the program. Compensation is location-based and will be aligned to the intern’s confirmed work location during the program. Interns are also eligible for a medical, dental, and vision benefits package. Your recruiter can provide more information about total compensation. 

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Check out our Crystal Dynamics Internship FAQpage for additional questions.
Thank you for your interest in an internship at Crystal Dynamics. We can't wait to see what you bring to our world of game development!