3D Generalist / Visualization Designer (Defense)

Location: Austin, TX, United States; on-site

Company

Saronic Technologies develops autonomous and intelligent maritime platforms and solutions that enhance operations at sea.

What you will do

• Model hard-surface vessels, systems, props, and environments from engineering CAD, concept art, and reference, optimizing geometry for offline and real-time use.
• Create UVs, textures, PBR materials, lighting, rendering, look development, and animations for stills, films, demos, events, and real-time experiences.
• Build interactive scenes in Unreal Engine or similar tools, animate vessels, mechanisms, cameras, water, weather, and effects, and prototype ideas rapidly.
• Develop reusable asset libraries, scene templates, documentation, and workflows that move projects from CAD to final output.
• Collaborate with Growth, Industrial Design, Engineering, Brand, Motion, and Video; iterate quickly and deliver on short timelines.
• Manage files, versions, deadlines, communication, and sensitive export-controlled information responsibly.

Requirements

• 1–3 years of professional 3D experience in-house, studio, freelance, or equivalent, or an exceptional school or personal portfolio demonstrating the same level of skill.
• Strong portfolio showing end-to-end 3D work in modeling, texturing, lighting, rendering, and animation, with attention to craft and realism.
• Proficiency in Cinema 4D or Blender and a physically based renderer such as Redshift, Octane, Cycles, or similar.
• Experience with texturing and material tools such as Substance 3D Painter or Designer, plus familiarity with procedural texturing.
• Working knowledge of a real-time engine such as Unreal Engine or Unity.
• Solid fundamentals in form, composition, lighting, color, and camera.
• Demonstrated ability to learn new software and techniques independently, communicate clearly, take feedback, and iterate quickly.
• Comfort working in fast-moving, ambiguous environments with shifting priorities.
• Ability to work on-site in Austin and travel occasionally for events and demos.
• For roles based in the United States, access to export-controlled information requires U.S. Person status, including U.S. citizenship, lawful permanent residence, or certain protected asylee or refugee classifications.

Nice to have

• AI-assisted and emerging 3D workflows, generative image and 3D tools, ComfyUI-style pipelines, photogrammetry, or Gaussian splatting.
• Houdini or other procedural and simulation workflows for water, weather, or effects.
• Unreal Engine experience in cinematic, interactive, or virtual production work.
• Compositing and finishing in After Effects or Nuke.
• Experience working from CAD and engineering data such as SolidWorks or Rhino, including cleanup and optimization.
• Familiarity with Alembic, VDB, USD, OCIO/ACES, Plasticity, or similar CAD and rendering workflows.
• Basic scripting or technical art skills with Python, Blueprints, or Geometry Nodes.
• Interest in or familiarity with defense, aerospace, robotics, or maritime technology.

Culture & Benefits

• Full-time, on-site work with collaboration across Brand, Industrial Design, 3D/Visualization, Product, and Video.
• Opportunity to learn from experienced designers, experiment with new tools, and help shape repeatable team workflows.
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance; Saronic pays 100% of employee premiums and 80% of dependent premiums under the stated plans.
• Generous paid time off and holidays, paid parental leave, life and disability insurance, and a 401(k) with company match.
• Stock options, performance-based bonus opportunities, discounted pet insurance, free lunch, and unlimited office drinks and snacks.