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Front End Graphics Engineer – 2D WebGL & GSAP Animation

Location

EMEA

JobType

full-time

About the job

Info This job is sourced from a job board

About the role

At Pencil, we are driving innovation in advertising technology through our state-of-the-art SaaS product, which harnesses Generative AI to redefine content creation. Our mission is to make AI the default in advertising without replacing creative people. To achieve this, we need to make sure that our technology isn’t just in the hands of big brands - we need to try to help small businesses and creative individuals too.


Awareness of GenAI technology has exploded over the last 12 months - but true understanding of the technology, its best practice usage and its limitations has lagged behind, even amongst sophisticated enterprise organisations. At Pencil we are right on the cutting edge of this revolution and want to ensure we take a leadership position in helping brands and agencies understand and adopt GenAI.


We're developing a next-generation Editor that enables users to compose rich media experiences on the web. The core of this system is a powerful, high-performance 2D WebGL renderer and an expressive GSAP-based animation engine.


We're looking for an experienced Frontend Graphics Engineer to own and extend our rendering pipeline, help design interactive animation systems, and ensure smooth, high-FPS performance on modern browsers.


Job Requirements:

2D WebGL Rendering

  • Strong hands-on experience with WebGL for 2D rendering (not just Three.js or 3D).
  • Understanding of rendering pipelines, shaders, buffers, blending modes, texture atlases, and batching.
  • Ability to manage frame lifecycle, layering, and GPU resource optimization


GSAP

  • Expertise in using gsap.timeline() for orchestrating animations with to, from, fromTo tweens.
  • Skilled in working with labels, nested timelines, and custom easings
  • Experience in handling playback control, animation state, and callbacks/events.


Performance Optimization

  • Experience profiling frame rendering and GPU usage.
  • Familiarity with techniques like object pooling, offscreen rendering, and layer caching.


Interactivity & Composition

  • Building interactive, event-driven animation systems.
  • Working with user inputs, hit-testing, and real-time animation updates.


Nice to Have Skills:

  • Experience with PixiJS, custom shaders, or filter stacks.
  • Exposure to motion design tools or creative applications.
  • Familiarity with browser animation bottlenecks and async rendering patterns.
  • Understanding of text rendering in WebGL (e.g., using SDF or bitmap fonts).


Job responsibilities:

  • Build and optimize 2D WebGL rendering systems for dynamic composition of text, shapes, images, and vector elements.
  • Design reusable graphics components, layers, and rendering effects with GPU acceleration in mind.
  • Implement smooth, timeline-based animations using GSAP, with control over nested timelines, custom easings, labels, and playback logic.
  • Develop systems to support interactivity, event triggers, and animation sequencing in complex scenes.
  • Profile and optimize rendering performance across different browsers and devices.
  • Collaborate with product designers and other engineers to deliver visually rich, responsive UIs.


Benefits:

  • 25 days PTO plus public holidays, although we operate a Flexible Time Off scheme
  • Health insurance / private medical cover
  • Monthly stipend towards wellness, fitness, and learning and development
  • Remote - work from anywhere in your home country
  • Access to our Pencil office in The Shard, London
  • We Work all access
  • Flexible working hours

About the company

At Pencil, we are driving innovation in advertising technology through our state-of-the-art SaaS product, which harnesses Generative AI to redefine content creation. Our mission is to make AI the default in advertising without replacing creative people. To achieve this, we need to make sure that our technology isn't just in the hands of big brands - we need to try to help small businesses and creative individuals too.

Skills

webgl
gsap
animation
rendering
optimization
interactivity
composition