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Art Director
2 years ago
Crystal Dynamics, a part of the Square Enix family and the studio behind Marvel’s Avengers and the award-winning Tomb Raider game franchise, is constantly on the hunt for top-tier gaming talent worldwide. We pride ourselves on attracting and developing the best talent available to concept, create, and contribute to the most exciting projects in gaming. Our 30 years of game development experience, as well as our combined AAA games industry pedigree, has established us as one of best studios to work for today. Join us and help shape the future of the award-winning Tomb Raider franchise, Marvel’s Avengers, and the next Perfect Dark!
Benefits for this full-time position include a competitive salary, 100% employer-paid medical, dental, and vision insurance options and plenty of days of paid time-off.
Position Summary
Crystal Dynamics has a rare opening for an Art Director, working on some of the most prestigious AAA franchises in the industry. We are looking for an exceptional talent to bring onto the team and continue the long tradition of visually stunning and award-winning titles from Crystal Dynamics.
As an Art Director you are integral to the team and will be responsible for inspiring, leading, and driving the visualization process in multiple facets. From collaborative conceptualization through to the final product, you will be setting the vision and quality bar at a level that is amongst the top tier within the industry. You will work closely with the Creative Director, Studio Leadership, Team Leads & Producers to ensure the quality and integrity of the product meets or exceeds product vision, pushing the boundaries of competitive visual quality.
This is a hands-on role, and you must be able to demonstrate solid conceptual, visualization and prototyping skills and techniques, as well as an exceptional understanding of visual storytelling and methodology. We highly encourage and expect that our Art Leadership remains hands-on enough in the art production pipeline to troubleshoot and devise solutions with both the internal art team as well as external vendors.
Essential Duties & Responsibilities
- Lead and motivate the art team to realize overall goals and deliver a successful project on time
- Create and update the project’s Art Style Guide, ensuring that the art team’s style remains consistent while maintaining the visual style and game/art pillars
- Mentor and serve as a technical and creative resource for the team through regular constructive feedback, assisting in the resolution of complex problems and empowering others to grow in their roles
- Establish the art production pipeline and protect the process throughout the project cycle
- Track and approve completed art assets
- Collaborate with Executive Producers and Leads in the creation and overall management of the art schedule and resource plans, including adjustments of project goals and design revisions as necessary to adapt to changing situations
- Collaborate, inspire and manage external development teams and partners
- Collaborate with Lead Programmer to brainstorm technical ideas and solutions
- Participate in managing project-related conflicts and disputes, and counsel marginal performers, according to HR policies
- Support Leads and Producers to keep studio executive staff, the publisher and/or marketing staff up to speed on product status and vision through the preparation and presentation of appropriate project materials (e.g., milestone updates, demos, etc)
- Assist with staff plans, staff assessments and performance appraisals
- Concept Art direction/creation experience, including assisting with the sourcing of concept art contractors
Competencies, Skills & Knowledge
- Strong understanding of AAA game production, design process and methodology
- Strong time management skills with a proven ability to focus on priorities juggle multiple tasks and meet deadlines with an ability to maintain pacing in situations of intense schedules
- Ability to work cooperatively on a cross-disciplinary team spanning artists, programmers and designers, able to guide compromise when necessary to achieve overall best results
- Ability to communicate effectively with executive level staff on a broad range of topics: technical, business, and creative
- Demonstrates an understanding of storytelling, artisanship and continuity
- Ability to balance impacts of deadlines and resources with style and art quality requirements on AAA products
- Effective written and verbal communication with peers, art staff and senior management
- Demonstrated ability to solve complex problems efficiently
Essential Requirements
- Shipped a minimum of 1+ video game as an Art Director demonstrating a high bar for visual quality
- At least 7 years’ game industry experience
- Proven AAA console experience in a development side Art leadership position
- Previous experience working with an established AAA franchise
- Experience managing external art teams
Preferred Requirements
- Experience working in Unreal Engine
We are committed to identifying and implementing positive and persistent measures to ensure equal opportunity in the recruitment, hiring, development, training, promotion and compensation of a diverse team employee group. This includes persons of different race, color, creed, religion, sex, gender identity or gender expression, pregnancy, breastfeeding or medical conditions related to breastfeeding, genetic characteristic, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, medical condition, political affiliation, age, veteran status, uniform service member status, marital status, physical or mental disability, or citizenship, as well as any other classifications protected by applicable federal, state or local laws.
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