Lead 3D Artist

Lead 3D Artist | Helsinki or Berlin

Neon Koi were formed in 2020 by industry veterans from studios such as; Rockstar, Insomniac, Supercell, Wargaming and Rovio. In 2022 we joined Playstation, making Neon Koi the founding studio of the PlayStation Studios Mobile Division.

Our Mission is to make action games with epic stories to foster lasting connections with players around the world. We’re fearlessly exploring bold new ideas with the aim to make high-quality, visually stunning games for mobile devices.

Why do our people love it here?

Games - We live and breathe games, playing together regularly and having games at the heart of everything we do. We prioritise our players and deeply understand them, which drives everything we do

People - Are Powerful Together, we believe that excellence is reached through team collaboration and a culture of feedback. We’re made up of passionate, collaborative and humble people. We’re committed to hiring a diverse team and we believe in treating people fairly. A great workplace is one where you feel like you belong. We are building a team of people who understand, empathise, collaborate, listen and connect. We want to create equal opportunity for all and give everyone a fair chance.

Pioneers - We’re pioneers. We aim to create AAA experiences that will push innovation and gaming on mobile. Think of everything you love about console games and imagine having that in the palm of your hand. You’ll be able to directly impact Neon Koi by joining us, early on in our mission.

Inspired - Neon Koi is a perfect home for those looking to make great games. We're hiring professionals who believe their best work is yet to be done. If you want; to make an impact, have more autonomy, bring AAA to mobile and want to work with a team of welcoming, open and honest teammates, Neon Koi is the place for you.

We’re committed to creating a diverse team. If you feel that you might be interested in the role, even if you don’t hit 100% of the criteria, please don’t let that put you off. Get in touch with us. We believe in passion and potential.

The Role:

We are looking for a Lead 3D Artist to join our passionate team in Helsinki or Berlin. You should be proactive and have a strong motivation to lead your team of artists to create captivating and visually stunning games that engage players worldwide.

As the Lead 3D Artist, you will play a pivotal role in shaping the visual direction of our games and driving the artistic excellence of our projects.

You should have a strong understanding of creating environment 3D assets from versatile modular environment sets to unique hero assets. You’ll be working closely within a team of experienced game developers and have a significant impact on the final technical performance and quality of all 3D environment assets.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage a team of talented 3D artists, providing guidance, feedback, and mentorship to foster their professional growth and optimise their creative output
• Collaborate closely with Art Directors, Game Designers, and Technical Artists to define and execute the visual style and quality standards for our mobile games
• Create and oversee the production of high-quality 3D assets, including characters, environments, props, and special effects, ensuring they meet the artistic vision and technical requirements of the projects
• Create high-quality environment 3D assets according to our game’s requirements and vision while working closely with the Concept Artist to ensure the quality of the deliverables
• Communicate and collaborate with other teams to align and to plan and schedule 3D-asset productions
• Implement assets into Unreal Engine 5 and communicate with artists, designers and programmers
• Maintain a flexible iterative approach and research and share knowledge of 3D asset techniques and game development work practices
• Offer feedback, support team morale and facilitate free and open creative communication
• Manage outsourced teams of 3D artists by briefing and guiding them and reviewing their work
• Experiment and research alongside Technical department and Art direction enabling better world-building and visual choices

Required Skills

• 5+ years of experience in 3D environment art for game development
• Previous managerial or team leadership experience
• Strong expertise creating environment 3D asset props and versatile modular environment asset sets
• Strong artistic understanding of shape, composition and colour, excited to work within a stylised art style
• Portfolio examples of beautiful environment assets you have made that show your understanding of form, composition and colour
• Strong proficiency in 3D and 2D content creation tools of your choice
• Strong technical understanding of game engines and awareness of the performance and optimization and good problem solving ability in 3D asset related technical issues
• Experience in analysing and maintaining performance and visual fidelity of the environments

Desirable Skills

• Unreal Engine 5 experience
• Experience in mobile game development
• Traditional art skills and passion for art in general
• Deeper interest in architecture and nature as a visual inspiration

Why join us?

Although we’re a new company, we’re committed to making this a great place to work, so this is only the beginning of our benefits:

• Annual bonus
• Paid lunches
• Budget towards commuting costs
• Gym or sporting subscription to spend as you wish
• Home internet or mobile data plan provided
• Educational budget: for language learning, self-training, attending conferences, buying games and books etc
• Financial and practical assistance with relocation through our relocation partner and a relocation budget
• Twice yearly off-sites, this year we held one in Berlin and one in Helsinki
• PBG - Pizza, beer and games on the last Friday of every month
• 30 days holiday plus additional days from Christmas and New Year
• Discounts on PlayStation products and games

We're an equal-opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.