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Lead Artist

Role Overview – Lead Artist

As a Lead Artist you will be at the forefront of one of our new titles. You will drive both the artistic vision and the internal art team to produce high-quality assets through effective communication, accurate and detailed planning, and active mentorship.

You will set the bar for individual contributors by creating highly compelling artwork that meets the visual and technical requirements of the game whilst serving as the benchmark for artistic excellence and work ethic. The ideal candidate should possess a mobile first attitude with strong art direction and communication skills. They should also have experience in creating art for casual, cartoon, stylized and mid-core mobile games.

Responsibilities

• Work closely with the Art Director, Game Director/Product Owner, designers and engineers to establish the production pipeline and best practices for the game
• Create and maintain the brand/art style guides and technical documentation
• Mentor artists along their career paths, setting challenges to encourage growth
• Take ownership of the art milestone planning, day-to-day feedback communications, and final quality of deliverables from various external partners (outsourcing)
• Inspire and motivate the art team to achieve their best, driving artistic quality by example and successful teamwork, giving feedback and direction where needed
• Understand and work within project requirements and constraints
• Keep up to date with game artwork trends and influences
• Produce creative solutions to brand development through the creation of conceptual art for characters, environments and gameplay artwork

Knowledge Skills & Experience

Essential

• Minimum 5 years experience creating artwork for games with preferably at least 1 shipped title as an Art Lead
• Excellent communication skills as a leader, collaborator, and mentor
• Technical expertise and familiarity with Unity game engine or similar & their performance/technical requirements
• Excellent 3D modeling, texturing and asset creation
• Extensive knowledge of 3DsMax and Photoshop
• Pro-active & collaborative work attitude toward achieving results under pressure
• Excellent organizational and interpersonal skills
• Passion for games & mobile gaming

A portfolio demonstrating all aspects of your skill is REQUIRED

Essential

• Enjoy the feedback process as the best way to create fantastic visuals and collaboration when working with outsource and external contractors.
• Extensive knowledge of other 3D packages and pipelines include Z-Brush, Substance Painter and Quixel Suite.
• Mobile centric attitude towards art development including theme and demographic testing and developing a serviceable title for years to come.

Why work at HARDlight?

• You'll have access to a comprehensive benefits package that includes life assurance, income protection, private healthcare & dental insurance schemes and an enhanced contributory pension scheme
• We offer competitive salaries and a fantastic bonus scheme so that you can stay motivated and focused on making HARDlight the best it can be
• For gaming buffs, we offer free SEGA games on Steam and a home technology scheme, or if you’re more of a foodie, you can take advantage of fresh fruit, cereal & toast every day
• Fitness fanatics will love our discounted gym membership and ride to work scheme. You can find your zen with weekly yoga classes as well as in-house massage therapy
• We pride ourselves on having flexible working hours to ensure that you have a life outside of the office
• The opportunity to be a large part of a small team, developing innovative titles with a huge SEGA back catalogue
• Based in the ‘Heart of England' in stunning historic Royal Leamington Spa, with great connections to London & Birmingham
• We want people of all backgrounds to see themselves represented and included in our work, so we actively seek to diversify our team and bring more voices to the table. All applicants are welcome!