Studio Art Director

Everyone is a Game Maker. Everybody in our development team is first and foremost, a Game Maker and you will be no different. We encourage our people to use their talents where they have the most impact. We ask and give feedback proactively to inform our decisions. So while you are a master of your own discipline, you are also a key stakeholder and your role and voice is critical when it comes to concepting and designing Games.
Role Overview
We are looking for a hands-on, experienced and multi-disciplinary Studio Art Director who will be a part of the Management Team at Sandsoft s Riyadh Studio. Here you will have the opportunity to work on ambitious games with grand ideas.
As the Studio Art Director you will be responsible for working with and supporting artists within game teams to create a coherent art vision for each of our game projects that supports both product and creative direction.
You will manage a team of Lead Artists, helping to ensure excellence in all aspects of in-game visuals, overseeing artists contributions for game projects across the studio. The team will look to you as an inspirational leader who provides motivation, mentoring and coaching as well as advocating team creativity and best practices throughout all art disciplines.
Responsibilities:
- Guide, support and where needed work directly with our Artists to help create unique and memorable art direction for our games.
- Define, establish and manage pipelines & processes to deliver world leading art content aligned with our development process.
- Clearly communicates the art direction through easily digestible art direction visuals, pitches, guides & documentation to align team understanding and direction.
- Manage recruitment and review potential new artist candidates.
- Mentor and coach the art team to give their best performance and to develop in their careers.
- Conduct research on latest visual trends, technologies and tools to find ways to improve quality with an excellent eye for detail on what world leading games look like.
- Vet, establish and manage relationships with external outsource Art partners when needed.
Experience and Qualifications:
- A minimum of 8+ years of experience as an art director or lead artist on several successfully released Mobile and/or AAA Console/PC Games.
- A proven track record of directing high-quality, complex game art and animation, including gameplay assets, characters and environments from concept to in- game across mobile and/or AAA games in an Art Leadership capacity.
- Excellent artistic and technical skill sets across all key areas of Game Art (2D/3D Art, Concept art, Illustration, High-resolution sculpting/modeling, Rigging, Animation, Graphic Design, Characters, Environment, VFX, Tooling, UI design etc).
- Technical expertise with the main graphics engines on the market.
- Passionate about video games, with a strong interest for both stylistic and photorealistic art styles.
- Possesses a positive track record in terms of developing, mentoring, and managing multidisciplinary graphics teams.
- Vast knowledge of different art styles, techniques and production methods used in the entertainment industry.
- A motivated, independent, self-starting attitude with strong interpersonal and communication skills
- Strong ethics and reliability that acts as a role model for their team and fuels teamwork and collaboration across the organization
- A Growth Mindset that shows a learning attitude and a problem-solving and decision-making aptitude