Art Director
Job Summary
Job Description
Jam City's Puzzle Studio seeks an Art Director to lead the visual direction of Cookie Jam. This role involves managing an in-house art team and external vendors, defining the game's visual style, and overseeing asset creation (2D and 3D). Responsibilities include providing artistic direction, establishing quality benchmarks, managing outsourcing, collaborating with leadership on artistic challenges, and working with marketing on brand representation. The Art Director will also mentor the art team, handle sprint planning, and contribute to recruiting efforts. The ideal candidate possesses extensive experience in mobile or console game development, strong leadership and communication skills, and expertise in various art fields including 3D modeling, animation, and UI design.
Must have:
- 9+ years mobile/console game dev experience
- Unity experience
- Strong artistic talent & design principles
- Manage art outsourcing projects
- Expert in Photoshop, stylized art creation
Perks:
- Unlimited Vacation
- Paid Sick Days
- Recharge Days & Holidays
- 100% Employee Covered Medical, Dental, Vision
- Life Insurance
- 401k
- Flexible Spending Accounts
- Happy Hours
- Company Events
13 skills required
Job Details
As a leading mobile games developer, Jam City is looking to “level up” our talent. We’re searching for innovators who consider themselves dynamic, collaborative, and thrive in a fast-paced environment.
PERKS & BENEFITS
Unlimited Vacation, Paid Sick Days, Recharge Days & Holidays
100% Employee Covered Medical, Dental, Vision Plan Base Plan
Life Insurance, 401k, Flexible Spending Accounts & More
Happy Hours
Company Events
Jam City Puzzle Studio is looking for an Art Director to join its team focused on delivering high-quality mobile games. This is a unique and exciting opportunity for an experienced, highly creative, collaborative, and motivated individual to help build the next chapter for Cookie Jam, one of Jam City’s top titles. The Art Director will define the visual style for our games and oversee its execution by managing the in-house art team, as well as multiple vendors and outsourcers. They will provide artistic direction, guidance, and feedback on 2D and 3D assets and animation. The Art Director will also establish quality benchmarks, define brand parameters, and find solutions for critical art workflows.
RESPONSIBILITIES
- Partner with the leadership team to identify and solve artistic challenges including defining a stylistic vision, establishing and maintaining aesthetic standards, and influencing the technical direction to best support the artistic, design, and product goals.
- Manage and mentor a team of artists, providing feedback and direction to ensure a consistent quality bar and on-time deliverables, as well as individual artist’s growth.
- Establish and maintain an effective outsourcing pipeline to ensure cost effective operations on a regular content cadence.
- Create or direct concepts for all character and environment assets for the game.
- Direct and review in-game HUD (UI), icons, marketing art, and all other in-game graphics.
- Create or direct the 2D/3D rigging and animation pipelines in cooperation with the Tech Art and VFX teams.
- Work with the Game Director and Producers to scope art for new features.
- Create written and visual feedback (redlines, paint-overs) to guide the art team on quality and maintain consistency with the style guide.
- Manage art team deliverables, ensuring they meet the defined objectives.
- Advises leads on individual artist assignments for tasks including scheduling and reviewing art assets.
- Evaluate market trends, emerging technology, and new software tools to ensure that the team is delivering top quality production value and meeting player expectations for in game visuals.
- Work with the marketing team to ensure accurate brand representation.
- Sprint Planning for the art department.
- Play a critical role in the recruiting efforts of the art department.
QUALIFICATIONS
- 9+ years developing mobile or console games with at least one completed title in a lead role.
- Direct Unity experience on one or more projects.
- Ability to clearly communicate the artistic vision to the team and project stakeholders.
- Tremendous artistic talent and a firm understanding of traditional art and design principles.
- Experience with vetting, budgeting and managing art outsourcing projects.
- Expert knowledge of Adobe Photoshop for concept and 2d art production art.
- Expert artistic abilities in stylized art creation for environments, characters, UI, and marketing art.
- A demonstrated understanding of other art fields including 3d modeling and texturing, UI, animation, game engines, and pipelines.
- Strong organizational and asset tracking skills.
- Ability to communicate ideas verbally and visually, providing feedback and discussing creative direction with a constructive and diplomatic approach.
- Takes initiative to solve problems with excellent follow-through.
- A passion for game development of course.
- Must be willing to work PST hours.
In compliance with local law, we are disclosing the compensation for this role. The range listed is just one component of Jam City's total compensation package for employees, which may also include annual bonuses, short- and long-term incentives, and program-specific awards. The disclosed range estimate has not been adjusted for the applicable geographic differential associated with the location at which the position may be filled. Starting pay for the successful applicant will depend on a variety of job-related factors, which may include education, training, experience, certifications, location, business needs, or market demands. This range is based on a full-time position. This range may be modified in the future. In addition, Jam City provides a variety of benefits to employees, including but not limited to medical, dental, vision, parental leave, paid time off, a 401(k) plan, life, disability, and accident insurance. Pay Range: $150,000 — $170,000 salary per year.
OUR COMMITMENT TO EQUITY, DIVERSITY, & INCLUSION
We believe in creating games that unite people across the world and that showcase our commitment to providing an environment that is both inclusive and diverse for our players and employees. We strive to create a workforce that is reflective of our global player community as we know that we are stronger and better when we play together. To help promote an inclusive culture, we celebrate the visible and invisible diversity of our Jam Citizens through initiatives including Employee Resource Groups, cultural events, trainings, speaker series, and more.
Jam City is an equal opportunity employer. We enthusiastically accept our responsibility to make employment decisions without regard to race, age, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, ancestry, religion, ethnicity, marital, or domestic partnerships status, disability, genetic information (including the refusal to submit to genetic testing), predisposing genetic characteristics, military status, veteran status, domestic violence victim status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expressions, or any other classification protected by federal, state, and local laws. Our management is committed to following this policy with respect to hiring, placement, promotion, transfer, demotion, layoff, termination, recruiting, pay, and other forms of compensation, training, and general treatment during employment.
ABOUT JAM CITY
Jam City is an award-winning mobile entertainment studio providing unique and deeply engaging games that appeal to a broad, global audience.
Led by CEO Josh Yguado, former 20th Century Fox executive, Jam City is the creative powerhouse behind some of the highest-grossing and most enduring mobile games. Jam City’s global franchise Cookie Jam has generated more than half a billion dollars, and Panda Pop has more than 120 million downloads to date.
The company also is the go-to studio for Hollywood, having developed immersive, narrative-rich mobile games around iconic entertainment brands. The company’s popular RPG game Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery was the #1 game in more than 40 countries at its launch in April 2018.
Jam City has nine studios located in Los Angeles (HQ), Berlin, Buenos Aires, Bogotá, Burbank, Cedar Falls, San Diego, San Francisco, and Toronto.
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About The Company
Mobile entertainment at the intersection of creativity, technology, and play. Follow @JamCityHQ on IG for more.
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