Riot Games
Associate Art Director, 3D Character Art - Unpublished R&D Product
Riot Games, Los Angeles, California, United States, 90079
Associate Art Director, 3D Character Art - Unpublished R&D Product
2 days ago Be among the first 25 applicants
Associate Art Directors at Riot
oversee the quality and performance of their teams, with a focus on Mission, Direction, and Cohesion. In this role, your primary responsibility is to lead the Character Art efforts on a project, ensuring the team’s deliverables meet the highest standards of artistic quality. You’ll be accountable for building and maintaining a highly functional team, cultivating a strong culture, and supporting the performance, growth, and development of your direct reports. As the project moves from prototype through pre-production and into full production, you’ll guide the character art discipline to deliver excellence at every stage.
As the
Associate Art Director, 3D Character Art , you will design and lead a world-class character art organization that brings the product’s creative and gameplay goals to life. You’ll define the team’s vision and structure, driving the creation of compelling player characters, gear, and creatures that strike the right balance between visual excellence and gameplay clarity. By partnering closely with Art Direction, Design, Production, and Engineering, you’ll ensure the character team’s work elevates the overall player experience and scales effectively from prototype to live product. This role reports to the Art Director.
Responsibilities
Develop the character art style and aesthetic through in-game work, style guides, best practices and communication with the team. Lead and leverage the character team to high quality execution on the art style.
Partner with recruiting to hire world-class artists to build a team that can scale to meet the development goals of the product
Create exemplary stylized art assets in a broad range, including humans, creatures, props and clothing, organics and hard-surface.
Work with Concept Artists to establish the right process to fulfill your team’s concept art needs.
Understand and be ready to discuss approaches in style, ranging from proportions to hand painted, as well as technical and design constraints such as draw calls, poly counts, texture memory limits, modularity, and gameplay clarity.
Build outsourcing strategies and necessary documentation to ensure internal and external teams are set up for success
Partner with Design and Product teams to understand their goals and product needs, leading cross-discipline collaboration to create innovative character art solutions that elevate both gameplay and the overall player experience.
Build and maintain a diverse, healthy, highly functional Character Art team that’s strongly aligned with Riot Values, working quickly and effectively to resolve team health issues.
Partner with Production to create the right amount of visibility into your team’s deliverables and velocity.
Be a great career mentor and coach for the artists on your team.
Required Qualifications
10+ years of industry experience
4+ years of management experience Proven track record of leading multi-disciplinary art teams from concept through production
Experience building successful character teams
Experience working cross discipline to create production ready pipelines and standards from scratch
Professional experience working in stylized art styles
Experience working with modern stylized PBR workflows
Experience working with modern game engines such as Unity, Unreal, or proprietary technologies
Proficient skills in 3D/2D Software - Maya, 3DS Max, Substance.
Desired Qualifications
Experience working on a highly recognizable stylized game
Experience working in pre-production for at least one game title
Experience with hand-painted art styles and/or Illustration techniques
When submitting your application, please provide a portfolio of your high-quality character art - including stylized artwork. And as a part of the application process, you may also be asked to complete an art test.
Our Perks Riot focuses on work/life balance, shown by our open paid time off policy and other perks such as flexible work schedules. We offer medical, dental, and life insurance, parental leave for you, your spouse/domestic partner, and children, and a 401k with company match. Check out our benefits pages for more information.
EEO Statement It’s our policy to provide equal employment opportunity for all applicants and members of Riot Games, Inc. Riot Games makes reasonable accommodations for handicapped and disabled Rioters and does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, handicap, veteran status, marital status, criminal history, or any other category protected by applicable federal and state law. We consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with applicable federal, state and local law, including the California Fair Chance Act, the City of Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, and the Washington Fair Chance Act.
Duties
Safeguarding confidential and sensitive Company data
Communication with others, including Rioters and third parties such as vendors, and/or players, including minors
Accessing Company assets, secure digital systems, and networks
Ensuring a safe interactive environment for players and other Rioters
Seniority Level Not Applicable
Employment Type Full-time
Job Function Design, Art/Creative, and Information Technology
Industry: Computer Games, Software Development, and Technology, Information and Internet
#J-18808-Ljbffr
Associate Art Directors at Riot
oversee the quality and performance of their teams, with a focus on Mission, Direction, and Cohesion. In this role, your primary responsibility is to lead the Character Art efforts on a project, ensuring the team’s deliverables meet the highest standards of artistic quality. You’ll be accountable for building and maintaining a highly functional team, cultivating a strong culture, and supporting the performance, growth, and development of your direct reports. As the project moves from prototype through pre-production and into full production, you’ll guide the character art discipline to deliver excellence at every stage.
As the
Associate Art Director, 3D Character Art , you will design and lead a world-class character art organization that brings the product’s creative and gameplay goals to life. You’ll define the team’s vision and structure, driving the creation of compelling player characters, gear, and creatures that strike the right balance between visual excellence and gameplay clarity. By partnering closely with Art Direction, Design, Production, and Engineering, you’ll ensure the character team’s work elevates the overall player experience and scales effectively from prototype to live product. This role reports to the Art Director.
Responsibilities
Develop the character art style and aesthetic through in-game work, style guides, best practices and communication with the team. Lead and leverage the character team to high quality execution on the art style.
Partner with recruiting to hire world-class artists to build a team that can scale to meet the development goals of the product
Create exemplary stylized art assets in a broad range, including humans, creatures, props and clothing, organics and hard-surface.
Work with Concept Artists to establish the right process to fulfill your team’s concept art needs.
Understand and be ready to discuss approaches in style, ranging from proportions to hand painted, as well as technical and design constraints such as draw calls, poly counts, texture memory limits, modularity, and gameplay clarity.
Build outsourcing strategies and necessary documentation to ensure internal and external teams are set up for success
Partner with Design and Product teams to understand their goals and product needs, leading cross-discipline collaboration to create innovative character art solutions that elevate both gameplay and the overall player experience.
Build and maintain a diverse, healthy, highly functional Character Art team that’s strongly aligned with Riot Values, working quickly and effectively to resolve team health issues.
Partner with Production to create the right amount of visibility into your team’s deliverables and velocity.
Be a great career mentor and coach for the artists on your team.
Required Qualifications
10+ years of industry experience
4+ years of management experience Proven track record of leading multi-disciplinary art teams from concept through production
Experience building successful character teams
Experience working cross discipline to create production ready pipelines and standards from scratch
Professional experience working in stylized art styles
Experience working with modern stylized PBR workflows
Experience working with modern game engines such as Unity, Unreal, or proprietary technologies
Proficient skills in 3D/2D Software - Maya, 3DS Max, Substance.
Desired Qualifications
Experience working on a highly recognizable stylized game
Experience working in pre-production for at least one game title
Experience with hand-painted art styles and/or Illustration techniques
When submitting your application, please provide a portfolio of your high-quality character art - including stylized artwork. And as a part of the application process, you may also be asked to complete an art test.
Our Perks Riot focuses on work/life balance, shown by our open paid time off policy and other perks such as flexible work schedules. We offer medical, dental, and life insurance, parental leave for you, your spouse/domestic partner, and children, and a 401k with company match. Check out our benefits pages for more information.
EEO Statement It’s our policy to provide equal employment opportunity for all applicants and members of Riot Games, Inc. Riot Games makes reasonable accommodations for handicapped and disabled Rioters and does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, handicap, veteran status, marital status, criminal history, or any other category protected by applicable federal and state law. We consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with applicable federal, state and local law, including the California Fair Chance Act, the City of Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, and the Washington Fair Chance Act.
Duties
Safeguarding confidential and sensitive Company data
Communication with others, including Rioters and third parties such as vendors, and/or players, including minors
Accessing Company assets, secure digital systems, and networks
Ensuring a safe interactive environment for players and other Rioters
Seniority Level Not Applicable
Employment Type Full-time
Job Function Design, Art/Creative, and Information Technology
Industry: Computer Games, Software Development, and Technology, Information and Internet
#J-18808-Ljbffr