Frontier is an established, market leading independent developer and publisher of videogames for PC and consoles. Founded in 1994, we are based in the world-leading technology cluster and historic city of Cambridge, England. With a growing team of over 700 talented people, we are passionate about creating innovative genre-leading games and authentic worlds for our communities of players.

We have achieved serial successes across a wide variety of titles including Elite Dangerous, Planet Coaster, Jurassic World Evolution and Planet Zoo. We are continuing to grow our team to support our existing portfolio and an exciting and ambitious future roadmap, which includes the development of both own-IP titles and licensed-IP titles. Our IP-license partners include Universal (Jurassic World), Formula 1 and Games Workshop (Warhammer).We are also growing our team to continue the expansion of Frontier Foundry, our publishing label for games developed by carefully selected partner studios.

We have a modern spacious studio located on the Cambridge Science Park in the heart of the Cambridge tech hub. For those who wish to relocate to the Cambridge area and work either entirely in the studio or flexibly between the studio and home, we can provide generous financial and practical support to facilitate your move. We are also able to offer remote working for those who would prefer to work almost exclusively from home or who are unable to relocate. We can discuss your preferences with you during the recruitment process.

The Art Director for Frontier Foundry is a seasoned visual leader who will evaluate, assess, and - where needed - advise prospective and current Foundry partners on matters of visual quality, art pipeline, development risks, and solutions.

Responsibilities

Conduct art due diligence with prospective developers – both remotely and on-site
Assess 3rd party developers’ art pipeline and providing recommendations where appropriate
Evaluate prototypes to assess creative potential
Regularly review milestone deliverables (art bibles, concept art, animatics, builds, FMV’s) across multiple titles. Providing clear written and verbal feedback, and paintovers where appropriate. Collaborating with project Executive Producers to prioritize, clarify, and communicate feedback to developers.
Flag risks and working with 3rd parties to understand appropriate and realistic mitigations
Provide targeted expertise and domain knowledge to 3rd parties when knowledge sharing, assisting in problem-solving when needed
Regularly review Marketing Creative to support the Marketing team in presenting each game in its best light
Maintain strong relationships with Frontier’s internal art staff in order to leverage domain-specific knowledge where useful and applicable to 3rd party projects
Attend trade shows and media events as needed, for project scouting and program evangelism

Skills

Seasoned art generalist, with leadership experience shipping multi-platform titles on all the major consoles (Xbox, Playstation, Switch) and PC
Has successfully shipped games through 2+ new console release cycles
Strong technical foundation with deep understanding of common authoring pipelines and art packages
Familiarity with the capabilities and limitations of Unity and Unreal, at a minimum. Experience shipping 2+ titles on an internally developed game engine a plus.
Experience assessing, articulating, and mitigating art implementation risk across multiple titles
Experience leading a multidisciplinary art team a plus
Has successfully collaborated with 3rd parties to successfully deliver high quality, performant games, either in an outsource capacity or via 3rd party publishing
Familiarity with 3rd party outsource houses (modeling, animation, FX, UI, FMV) – capabilities and reputation
An effective communicator who is able to tailor information and presentationtoward different audiences
Healthy balance of empathy, straightforwardness, resourcefulness, and pragmatism

What we can offer you

We offer the chance to work with talented and passionate people, developing and publishing sophisticated and enduring games in a creative and collaborative environment. We love what we do, and we work hard to provide outstanding experiences for our player communities. Frontier rewards this passion and determination by sharing in the company’s success and by supporting our teams to keep doing what they love.

Well-being is a big focus at Frontier and we are continually evolving how we can support our staff. We encourage a healthy work/life balance and host a range of well-being activities, initiatives and sessions to support both mental and physical health.

We offer a competitive salary and benefits package, which includes a success-based annual bonus, share option schemes, pension, life assurance, private family healthcare, flexitime working hours, enhanced maternity/paternity package, in-house subsidised catering, support with relocation, a Cycle to Work scheme and free bike servicing, and social events.

We welcome and encourage applications from qualified candidates regardless of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, religion or belief.