We build ground-breaking games and content for some of the world’s biggest publishers including Microsoft, Sony, Apple and Sega. Sheffield is our largest studio and headquarters, situated just north-east of the city centre, where we’ve built and contributed to some of the world’s best-loved game franchises.
It’s an exciting time to be part of Sumo, winners of the Develop: Star Awards 2019 Best Studio; big things are on the horizon and we want you to be part of our continued journey. Join us!
The role @ Sumo
Sumo Sheffield has a fantastic opportunity for an experienced Lead Concept artist to inspire and lead our Internal Concept Team. As a candidate you must be passionate about all aspects of concept design as you will be responsible for driving the visual styles, quality standards, delivery and working practices of the team. Working alongside the project Art directors you will have responsibility for helping drive and mentor the team adding your distinctive leadership style and values to our evolving culture. The ideal candidate will have a history of demonstrating an exceptional eye for detail, creative flair, stylistic versatility and the ability to effectively communicate artistic vision to the rest of the concept and game teams.
Within this role you will:
- Work with the Art Director/Lead to set the art style and visual standard for the team across multiple titles
- Drive the direction of a project or concept presentation
- Be responsible for creating and iterating on ideas whilst maintaining the artistic vision of the Project Art Director
- Maintain quality, consistency whist mentoring more junior concept artists
- Ensure that briefs are delivered to spec and on time working with production to maintain the concept schedule.
We need you to have:
- The ability to work in multiple artistic styles
- Skills in rapid concepting and iteration of ideas across all aspects of the brief
- High levels of aesthetic ability, judgement and eye for detail
- Excellent composition, lighting and colour theory skills and appreciation
- A self-initiating, confident approach to your work
- A keen understanding of cultural influences beyond games; movies, books, TV, comics etc
- 5+ years’ experience as a Lead or Senior concept artist
- A strong working knowledge of Photoshop
- Passion and self-motivation
- Shipped at least 2 AAA title in a senior/lead role
- Very strong problem-solving skills for technically challenging tasks
- Excellent verbal, visual and written communication skills
We'd also ideally like you to have:
- Experience with 3D packages
What we Offer:
Sumo Digital continues to be one of the UK's most prolific game developers, enjoying year on year stability and growth since its founding in 2003.
We have UK studios in Sheffield, Newcastle, Nottingham, Leamington Spa, The Chinese Room in Brighton and Red Kite Games in Leeds, along with Sumo Video Games in Pune, India.
We offer a superb benefits package including generous holidays and flexi-time. We care about our people, with an emphasis on the work/life balance and out-of-office events such as our legendary annual Sumo ‘Big Day Out’, plus epic Christmas parties and much more! Our regular studio Game Jams are a highlight - winning concepts can go on to commercial release, so far including Snake Pass and the upcoming Spyder for Apple Arcade.
Sheffield itself offers all the benefits of a big city with a village attitude. Renowned for its friendly inhabitants and green spaces, Sheffield is a phenomenal place to live and work whether you’re just starting out in your career, or if you’re looking to establish roots and family. The city includes world-class sporting facilities, stunning theatres and galleries, the National Video Game Museum, shopping and restaurants, and a third of the city lies inside the stunning Peak District National Park, offering easy access to incredible recreation and history.
Our Sheffield studio is adjacent to the Meadowhall shopping centre and its rail, tram and bus links and to the M1 motorway, making for an easy commute from places like Leeds and Nottingham.
Our environment is relaxed, friendly and built on every team member having the opportunity to shine and have real, meaningful input into the games that we create. We pride ourselves on our positive atmosphere and sociable team who regularly partake in shared interest groups, lunchtime and after-work clubs, and charity fundraising events.
