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The Art Director works closely with the Game Director and other art department leads to bring in-game levels and narrative cinematics to life by defining and maintaining a unified visual bar for the project. This position will bring a strong understanding of Lighting, Composition, and Visual Design sensibilities to help elevate the overall player experience.

The Art Director's focus is on providing visual direction to the lighting, VFX, and environment art teams with clarity, style, and cohesion the priority.

Position is based in Richardson, TX (north of Dallas). Relocation assistance available.

Responsibilities

  • Work with the Game Director and Lead Concept Artist to develop the overall look of the game and maintain that vision throughout development.

  • Collaborate with the leadership team to identify and solve artistic challenges, including balancing visuals with gameplay needs and the unification of the art teams.

  • Collaborate with the engine team and technical artist on the visual direction of the game.

  • Help develop the scope and goals for the game by contributing to visual theme variation, pushing a grand scope/scale of levels, and driving the visual style of the game.

  • Establish mood for cinematics and levels by providing 2D paint-overs to world builders, lighting and vfx artists

  • Create style guides, color keys, lighting keys and art bibles as needed.

Qualifications

  • 5+ years of recent experience developing real-time 3d videogame artwork and/or a film / cinema project.

  • Shipped at least 1 AAA game title or film / cinema project in an Art Lead or Art Director role.

  • Strong Illustration and 2D skills are necessary, as paint-overs and hands-on visual direction are a requirement of the position.

  • Demonstrated experience in artist workflows, tools, and pipelines. Ideally this includes hands-on experience in more than one art field such as Concept, VFX, Lighting, Materials, Environments, etc.

  • Ability to lead artists to high-quality results by quickly providing clear and meaningful feedback through the use of paintovers.

  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills 

  • Ability to work collaboratively in a cross-disciplined development environment. 

  • Strong Illustration and 2D Art skills.

Preferred Skills

  • Experience as a Color Key Artist, Animation Vis-Dev or Cinematic Lighting Designer.

Salary Range

Art Director - The typical base pay range for this position at the start of employment is expected to be between $140,000 - $270,000 per year.

ZeniMax has different base pay ranges for different work locations within the United States, which allows us to pay employees competitively and consistently in different geographic markets. The range above reflects the potential base pay across the U.S. for this role; the applicable base pay range will depend on what ultimately is determined to be the candidate’s primary work location. Individual base pay depends on various factors, in addition to primary work location, such as complexity and responsibility of role, job duties/requirements, and relevant experience and skills. Base pay ranges are reviewed and typically updated each year. Offers are made within the base pay range applicable at the time.

At ZeniMax certain roles are eligible for additional rewards, such as merit increases and discretionary bonuses. These awards are allocated based on individual performance and are not guaranteed. Benefits/perks listed here may vary depending on the nature of employment with ZeniMax and the country work location. U.S.-based employees have access to healthcare benefits, a 401(k) plan and company match, short-term and long-term disability coverage, basic life insurance, wellbeing benefits, paid vacation time, paid sick and mental health time, and several paid holidays, among others.