Associate Art Director, Characters - Unpublished R&D Product

Associate Art Directors at Riot oversee the quality and management of a team with a focus on Mission, Direction, and Cohesion. Your scope of responsibilities covers the Character Art efforts on a project where you are accountable for your team’s deliverables and artistic quality. These responsibilities include overall culture, performance and growth of your direct reports as the team grows through prototype, pre production and production.

As the Associate Art Director, Characters on an Unpublished R&D Game you'll be accountable for designing, implementing, and maintaining a healthy organizational structure to meet objectives of the product. You will build a vision for and direct a character team to execute the visual direction, quality, and cohesion of the player characters, gear, and creatures of the world. Additionally, you will find the right balance between creating beautiful characters and the gameplay/product needs. You will report to the Art Director.

Responsibilities:

• Create & guide the look/feel of 3D character and creature assets required to realize the the diversity of cultures and creatures in the world
• Manage, mentor, and review the work of your team to meet quality expectations and performance standards 
• Explore different development techniques that allow for rapid content creation at scale 
• Use your understanding of optimized systems for asset creation to take into account efficiency, speed, and cross dependencies
• Partner with recruiting to hire world-class artists to build a team that can scale to meet the development goals of the product
• Champion the development of efficient character art pipelines
• Create a stylized character art approach using current character art production workflows 
• Create performance artwork that is modular and is highly readable to maximize gameplay clarity
• Build outsourcing strategies and necessary documentation to ensure internal and external teams are set up for success
• Build and maintain a diverse, healthy, highly functional Character Art team globally that’s strongly aligned with Riot Values, working quickly and effectively to resolve team health issues

Required Qualifications:

• Experience working with modern game engines such as Unreal, Unity, or proprietary technologies
• 10+ years of industry experience
• 5+ years of professional experience as a Senior or Lead Character Artist
• 4+ years of management experience
• Proficient skills in 3D/2D Software - Maya, 3DS Max, Substance, Zbrush 
• Professional or personal experience working on stylized game art

Desired Qualifications:

• Experience working in player character customization systems
• Development experience creating materials and PBR assets within Unreal, Unity
• Familiarity with the League of Legends IP

For this role, you'll find success through craft expertise, a collaborative spirit, and decision-making that prioritizes the delight of players. We will be looking at your past studies, experience, and your personal relationship with games. If you embody player empathy and care about players' experiences, this could be your role!

Our Perks:

Riot has a focus on work/life balance, shown by our open paid time off policy, in addition to 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.

Riot Games fosters a player and workplace experience that values teamwork embodied by the Summoner's Code and Community Code. Our culture embraces differences as a strength, and our values are the guiding principles for how we approach work. We are committed to putting diversity and inclusion (D&I) at the center of everything we do, and promoting a fair and collaborative culture where Rioters treat one another with dignity and respect. We encourage you to read more about our value of thriving together and our ongoing work to build the most inclusive company in Gaming.

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.

Per the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, the following core duties may create a basis for disqualifying candidates with relevant criminal histories:

• 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

These duties are directly related to essential operations, safety, trust, and compliance obligations within our organization. Please note that job duties may evolve based on business needs and additional responsibilities may be assigned as necessary to maintain operational efficiency and security.