Lead 3D Artist

Role Overview

We are seeking highly skilled Lead 3D Artists with a passion for creative leadership, visual excellence, and technical innovation. In this role, you will lead a team of 3D Artists, bridging creativity with production execution to produce high-end characters, environments, props, and vehicles.

As a Lead 3D Artist, you will drive visual standards, mentor art talent, solve complex technical challenges, and collaborate closely with cross-departmental leads to bring extraordinary visuals to life.

Key Responsibilities

1. Artistic & Creative Leadership

• Art Style Leadership: Translate art direction, concept art, and narrative briefs into high-quality 3D models, environments, characters, and props while maintaining visual consistency across the entire project.
• Art Quality Control: Perform regular, constructive art reviews and feedback sessions to maintain top-tier aesthetic and technical standards across all 3D assets.
• Look Development: Drive the look-development phase by establishing visual benchmarks, shader setups, and material standards for hero assets and key environments.

2. Team Management & Mentorship

• People Leadership: Direct, mentor, and inspire a team of 3D Artists, character artists, and environment artists, fostering a collaborative and growth-oriented studio culture.
• Task Allocation & Scheduling: Partner with Production and Art Directors to scope artwork, break down milestone requirements, assign tasks, and ensure on-time delivery without compromising visual quality.
• Career Development: Conduct regular one-on-ones, performance reviews, and skill-gap assessments to help team members advance their technical and creative capabilities.

3. Technical Execution & Pipeline Optimization

• Pipeline Management: Collaborate closely with Technical Artists, Riggers, and Developers to establish, document, and streamline art production workflows and asset pipelines.
• Engine Integration & Optimization: Oversee the successful integration of assets into real-time game engines (Unreal Engine / Unity) or rendering pipelines (Arnold / V-Ray). Ensure assets are optimized for performance, geometry budgets, draw calls, texture memory, and frame rates.
• Standardization: Create clear art documentation, style guides, and technical specifications (LOD strategies, UV density standards, naming conventions) for the internal team and external partners.

4. Hands-On Production

• Asset Creation: Maintain active hands-on involvement by sculpting, modeling, texturing, and lighting complex assets for key gameplay moments or cinematic sequences.
• Prototyping: Build quick, iterative visual prototypes to test artistic concepts, mechanics, or engine features in early production phases.

5. Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration & Outsourcing

• Interdepartmental Synergy: Work alongside Game Designers, Animators, VFX Artists, and Audio Teams to ensure art assets integrate seamlessly with gameplay, rigging constraints, and narrative cues.

Job Requirements

• Experience: 6+ years of industry experience in games or animation, with at least 2-3 years in a senior or lead capacity.
• Software Mastery: Expertise in industry-standard software including Maya/3ds Max, ZBrush, Substance Painter/Designer, and Photoshop.
• Engine Knowledge: Hands-on experience integrating assets into Unreal Engine or Unity and/or offline rendering pipelines like Arnold/V-Ray.
• Portfolio: A strong portfolio demonstrating high-level modeling, texturing, lighting, and a solid grasp of form, proportion, color, and anatomical detail across stylized or realistic art directions.
• Soft Skills: Excellent verbal and visual communication skills, strong problem-solving abilities, and a collaborative mindset.

Beneficial Skills (Bonus)

• Technical Art: Experience with shader creation (HLSL/Node-based), scripting (Python/MEL), or procedural workflows in Houdini.
• Lighting & LookDev: Basic knowledge of lighting setups and cinematic rendering for portfolio-level presentation.
• Industry Knowledge: Familiarity with version control software (e.g., Perforce, Git).