Art Director

Kinetic Games; Southampton; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 95,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid & Flextime Working

Relocation Package (within the UK only

Vitality Health Insurance

Aviva Life Insurance

30 days Holiday in Total

Annual Bonus

Weekly Free Team Lunches

Training & Development Budget

Personal Wellbeing Allowance

Job summary

Kinetic Games Limited seeks an experienced Art Director to lead the artistic execution of our games and shape the art department as the studio grows. Working with the Game Director and leadership, you will translate the creative vision into a clear visual direction and maintain high standards across all art disciplines.

You will move between creative direction, people leadership, and production planning, ensuring art pipelines meet technical and schedule constraints while delivering high-quality

Qualifications

• Shipping experience on AAA/AA or high-production games in a senior art leadership role.
• Experience leading multidisciplinary art teams through development and shipment.
• Strong portfolio demonstrating visual design, composition, lighting and colour mastery.
• Understanding real-time rendering, optimisation and constraints.
• Ability to balance artistic ambition with production realities and schedules.
• Experience with Unity or Unreal Engine pipelines and tools.

Responsibilities

• Own the overall visual execution within the studio's creative vision.
• Translate high-level direction into actionable visual targets and guidelines.
• Lead environment, character, animation, VFX, UI, concept and technical art.
• Maintain a consistent quality bar across all visuals and playtest results.
• Provide clear feedback and direction throughout development.
• Collaborate with Technical Art and Engineering on pipelines and standards.
• Work with Production to scope art requirements and milestones.
• Mentor artists and contribute to recruitment and team structure.

Skills

Art leadership

People management

Production planning

Art direction

Cross-disciplinary collaboration

Feedback and review

Asset pipelines

Tools

Unity

Unreal Engine

Job description

About Kinetic Games

We’re an independent games studio best known for creating Phasmophobia, enjoyed by millions of players worldwide. Our team is passionate, creative, and collaborative and we’re looking for someone equally enthusiastic about games to join our growing team.

We’re a small but fast growing, friendly team that values creativity, openness, and personal growth. Whether you’re helping various departments or talking about your favourite horror game, you’ll be part of a supportive environment where passion and curiosity are celebrated. You’ll be joining a small but ambitious team where your ideas are valued, your growth is supported, and your development truly matters.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are important to how we work together every day. We aim to build a team with diverse experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds. We believe great games start with an inclusive environment where everyone can contribute, grow, and succeed. Applications from all qualified candidates are encouraged. Equal opportunities are provided throughout our recruitment and employment practices.

If you require any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know. We'll work with you to understand your needs and provide appropriate support wherever reasonably practicable.

About the role

Kinetic Games is looking for an experienced Art Director to lead the artistic execution of our games and help develop the art department as the studio continues to grow.

Working closely with the Game Director, Associate Creative Director and other development leadership, you will be responsible for translating the overall creative vision of a project into a clear, cohesive and achievable visual direction.

This is a senior leadership role with responsibility for the quality, consistency and effectiveness of the art discipline across the studio. You will lead and support our art teams, establish strong production practices, define appropriate visual and technical standards, and ensure the art we produce meets the quality bar expected of our games.

The ideal candidate combines a strong creative eye with significant experience leading multidisciplinary art teams on commercially released games. You should be comfortable moving between creative direction, people leadership, production planning and the technical realities of implementing high-quality game art.

Your responsibilities will include

• Own the overall visual execution, working within the creative vision established by the Game Director and wider creative leadership.
• Translate high-level creative direction into clear visual targets, references, guidelines and actionable direction for the art team.
• Lead the studio's art discipline across areas including environment art, character art, animation, VFX, UI art, concept art and technical art.
• Maintain a consistent and appropriate quality bar across all visual content, including regularly play testing builds to see the final integration.
• Review work throughout development and provide clear, constructive and actionable feedback.
• Work closely with Technical Art and Engineering to establish efficient pipelines, workflows, tools and technical standards.
• Work alongside Production to scope art requirements, identify dependencies, estimate workloads and ensure art milestones are achievable.
• Establish and continuously improve art processes as the studio and projects grow in scale.
• Develop standards for areas such as asset creation, optimisation, outsourcing, review processes and implementation.
• Mentor and develop artists and art leadership, providing guidance on both creative and professional development.
• Contribute to art recruitment, team structure and workforce planning.
• Manage and provide direction to external art partners where required.

Requirements

• At least 1 shipped titles working on AAA, AA or similarly high-production-value titles in a senior art leadership position.
• Experience leading multidisciplinary art teams through development and shipment of commercially released games.
• A strong portfolio demonstrating an excellent understanding of visual design, composition, lighting, colour, environment design and overall artistic quality.
• Strong understanding of modern game development pipelines and the process of taking artwork from concept through to final implementation.
• Good understanding of real-time rendering, optimisation and the technical constraints involved in producing art for games.
• Experience working closely with Technical Artists and Engineers to establish scalable art pipelines and workflows.
• Strong leadership and people-management skills, with experience developing senior artists and discipline leads.
• Experience evaluating scope, complexity and production requirements for art content.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills across both creative and technical disciplines.
• Ability to balance visual ambition with production realities, technical limitations and project schedules.

Nice To Have

• Experience building or significantly growing an art department.
• Experience working on live-service games or games supported through substantial post-launch development.
• Experience developing games across PC and console platforms.
• Strong knowledge of Unity or Unreal Engine.
• Experience working with external development partners and outsourcing studios.
• Experience establishing art pipelines for a studio transitioning from smaller-scale development into larger productions.
• Experience with horror games or creating atmospheric, realistic environments.

Benefits & Perks

• Comprehensive Reward Package
• Enhanced Employer Match Pension Scheme
• Annual Bonus
• Weekly Free Team Lunches
• Regular Social Events
• Hybrid & Flextime Working
• Access to Southampton Football Club Tickets - subject to availability and sponsor allocation
• Relocation Package (within the UK only)
• Electric Vehicle Car Scheme
• Employee of the Month Vouchers
• Personal Wellbeing Allowance
• Recruitment Referral Scheme
• Training & Development Budget
• Training & Career Development
• Vitality Health Insurance
• Aviva Life Insurance
• 30 days Holiday in Total
• Christmas Studio Shutdown