Director of Art

Frontier Developments plc; Cambridge; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A game development company in Cambridge seeks a Director of Art to lead the Art, VFX, and Animation teams. The role involves strategic decision-making and ensuring artistic excellence across projects. Candidates should have significant experience in art leadership, a strong portfolio, and the ability to inspire creative teams. Offers competitive salary and comprehensive benefits for a healthy work/life balance.

Benefits

Success-based annual bonus

Share option schemes

Private family healthcare

Flexitime working hours

Cycle to Work scheme

Free bike servicing

Social activities and events

Qualifications

• Significant experience in a senior art leadership role with a strong portfolio.
• Excellent leadership and team management skills.
• Broad expertise across multiple art disciplines.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills.
• Knowledge of current game art trends and best practices.
• Strong problem-solving skills.
• A passion for games and understanding of various genres.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to strategic roadmap decisions for successful games.
• Collaborate on planning, recruitment, and training.
• Champion the artistic vision for all projects.
• Foster a high-performance culture in the Art department.
• Provide leadership and management to direct reports.
• Develop and drive the art strategy for projects.

Skills

Leadership and team management

Art disciplines expertise

Communication skills

Problem-solving

Knowledge of game art trends

Job description

Overview

We're looking for a Director of Art to join our development leadership team which is responsible for making the strategic decisions critical to our future commercial and creative success. Reporting to the Director of Creative Development, you'll provide leadership to Frontier's Art, VFX and Animation teams with accountability for ensuring that we have the right people, skills, art practices and tools in place to deliver on our ambitious roadmap. You'll help shape the department's future by championing quality, leadership, and timely delivery, ensuring artistic excellence within time and budget constraints. With a strong understanding of how games are made and a broad expertise across multiple art disciplines, you'll also support Heads of Development and Development Leads in solving challenging and mission critical technical and creative problems on projects. If you've got significant experience in game art leadership, with a strong portfolio of successful game projects on console and PC, then we'd love to hear from you!

Responsibilities

• Contributing to strategic roadmap decisions and release schedules to ensure a future pipeline of critically and commercially successful games.
• Collaborating with the Director of Creative Development and the Chief Development Officer on departmental planning, recruitment, training, and succession planning.
• Championing and reinforcing the artistic vision for all projects, providing art direction from a player-centric perspective.
• Fostering a high-performance culture in the Art department through leadership, people development, and team engagement.
• Providing people leadership and management to your direct reports (currently 6 people), through effective communication, objective setting, feedback, coaching, mentoring and support with career development to maintain an engaged, productive and inclusive team environment.
• Developing and driving the art strategy for projects, setting the appropriate quality bar and ensuring adherence across projects.
• Applying leadership skills to guide development teams in making difficult decisions impacting quality and time.
• In collaboration with other Development leaders, setting new projects up for success by ensuring that the appropriate structures, processes, tech and people are in place.
• Removing blockers on key issues and coaching developers, recognising when to be more hands-on when an impasse is reached, or a development issue is time critical.
• Work with talented and passionate people to support, develop or publish our sophisticated and enduring games, in a creative, collaborative and inclusive environment.

Qualifications

• Significant experience in a senior art leadership role with a strong portfolio of successful game projects on console and PC.
• Excellent leadership and team management skills, with the ability to inspire and motivate a creative team.
• Broad expertise across multiple art disciplines and a strong understanding of game development.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively with cross-functional development teams.
• Knowledge of current game art trends, best practices, and emerging tools and technologies.
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to think creatively, commercially, and strategically.
• A passion for games and a deep understanding of various game genres and platforms.

Wellbeing and Benefits

• Wellbeing is a big focus at Frontier, and we are continually evolving how we can support our people. We encourage a healthy work/life balance and provide a range of wellbeing activities, initiatives and sessions to support both mental and physical health.
• We offer a competitive salary and benefits package, including a success-based annual bonus, share option schemes, life assurance, private family healthcare, flexitime working hours, enhanced maternity/paternity leave, in-house subsidised catering, relocation support, Cycle to Work scheme, free bike servicing, and social activities and events.
• We strive to create an environment where everyone can fully demonstrate their capability and potential. If you need any reasonable adjustments to support you during the recruitment process, please speak to your Talent Acquisition representative.