Lead Artist

the hive; Chatham; Hybrid; GBP 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote/hybrid/Office flexibility (UK)

37.5 hour week with flexible working

Team building and growth opportunities

Access to latest tools & tech

Company funded away days

Competitive salary and benefits

Job summary

the hive is seeking a Lead Artist to drive quality, technical excellence, and artistic vision for Train Sim World titles. You will lead a team, work with the Art Director, and steer environment art from concept to game-ready assets.

This remote-friendly role offers 37.5-hour weeks, flexible working, and opportunities to grow across loved titles. You will mentor artists, solve visual and technical challenges in UE4/UE5, and coordinate planning and delivery.

Qualifications

• Strong expertise in Unreal Engine 4/5 and environment art pipelines.
• Experience leading and mentoring a team of artists in a high quality production.
• Portfolio demonstrating open world, realistic environment art and technical proficiency.
• Ability to take vague briefs to finished game-ready environments.
• Excellent visual judgment and ability to explain design decisions.

Responsibilities

• Benchmark environment art and tools usage.
• Create assets and build environments; solve visual and technical problems.
• Plan environment art tasks; reference and prioritization.
• Conduct day-to-day reviews; ensure quality control and documentation.
• Provide constructive feedback to tech and design teams.
• Manage and mentor the team; set expectations and unblock problems.
• Identify delivery risks and propose practical solutions.

Skills

Unreal Engine 4/5

Team leadership

Environment art

Open world art

Mentoring

Visual problem solving

Tools

Houdini

UE5

Job description

We are looking for a Lead Artist to drive the quality, technical excellence, and artistic vision of our Train Sim World titles.

Working closely with the Art Director, the successful candidate will lead a team, have hands on environment art experience, set the visual bar and steer the development of the product.

We are looking for someone that has experience solving visual and technical problems and can evaluate tools and workflows.

You will also be expected to drive planning and delivery for the environment team, identifying risks, managing dependencies and keeping the team moving.

This role would suit someone who is looking to take that next step into a Lead role, or you may have previously held the title of Lead.

What you’ll get from us!

• Work where you work best – Remote, Hybrid or in Office? You choose! - UK based only.
• 37.5 hour working week with true flexible working.
• Collaborative, supportive team environment.
• Access to the latest tools & tech.
• Company funded away days and team building.
• Opportunity to grow and work on much loved titles.
• Competitive salary and benefits.

https://careers.dovetailgames.com/benefits

Requirements

Main Responsibilities

• Benchmarking environment art and tools usage.
• Create assets, build environments, solve visual and technical problems.
• Environment art planning, task breakdown, referencing and prioritisation.
• Day-to-Day reviews, quality control and documentation. Give clear, confident feedback and maintain consistency.
• Feedback to the technical and design teams in a constructive and collaborative way.
• Manage and mentor the team, setting clear expectations, unblocking problems and creating a healthy feedback culture.
• Identifying delivery risks and proposing solutions.

Person Specifications

• Excellent professional knowledge of Unreal Engine 4 & 5.
• Experience in the management and mentoring of a team of artists.
• Strong environment art fundamentals and a portfolio that demonstrates quality in a realistic style.
• Able to take work from a vague brief through to a finished, game-ready environment.
• Good visual judgement and the ability to explain why something is or isn't working.
• Extremely organised – able to manage priorities, estimates and schedule.
• Comfortable giving feedback and collaborating with other disciplines.
• Able to communicate comfortably across different departments – art, engineering, IT, tech.
• Motivated to make art themselves, not just oversee other people's work.
• Open World experience either in a leadership or senior position.
• Having worked on multiple shipped titles.
• Deep expertise in every technical aspect of the environment art pipeline.
• Experience owning long-term art strategy independently.
• Outsource management and briefing comfortability.

Bonus

• Cross discipline skills (VFX, Character, etc.)
• Houdini/PCG expertise for open world.
• Strong Tech Art skillset in UE5.
• Production background.
• An interest/hobby in trains.
• Stylization Experience.
• Previous sim experience.