Lead Artist

Dovetail Games; Chatham; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 85,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote or Hybrid work

Flexible hours

UK-based team environment

Career growth

Team building days

Job summary

Dovetail Games is seeking a Lead Artist to drive the quality, technical excellence, and artistic vision of our Train Sim World titles. You will lead a team, contribute hands-on environment art, set the visual bar, and steer development.

You will tackle visual and technical challenges, evaluate tools and workflows, and own planning and delivery for the environment team. This role suits someone stepping into a Lead position or who has led teams on shipped titles.

Qualifications

• Excellent knowledge of Unreal Engine 4 & 5.
• Strong environment art fundamentals.
• Experience mentoring artists and leading teams.
• Ability to translate briefs into game-ready environments.
• Good visual judgment and communication across departments.

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 feedback.
• Feedback to technical and design teams in a constructive, collaborative way.
• Manage and mentor the team, setting clear expectations and unblocking problems.
• Identifying delivery risks and proposing solutions.

Skills

Unreal Engine expertise

Environment art

Team leadership

Art direction

Problem solving

Tools

Unreal Engine 4 & 5

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.