Lead Character Artist

Placements24; Southampton; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Medical insurance

Generous PTO

Professional development

Team-building events

Industry training

Job summary

Placements24 is seeking a Lead Character Artist in the United Kingdom to guide a talented team in creating memorable characters for upcoming games. You will set visual quality standards, define the artistic direction, and ensure assets are production-ready within the engine.

You will lead, mentor, and review work, sculpt and texture characters, optimize for performance, and maintain consistent anatomy and style across titles.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 6 years of professional 3D character art experience.
• Proven leadership or senior guidance experience.
• Strong proficiency in 3D modeling and texturing tools.
• Solid understanding of anatomy, form, and materials.
• Experience with modern game engines and asset pipelines.
• Excellent communication and leadership skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor a team of character artists and set artistic direction.
• Create high-quality 3D character models with sculpting, retopology, UVs, and textures.
• Maintain character art style guides and consistency across assets.
• Collaborate with concept artists, riggers, and animators for production-ready characters.
• Optimize assets for performance and memory on target platforms.
• Review work, provide feedback, and perform quality control.

Skills

Character art leadership

3D character modeling

ZBrush

Maya

3ds Max

Substance Painter

Photoshop

Unreal Engine

Unity

Anatomy & proportions

Communication & leadership

Tools

ZBrush

Maya

3ds Max

Substance Painter

Photoshop

Unreal Engine

Unity

Job description

About the Role

Our client is seeking a talented and experienced Lead Character Artist to guide their character art team in bringing memorable personalities to life for their upcoming games. Based in our Randburg studio, you will be responsible for establishing the visual quality and artistic direction for all character assets. This role involves a blend of hands-on artistic creation, team leadership, and pipeline management. You will work closely with character designers, art directors, and engineers to ensure characters are visually stunning, technically sound, and perform optimally within the game engine.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and manage a team of character artists, providing artistic and technical direction.
• Create high-quality 3D character models, including sculpting, retopology, UV mapping, and texturing.
• Establish and maintain character art style guides and ensure consistency across all character assets.
• Collaborate with concept artists, riggers, and animators to ensure characters are production-ready.
• Optimize character assets for performance and memory usage on target platforms.
• Review work, provide constructive feedback, and conduct quality control for the character art team.

Requirements

• Minimum of 6 years of professional experience in 3D character art for video games.
• Proven experience in a leadership or senior role, guiding other artists.
• Expert proficiency in 3D modeling software (e.g., ZBrush, Maya, 3ds Max) and texturing tools (e.g., Substance Painter, Photoshop).
• Strong understanding of anatomy, form, proportion, and material definition.
• Experience with modern game engines (Unreal Engine, Unity) and their asset pipelines.
• Excellent communication, leadership, and problem-solving skills.

Benefits

• Highly competitive salary and performance-based bonuses.
• Opportunity to work on exciting, AAA game titles in our Randburg studio.
• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• Generous paid time off and holiday schedule.
• Professional development opportunities and access to industry training.
• Team-building events and a collaborative studio culture.