Associate Art Director

Pixaera; Ireland; On-site; EUR 70,000 - 95,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

25 days holiday

Fully equipped setup from day one

Team offsites and socials

Job summary

Pixaera in Ireland seeks an Associate Art Director to run the art function for game-based safety training. You will lead a small team of 3D artists, own the visual bar praised by enterprise customers, and produce artwork yourself as a major part of the job.

You will set direction, plan work, and unblock the team while nurturing talent and maintaining high standards across characters, environments, lighting, and animation-ready scenes.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in game/real-time 3D art with 2+ years in leadership roles (Lead Artist, Art Manager, or Associate Art Director).
• Strong fundamentals in realistic 3D art, lighting, composition, and character believability.
• Experience building style guides and managing outsourced art of consistent quality.
• Familiar with modern AI art tools; Unreal Engine experience is a strong plus.

Responsibilities

• Lead art team daily: planning, tasking, estimates, unblocking, and weekly production meetings.
• Contribute hands-on artwork and production work alongside the team.
• Manage and grow artists: 1:1s, feedback, growth plans, mentorship, hiring input.
• Maintain visual quality bar across modules: art direction at kickoff and cohesive assets.
• Create and maintain style guides and reusable asset kits for internal and external partners.
• Break designs into art tasks with realistic estimates and hit deadlines.
• Brief, direct, and review external artists and outsourcing partners.
• Own the art pipeline end to end and evolve with AI acceleration.

Skills

Leadership

Art direction

Unreal Engine

AI art tools

Planning & budgeting

Mentoring

Communication

Character & environment art

Tools

Unreal Engine

AI art tools

Job description

Who are we?

We are a team of driven individuals who strongly believe in the positive impact gaming and AI will have on the learning world. Today, we're helping enterprise businesses transition from video to gamified learning experiences that far outperform their traditional counterparts. If you strive to work in a creative and high-output environment, read on.

Who are we?

We are a team of driven individuals who strongly believe in the positive impact gaming and AI will have on the learning world. Today, we're helping enterprise businesses transition from video to gamified learning experiences that far outperform their traditional counterparts. If you strive to work in a creative and high-output environment, read on.

Who are we looking for?

An Associate Art Director to run the art function behind our game-based safety training. You will lead a small team of talented 3D artists plus an external contractor bench, own the visual bar our enterprise customers consistently praise (realistic characters, environments, and lighting), and run the planning that gets every module shipped on time. This is a player-coach role on a small team: you set direction, task and unblock the team, and produce artwork yourself as a significant part of the job.

You will be responsible for:

• Leading the art team day to day: planning, tasking, estimates, and unblocking, including a weekly art production meeting
• Producing artwork yourself: on a small team the lead carries a real share of the production work, not just the direction of it
• Managing and growing the artists: 1:1s, feedback, growth plans, mentorship, and hiring input
• Setting and holding the visual quality bar across all modules: clear art direction at kickoff, then keeping characters, environments, lighting, and animation-ready scenes cohesive through production
• Creating and maintaining style guides, creative guides, and reusable kits (asset libraries, environment kits, animation and graphic conventions) for the team and external partners
• Breaking module designs down into art tasks with realistic estimates, then hitting the dates you commit to
• Briefing, directing, and reviewing external artists and outsourcing partners
• Owning the art pipeline end to end (kickoff direction, asset creation, integration support, review and iteration, release-ready) and evolving it with AI acceleration: generative image and video tools alongside classic DCC and Unreal workflows
• Partnering with design, game dev, and safety SMEs so art, gameplay, and procedural truth stay in sync: hazards, PPE, and environments must read credible and respectful to frontline workers
• Producing and supporting content-derived marketing and sales assets (captures, renders, videos) to the same quality bar

Requirements

Who are you?

• 5+ years in game or real-time 3D art, including 2+ years leading artists (Lead Artist, Art Manager, or Associate Art Director)
• A manager your team trusts: you protect people from overload, give clear briefs, and develop juniors
• Strong fundamentals in realistic 3D art, with a sharp eye for lighting, composition, and character believability
• Experienced in building style guides and running outsourced art at consistent quality
• Comfortable with modern AI art tools and keen to push them further; Unreal Engine experience is a strong plus
• A reliable planner and communicator: your estimates hold and your stakeholders are never surprised
• Bonus: a character art background

What You Must Be:

• A player-coach: leadership first, craft always
• Calm and organized under real delivery deadlines
• Low ego, high ownership: you make the team better, not louder
• Genuinely excited about AI-first content production

Benefits

How do we support and benefit our employees:

• Competitive salary and stock options — everyone shares in what we're building
• 25 days holiday + public holidays
• Fully equipped setup from day one (no waiting for laptops)
• Regular company offsites and team socials
• A flat, transparent culture with direct access to leadership

At Pixaera, we're committed to building a workplace where everyone feels respected, supported, and empowered to thrive. We believe that diverse perspectives fuel creativity and innovation, which is why we celebrate individuality and foster an environment of inclusion and belonging.

We're proud to be an equal opportunity employer — discrimination of any kind has no place here. No matter your background, identity, or lived experience, you're welcome at Pixaera.