Associate Art Director

Activision Publishing Inc. in; Santa Monica (CA); On-site; USD 127,000 - 235,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision benefits

401(k) with Company match

Paid holidays & vacation

Parental leave

Mental health & wellbeing programs

Relocation assistance

Job summary

Activision Publishing Inc. in Santa Monica seeks an experienced Associate Art Director to partner with the Creative Director and maintain the game's visual quality across all disciplines for a mobile 3D project.

This onsite role requires collaboration with internal teams and development partners to guide art direction. You will review content, provide actionable feedback, and help establish the project's visual identity while ensuring fidelity to an established IP.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional game development experience with leadership roles.
• Strong artistic judgment across multiple visual disciplines.
• Strong understanding of 3D game art, visual development, and production.
• Ability to adapt to varied visual styles, including stylized art.
• Experience collaborating with external developers or distributed teams.
• IP and brand stewardship awareness and ability to balance franchise identity.

Responsibilities

• Maintain the project's artistic vision, visual identity, and overall quality bar.
• Provide oversight across visual disciplines including character, environment, animation, VFX, UI, and concept.
• Act as steward of the IP to ensure content stays true to its core visuals and brand pillars.
• Review concepts, WIPs, and milestones, providing actionable feedback.
• Create art direction notes, paintovers, references, and feedback packages for teams.
• Collaborate with Design, Production, Marketing and other stakeholders to align visual direction with product goals.
• Produce concepts, paintovers, mockups, and presentation materials to communicate direction.

Skills

Art direction

Leadership

3D art

Visual development

IP stewardship

Communication

Tools

Unity

Job description

Reporting To: Creative Director

Location: Santa Monica, CA

Your Mission

As an Associate Art Director, you will partner closely with the creative team to help establish, communicate, and maintain the visual quality for a mobile 3d project.

You will provide creative oversight across all visual disciplines-including character, enemy, environment, animation, VFX, UI, and concept-helping ensure the game delivers a cohesive, high-quality experience that feels authentic to an established IP. You will work closely with internal teams and development partners, reviewing content throughout production, providing clear and actionable feedback, and helping guide the project toward its creative and quality goals.

This role is based in our Santa Monica, CA office and follows an onsite work schedule of four days per week. Work arrangements may change at the company's discretion to meet business needs.

Responsibilities

• Partner with the Creative Director to maintain the project's artistic vision, visual identity, and overall quality bar.
• Provide creative oversight and feedback across character, enemy, environment, animation, VFX, UI, concept, and other visual disciplines.
• Serve as a steward of the IP, ensuring content feels authentic to its core visual language, tone, and brand pillars while supporting the project's unique stylized identity.
• Review concepts, WIPs, milestone submissions, and game content, providing clear, actionable creative feedback.
• Assist in creating art direction notes, paintovers, reference, benchmarks, and feedback packages for internal teams and development partners.
• Collaborate with Design, Production, Marketing, and other stakeholders to ensure visual direction supports broader creative and product goals.
• Create or contribute to concepts, paintovers, mockups, presentation materials, and other visual content as needed to communicate direction or support the project.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional game development experience, including experience in a senior, lead, supervisory, or art direction role
• Strong artistic judgment with the ability to evaluate and provide meaningful direction across multiple visual disciplines.
• Strong understanding of 3D game art, visual development, and contemporary game production.
• Demonstrated flexibility across a broad range of visual styles, with particular strength in stylized art direction and the ability to adapt to varied aesthetic targets.
• Experience collaborating with external developers, outsourcing partners, or distributed teams.
• Strong understanding of IP and brand stewardship, with the ability to balance established franchise expectations with a project's unique visual identity.
• Excellent communication, collaboration, and presentation skills.
• Mobile development, Unity, and shipped-title experience preferred.

Our World

At Activision, we strive to create the most iconic brands in gaming and entertainment. We're driven by our mission to deliver unrivaled gaming experiences for the world to enjoy, together. We are home to some of the most beloved entertainment franchises including "Call of Duty®", "Crash Bandicoot™", "Tony Hawk's™ Pro Skater™", and "Guitar Hero®". As a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and products, our "press start" is simple: delight hundreds of millions of players around the world with innovative, fun, thrilling, and engaging entertainment experiences.

We're not just looking back at our decades-long legacy; we're forging ahead to keep advancing gameplay with some of the most popular titles and sophisticated technology in the world. We have bold ambitions to create the most inclusive company as we know our success comes from the passionate, creative, and diverse teams within our organization.

We're in the business of delivering fun and unforgettable entertainment for our player community to enjoy. And our future opportunities have never been greater - this could be your opportunity to level up.

Ready to Activate Your Future?

We love hearing from anyone who is enthusiastic about changing the games industry. Not sure you meet all qualifications? Let us decide! Research shows that women and members of other under-represented groups tend to not apply to jobs when they think they may not meet every qualification, when, in fact, they often do! We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment and strongly encourage you to apply.

We are committed to working with and providing reasonable assistance to individuals with physical and mental disabilities. If you are a disabled individual requiring an accommodation to apply for an open position, please email your request to [e-mail]. General employment questions cannot be accepted or processed here. Thank you for your interest.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status, among other characteristics.

Rewards

We provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well-being for 'Every World' - we've got our employees covered! Subject to eligibility requirements, the Company offers comprehensive benefits including:

• Medical, dental, vision, health savings account or health reimbursement account, healthcare spending accounts, dependent care spending accounts, life and AD&D insurance, disability insurance;
• 401(k) with Company match, tuition reimbursement, charitable donation matching;
• Paid holidays and vacation, paid sick time, floating holidays, compassion and bereavement leaves, parental leave;
• Mental health & wellbeing programs, fitness programs, free and discounted games, and a variety of other voluntary benefit programs like supplemental life & disability, legal service, ID protection, rental insurance, and others;
• If the Company requires that you move geographic locations for the job, then you may also be eligible for relocation assistance.

Eligibility to participate in these benefits may vary for part time and temporary full-time employees and interns with the Company. You can learn more by visiting https://www.benefitsforeveryworld.com/ .

In the U.S., the standard base pay range for this role is $126,800.00 - $234,580.00 Annual. These values reflect the expected base pay range of new hires across all U.S. locations. Ultimately, your specific range and offer will be based on several factors, including relevant experience, performance, and work location. Your Talent Professional can share this role's range details for your local geography during the hiring process. In addition to a competitive base pay, employees in this role may be eligible for incentive compensation. Incentive compensation is not guaranteed. While we strive to provide competitive offers to successful candidates, new hire compensation is negotiable.