Lead Artist

Frontier; Cambridge (MA); Hybrid; USD 80,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual bonus

Share options

Private family healthcare

Wellbeing activities

Cycle to Work scheme

Job summary

Frontier in Cambridge is seeking a Lead Artist to shape and deliver scenery for their games. You will lead a team to create high-quality 3D assets, ensuring they meet performance and quality standards.

The role involves collaborating with multiple teams, supporting your artists' growth, and delivering cohesive visual experiences. The position offers a hybrid work option and a comprehensive benefits package.

Qualifications

• Strong experience delivering high-quality 3D assets within a game development environment.
• Experience leading or coordinating a team delivering content at scale.
• Solid hands-on experience with industry tools such as Maya, Substance Painter, and ZBrush.

Responsibilities

• Leading the delivery of scenery assets and set-based content across your team’s workstreams.
• Translating art direction into clear, actionable goals for the team.
• Supporting your team day-to-day by reviewing work and providing feedback.
• Creating a positive, collaborative team environment.

Skills

3D asset delivery

Team leadership

Asset creation workflows

Maya

Substance Painter

ZBrush

Production pipelines

Visual storytelling

Job description

Frontier is an independent video game developer and publisher, crafting immersive gaming experiences with fun gameplay and unparalleled artistic quality. Renowned for its iconic creative management simulation games, Frontier captivates players worldwide with immersive and authentic game worlds. The modern studio is located in the vibrant technology hub of Cambridge (UK). The talented team at Frontier are dedicated to nurturing our existing portfolio and delivering our exciting future roadmap.

This role is offered on a full in-studio basis or a hybrid basis (minimum 3 days per week in the studio). We can provide a comprehensive relocation support package as part of any offer, should you need to relocate.

WHAT’S THE ROLE?

We’re looking for a Lead Artist to help shape and deliver the scenery for our games, leading a small team to create high-quality 3D assets including props, modular building sets, and assembled environment content.

In this role, you’ll be responsible for guiding your team to deliver work that meets expectations for quality, performance, and schedule, while maintaining a strong and consistent visual style. Just as importantly, you’ll support the growth and wellbeing of the artists you work with, helping them develop their skills and confidence through clear direction, feedback, and regular support.

You’ll work closely with Art Direction, Production, and teams across the project to turn creative vision into something tangible and achievable, ensuring your team is aligned, supported, and set up for success. Your artistic judgement and hands‑on experience will help you guide quality, solve problems, and step in where needed to keep things moving.

WHAT YOU'LL BE DOING

• Leading the delivery of scenery assets and set-based content across your team’s workstreams, ensuring output meets quality, performance, and schedule expectations.
• Translating art direction into clear, actionable goals and supporting your team to deliver consistent, high-quality results.
• Working closely with Production to plan work, provide estimates, track progress, and identify risks early.
• Supporting your team day‑to‑day by reviewing work, providing clear feedback, and helping to resolve challenges to keep delivery moving.
• Ensuring assets are combined into cohesive, believable scenery that supports gameplay, readability, and visual storytelling.
• Maintaining alignment with technical requirements, pipelines, and performance constraints.
• Line managing artists, supporting their development through feedback, coaching, and structured growth.
• Assigning work effectively to balance delivery needs with individual development.
• Creating a positive, collaborative team environment where people feel supported and motivated.
• Acting as the main point of contact for scenery-related work, collaborating with Art Direction, Production, and other teams to keep everything aligned and moving forward.
• Contributing to team planning and resourcing, supporting improvements to workflows and processes, and working with external partners where required.

WHAT YOU'LL BRING

• Strong experience delivering high-quality 3D assets within a game development environment.
• Highly developed capability in asset creation workflows, including modelling, texturing, and real‑time integration.
• Solid hands‑on experience with industry tools such as Maya, Substance Painter, and ZBrush.
• Experience leading or coordinating a team delivering content at scale.
• Experience line managing individuals, including performance reviews, goal setting, and development planning.
• A good understanding of production pipelines, scheduling, and working across disciplines.
• The ability to balance visual quality with performance and delivery constraints.
• Strong artistic judgement, including composition, scale, and visual storytelling.
• Clear communication, organisation, and decision‑making skills.

BONUS IF YOU HAVE

• Experience working with outsourcing teams and external partners.
• Experience supporting team planning or resourcing.
• Familiarity with modular workflows, kit building, or large asset libraries.
• An interest in improving workflows, tools, or processes.
• Experience working in different styles or across different types of projects.
• Exposure to areas like foliage, terrain, or organic asset creation.

WHAT WE CAN OFFER YOU

You will work with talented and passionate people to support, develop or publish our sophisticated and enduring games, in a creative, collaborative and inclusive environment. We love what we do, and we work hard to provide outstanding experiences for our players.

Wellbeing is a big focus at Frontier, and we are continually evolving how we can support our people. We encourage a healthy work/life balance and provide a range of wellbeing activities, initiatives and sessions to support both mental and physical health.

We offer a competitive salary and benefits package, which includes a success‑based annual bonus, share option schemes, life assurance, private family healthcare, flexitime working hours, enhanced maternity/paternity leave, in‑house subsidised catering, support with relocation, a Cycle to Work scheme, free bike servicing, and social activities and events.

We strive to create an environment where everyone can fully demonstrate their capability and potential. If you therefore need any reasonable adjustments to support you during the recruitment process, please speak to your Talent Acquisition representative.