Senior Character Art Director — AAA Pipeline Leader

Absurd Ventures; Santa Monica (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 185,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus potential

Equity

On-site in Santa Monica, CA

Job summary

Absurd Ventures is seeking a highly skilled Character Art Lead to guide our character art team in Santa Monica, defining visual direction, standards, and pipelines to deliver high-quality assets that fit the game’s creative vision.

You will mentor artists, coordinate with Art Director, Production, Animation and external partners, and balance quality with schedule, tooling, and production practicality to keep the project on track.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of professional character art experience in the video game industry and leadership experience.
• Experience setting artistic direction and standards for a character art team.
• Experience creating character pipelines from the ground up.
• Proven track record with AAA character assets.
• Familiarity with modern PBR workflows and production-ready character assets.

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and provide clear artistic direction to the character art team.
• Partner with the Art Director to establish visual language and quality standards for characters.
• Decide on workflows, pipelines, tools, and processes to improve quality and efficiency.
• Allocate character art resources across internal teams and external partners.
• Collaborate with Production, Directors, Animation, and Engineering to integrate assets into the game.
• Define and maintain character art documentation and best practices.

Skills

Art direction

Leadership

Mentoring

Communication

Collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts, Game Art, or related field

Tools

Maya

ZBrush

Substance Painter

Unreal Engine

Job description

Absurd Ventures is seeking a highly skilled Character Art Lead to guide our character art team in Santa Monica, defining visual direction, standards, and pipelines to deliver high-quality assets that fit the game’s creative vision.

You will mentor artists, coordinate with Art Director, Production, Animation and external partners, and balance quality with schedule, tooling, and production practicality to keep the project on track.