Lead Character Artist — Team Lead (AAA Games)

Placements24; Randburg; On-site; ZAR 600,000 - 900,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Paid time off

Professional development

Team-building events

Job summary

Placements24 is seeking a Lead Character Artist to guide the character art team in Randburg. You will set artistic direction, oversee production, and ensure characters are visually striking and engine-ready.

That role blends hands-on creation with leadership, pipeline oversight, and cross-team collaboration to deliver high-quality assets for upcoming AAA titles. You will mentor artists and drive character aesthetics and performance.

Qualifications

• Minimum 6 years in 3D character art for video games.
• Proven leadership or senior-level experience guiding artists.
• Expert in 3D modeling and texturing with major packages.
• Strong knowledge of anatomy, form and material definition.
• Experience with modern game engines and asset pipelines.
• Excellent communication and problem-solving skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor a team of character artists with artistic and technical direction.
• Create high-quality 3D character models, including sculpting, retopology, UVs and textures.
• Establish character art style guides and ensure consistency.
• Collaborate with concept artists, riggers and animators to ensure production readiness.
• Optimize assets for performance and memory on target platforms.
• Review work, provide feedback and conduct quality control.

Skills

Leadership

Creative direction

Strong communication

Problem solving

Mentoring

Team management

Tools

ZBrush

Maya

3ds Max

Substance Painter

Photoshop

Unreal Engine

Unity

Job description

Placements24 is seeking a Lead Character Artist to guide the character art team in Randburg. You will set artistic direction, oversee production, and ensure characters are visually striking and engine-ready.

That role blends hands-on creation with leadership, pipeline oversight, and cross-team collaboration to deliver high-quality assets for upcoming AAA titles. You will mentor artists and drive character aesthetics and performance.