Lead Character Artist
On-siteRoyal Leamington Spa, England, United Kingdom
Job Summary
Lead and support the Character Art team by setting quality bars, providing regular feedback, and mentoring artists to produce authentic, high-fidelity characters. Collaborate with Technical Art, Animation, and Engineering to drive visual quality while maintaining performance, and contribute to the development of efficient character pipelines and workflows. Balance hands-on character creation with production planning, estimation, and resource prioritization to ensure consistent delivery against project goals. This role requires expert knowledge of the full character art pipeline, from sculpting to in-engine implementation, and strong leadership skills to enable cross-discipline problem solving.
Required Qualifications
- Expert knowledge of the complete character art pipeline, from sculpting and modelling through texturing, materials, optimisation, and final in-engine implementation
- Proven experience as a Character Artist within AAA or high-quality game development, including experience in a Lead or equivalent leadership role
- Shipped at least one title with significant responsibility for Character Art
- An exceptional portfolio demonstrating recent, high-quality real-time character work, supported by a strong understanding of anatomy, proportion, form, silhouette, and composition
- Strong proficiency with industry-standard character creation tools such as Maya, 3ds Max, Blender, ZBrush, Substance 3D Painter, and Photoshop
- Proven leadership, mentoring, communication, and collaboration skills, with the ability to balance hands-on production with artistic direction, planning, and cross-discipline problem solving
Desired Qualifications
- Strong experience working with Unreal Engine 5 and MetaHuman technologies
- Experience developing or supporting modular, customisable, or digital human character pipelines
- Understanding of advanced character rendering, including skin, hair, eyes, materials, shaders, and character deformation requirements
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