Leads the global Character Art discipline, overseeing artistic and technical quality, client partnerships, leadership development, organizational performance, staffing, capacity planning, and capability growth. Mentors creative leaders across India and other locations, drives solutions to quality and production issues, monitors KPIs, and supports business development. The role is remote in North America with flexible hours and periodic travel to India.
The Character Art Director is a senior creative leader responsible for the quality, client satisfaction, leadership effectiveness, and overall performance of the Character Art discipline.
Working across our global organization, the Art Director supports a Character Art organization of up to 300 artists, working through Associate Art Directors, Art Leads, and production leadership. A critical part of the role is serving as a mentor, advisor, and facilitator to our leadership teams in India—helping them solve problems, strengthen their teams, and consistently achieve client and studio expectations.
The Art Director works closely with clients, Production, Business Development, and global studio leadership to strengthen creative quality, team capability, and overall performance.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
- Creative Leadership: Own overall artistic and technical quality while ensuring the creative leaders closest to the work are providing effective direction, reviews, and feedback.
- India & Global Partnership: Serve as a senior mentor, advisor, and problem-solving partner to creative leadership in India and other locations, helping teams develop solutions and build greater capability and independence.
- Client Partnership: Work directly with clients to understand expectations, translate feedback into clear direction, and address issues that may affect quality or client confidence.
- Leadership Development: Coach and develop Associate Art Directors, Leads, and senior artists, building strong ownership, accountability, judgment, and decision-making.
- Organizational Performance: Monitor quality, efficiency, first-time approval, rework, late-night working patterns, employee engagement, and other relevant KPIs; identify trends and drive improvement with Production and creative leadership.
- Business & Studio Support: Contribute to staffing, capacity planning, project scoping, capability development, problem solving, and selected new-business opportunities.
Requirements
WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR
- Extensive professional experience in Character Art for videogames, including significant senior leadership experience.
- Exceptional artistic judgment and expert knowledge of modern Character Art pipelines and production practices.
- Demonstrated ability to lead and influence large, distributed organizations through other leaders.
- Strong client-facing, communication, mentoring, coaching, and collaboration skills.
- Ability to identify complex problems, determine root causes, and facilitate practical solutions.
- Strong understanding of the relationship between creative quality, operational performance, client satisfaction, and team health.
- Ability to work flexible hours when needed to collaborate with teams in India and other global locations, with periodic travel to India, typically 1–2 times per year.
YOU'LL BE SUCCESSFUL IF
- Clients have confidence in the quality and leadership of the Character Art organization.
- Creative leaders operate with strong ownership, accountability, and increasing independence.
- Quality and project risks are identified and addressed early.
- Key performance indicators show sustained improvement across quality, efficiency, client approval, rework, and employee engagement.
- The discipline has the leadership, talent, and capabilities required to support current and future client needs.
Studio: Keywords Studios
Location: North America
Area of Work: Art Services
Service: Create
Employment Type: Full Time Employee
Working Pattern: Full Time, Remote
Keywords Studios Chicago, Illinois, USA Office
Chicago, United States
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