Director, Art Direction - League, Personalization, Immersion, & Expression Team

As an Initiative Art Director at Riot, you will be focused on collaborating with Product & Design while managing the art leadership team and overseeing the initiative art department. You will oversee and lead high-level visual cohesion, direction, & final feedback on products. The Art Director is responsible to align and support Art goals with the Product & Design goals, to ensure art assets deliver on Product & Creative Pillars. The Art Directors of a LoL-PC Initiative are accountable for LoL art quality, creativity, and gameplay clarity, as well as people management, craft health, systems, and art operations. 

As the Art Director for League of Legends PC ‘Player Immersion and Expression’ Initiative (PIE), you will report to the Sr. Art Director of League. You will work with Initiative Product Leads, Initiative Delivery Leads, Stakeholders, Sr. Art Director, and Creative Director to stay aligned on vision, priorities, and team building while driving consistent art quality and style. The Art Director oversees and drives the creation of style guides and world guides for League’s alternate universe IPs, providing the team with clear visual direction that is aligned with product strategies. You will lead the Associate Art Directors and art leadership team on the PIE initiative, both in leadership and management-craft as well as in high-level vision as we create assets that will both surprise and delight players. You are also responsible for the hiring, onboarding, and offboarding of direct reports and ensuring that the art team is aligned with product goals, partnering with production for a healthy art development pace. You will lean on your years of experience to lead one of the most well-oiled, 'destination' creative teams in the industry, building consistently high-quality and player-focused content, as well as robust, scalable systems, and collaborative creative partnerships.

Responsibilities:

• Manage career growth, compensation, and motivation of all direct reports.
• Assist Associate Art Directors and Art Leads in the hiring and performance management of their direct reports and guiding them in best practices for the career growth of individual contributors on the team(s).
• Responsible for a healthy art team, considering pace, size, growth; staffing, hiring, performance management of and through Craft & Art Leads & Art Managers.
• Hire talent and ensure a good onboarding experience.
• Work closely with the Associate Art Directors, Craft Art Leads, and Principal Artists on PIE and other LoL initiatives to build a ‘future forward’ workflow and consistent and scalable systems and organizations.
• Leading efforts in art documentation & organization of systems; drive the development of style guides, clarity frameworks, and process/pipeline guidelines
• Lead PIE’s creative efforts in cross-team initiative development (i.e. internal transfers, product debt. prevention).
• Manage and communicate progress with the wider team
• Actively support, mentor, and manage the PIE Craft-Art leads, Associate Art Directors, and their direct reports, by communicating department initiatives, sharing best practices, elevating leadership at Riot, and contributing as a community member.

Required Qualifications: 

• 13+ years experience in the video games industry
• 8+ years of management experience
• Worked on shipped titles or sustained titles (‘evergreen’ projects, like League of Legends)
• Understanding of task prioritization techniques/processes
• Understanding of forecast model and tracking software
• Proficiency in video game development tools, pipelines, and workflows
• Familiar with manager work systems (performance calibration methods and software)

Desired Qualifications:

• Experience working with external vendors, giving thorough direction, and delivering timely, clear feedback
• Experience in creating high quality, stylized art (such as 2D concepts, 3D character, animation, or VFX)

For this role, you'll find success through craft expertise, a collaborative spirit, and decision-making that prioritizes the delight of players. We will be looking at your past studies, experience, and your personal relationship with games. If you embody player empathy and care about the experiences of players, this could be the role for you!

Our Perks:

Riot has a focus on work/life balance, shown by our open paid time off policy, in addition to other perks such as flexible work schedules. We offer medical, dental, and life insurance, parental leave for you, your spouse/domestic partner and children, and a 401k with company match. Check out our benefits pages for more information.

Riot Games fosters a player a