Art Lead, Art Outsourcing - League of Legends, Summoners Rift

The League of Legends team is a multi-disciplinary group of artists, designers, engineers, and producers who are passionately committed to evolving the game for its global player base. We strive to create the most engaging and beautiful player experiences through impeccable art and thrilling gameplay.

As an Art Outsourcing Manager for League of Legends, you will be the vital link between our internal art leadership and our global network of external development partners. You will be embedded within the League of Legends art team and will be responsible for managing the end-to-end pipeline of outsourced assets, from initial request and vendor selection, to final delivery and integration. Your expertise in art production, vendor management, and clear communication will ensure that every external asset meets the high-quality bar and distinctive style of Runeterra.

Responsibilities:

• Partner with Internal Art Directors and Leads to understand project goals, artistic vision, and quality benchmarks for all outsourced work
• Manage the day-to-day operational relationship with multiple external art partners, ensuring clear, consistent, and constructive communication
• Prepare and distribute comprehensive art packets, including detailed briefs, style guides, technical specifications, and reference materials
• Own the intake process for outsourcing requests, prioritizing needs, tracking capacity, and allocating work to the most suitable external partners
• Facilitate and manage the feedback loop between internal craft leads, artists and external vendors, ensuring notes are clear, actionable, and delivered in a timely manner
• Track and monitor the progress of all outsourced assets, managing schedules and milestones to ensure on-time delivery for internal production needs
• Conduct initial quality control checks on delivered assets to ensure they meet technical and artistic standards and collaborate with craft teams to ensure they are accepted and integrated into the game
• Identify and proactively troubleshoot roadblocks in the outsourcing pipeline, escalating issues when necessary
• Contribute to the evolution of our outsourcing processes, tools, and best practices to improve efficiency and quality over time
• Maintain a deep understanding of the League of Legends art style and technical requirements to effectively evaluate external work

Required Qualifications:

• 5+ years of experience in art production, outsourcing, or vendor management roles within the game industry
• 3+ years of game industry experience creating 3D character or 3D environment art on AAA game titles
• Shipped at least two AAA game titles in a role that involved managing 3D art assets.
• Deep understanding of game art creation pipelines across multiple disciplines (e.g., environment asset art, 3D character, VFX, animation)
• Exceptional organizational and project management skills, with experience using tracking software (e.g., Jira, Shotgun)
• Outstanding communication and interpersonal skills, with a proven ability to build trust and collaborate with both internal teams and external partners
• A strong artistic eye and ability to provide constructive, objective feedback against a defined style guide
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, iterative, and live-service environment

Desired Qualifications:

• Experience working directly as an environment or character artist in game development
• Experience managing art outsourcing for a live-service game
• Existing relationships with external art development studios and freelance artists
• Passionate player of League of Legends with a strong understanding of its champions and world

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 players' experiences, this could be your role!

 

Our Perks:

Riot focuses on work/life balance, shown by our open paid time off policy and 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.

At Riot Games, we put players first. That mission drives every decision in our quest to create games and experiences that make it better to be a player. Whether you’re working directly on a new player-facing experience or you’re supporti