Art Department Director - Raven Software

Job Title:

Art Department Director - Raven Software

Requisition ID:

R025532

Job Description:

Your Mission

Raven Software is looking for a talented new Art Department Director. This is a Department Director-level position. As a critical member of the leadership team, you will be responsible for overseeing the Art department across multiple projects, helping to shape the future of our studio and the Call of Duty franchise.

This role requires a leader who can balance creative excellence with human-centered leadership—someone who builds trust across experience levels, develops future leaders, and inspires accountability through empathy and clarity.

Qualified candidates will have proven game development experience and the leadership skills essential for managing large teams and supporting multiple projects, while maintaining clear and constant communication with collaborators throughout the organization. Your time will be dedicated to helping both the artists and the team achieve the best possible outcomes through our collective efforts.

This role is anticipated to be a hybrid work position, and the home studio for this role is in Middleton, WI.

Your Responsibilities

With the Art Team:

• Demonstrate a passion for creating a highly functional, proactive art team through team leadership, career growth & mentorship, and open honest communication. 
• Promote a collaborative environment by aligning individual goals with team success and encouraging input from diverse perspectives, regardless of title or tenure.
• Understand each artist’s abilities and areas of improvement. Propose learning and development resources to grow artists’ abilities in conjunction with team needs.
• Grow future leaders by clearing roadblocks, empowering the team to have autonomy, authority, and accountability over their work.
• A deep understanding of what makes a AAA game, as well as the art skills needed to deliver on those expectations, challenging team growth.
• Onboard new Art Team members and develop/execute a Game Art Training Program to keep team up to date on new tools, practices and technologies.
• Provide leadership on art trends and patterns. Capitalize on this knowledge to champion development of innovative products.
• Foster a culture of inclusion, and collaboration.
• Facilitate performance management life cycle for the art team including goal setting, quarterly check-ins, and year end performance reviews

With the Game Teams:

• Identify pain points in workflow, tools, and pipelines.  Work with relevant disciplines to propose solutions. 
• Work closely with cross-disciplinary peers to understand the needs and workflows of each group, while also identifying overlaps and blind spots.
• Foster mutual respect and understanding across disciplines and actively surface and resolve friction points with empathy and diplomacy.

Project & Studio:

• Be able to inspire team members, peers, and Executives through qualitative feedback of our games.
• Work with project leadership teams to understand project needs and pivots, while providing proactive solutions in collaboration with art leadership.
• Provide risk assessments and scoping for teams in partnership with production teams.
• Partner with the Production department, Art Leads, and Recruiting regarding staffing and hiring.
• Ensure best practices and technical documentation are maintained and used.

Other Considerations:

• Stay up to date with outside studio and industry tools and technology.
• A proactive mindset and the willingness to reach out to partner studios and central teams to build best practices within the studio.
• The ability to lead through curiosity and influence.
• Apply a humble approach to problem solving.
• Lead with curiosity, humility, and a people-first mindset, especially when balancing creative standards with team dynamics.
• The ability to propose scalable, robust visions for the future of the Art family.

Player Profile

• 12+ years of experience shipping AAA titles, with at least 4+ in art leadership roles. 
• Strong interpersonal and analytical skills.
• Experience advocating for and managing change.
• Ability to communicate art vision and to align vision within the team. 
• Extensive player experience with games, including action, FPS, open world, and online titles. 
• Extraordinary self-motivation and initiative, and a positive attitude in the face of challenges. 

Your Platform

Founded in 1990 by brothers Brian and Steve Raffel in Middleton, Wisconsin, Raven Software began as a small studio focused on crafting fantasy and role-playing games. Since then, our award-winning portfolio has gro