Studio Head of Art

PeopleFun™ is the award-winning creator of mobile games for players across the globe. We are part of the AppLovin™ studios family, a publicly traded company, with world-class projects, resources, and infrastructure. PeopleFun™ is a Dallas-based game studio founded and maintained by game industry veterans, where game developers thrive on collaboration, creativity, teamwork and fun. Our games are played by over 25 million players each month, and we have a number of exciting mid-core and casual games in development. Our mission is twofold: excellence in creativity and data-driven product innovation, and to be a best-in-class workplace providing unique opportunities to learn and exercise curiosity.
Candidates who reside or will reside in the following locations are eligible for this role: California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington DC, Washington State
Job SummaryPeopleFun is seeking a Studio Head of Art to lead and own the studio art vision while creating a world class art team. As a key member of the executive team, the Head of Art will be the standard bearer for art excellence across the portfolio. You will build and develop a high performing team encompassing a diverse set of art skills that meet the needs of each of the games teams. Each artist will be set up for success by creating and executing on career growth plans by understanding each of their current skill sets and their career goals. You will collaborate with each game team and specific product owners to understand the goals of the game team and provide proper guidance, art expertise and resourcing. Reporting to the CEO of the studio, you will represent the art team/discipline while actively contributing towards meaningful strategic discussions and overall studio decisions.

Responsibilites

• Art Excellence
• Be the standard bearer for art excellence across the studio.
• Create an art department that is well-versed in all major areas of art such as UI, 2D, 3D, VFX, Animation, Concept, Tech Art, Unity development, etc with a good mix of generalists and specialists.
• Create and model art leadership for each game team.
• Create and execute on a clear plan for improving the art team’s core competencies.
• When needed, be an individual contributor for the purposes of modeling excellence for the rest of the art team.
• Regularly communicate to the rest of the studio on the art team’s focus, plans, latest developments, and showcase the latest art from the team.
• Hold internal art team meetings to review work, give each other critical feedback in a supportive environment, and come together as a cohesive team.


• People & Resource Management
• Create and execute on an art resourcing plan in collaboration with the Talent team based on the needs of art skills and resources across all game teams.
• Define job levels and salary bands in coordination with the Talent team.
• Set up each member of the art team for success with clear career growth plans, proper support/mentorship, and goals.


• Support the Product Owners and Game Teams
• Understand and fill the skill/resourcing needs of each game team by collaborating with the product owner and the art leader on each game. All discipline heads at PeopleFun are responsible for supporting the product owners and setting up each game team for success.
• Give proper creative guidance to the art lead and product owners that optimizes for empowerment.


• Studio Executive Leadership
• Contribute to studio executive leadership by representing the art team.
• Actively participate in meaningful strategic discussions with the rest of the executive team.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree (graduate degree preferred) in Art or similar
• 10+ years working in the gaming industry working on multiple high quality, top grossing mobile games under your belt
• 5+ years working in an art leadership role. Ideally at a variety of levels such as game team art leader, studio wide art leader, and domain expert across games
• Experience with art outsource management
• Experience managing artists
• Hands on experience with creating art and working within Unity development teams
• Proven track record of shipping high-quality games in a role where you were responsible for guiding and mentoring artists
• Passion for games
• Humble leader with a growth mindset
• Genuine passion for guiding each member of the art team towards success

BenefitsCompetitive compensation packagePerformance bonuses401K with 3% employer matchingFamily friendly cultureFlex PTO policyMedical/Den