Character Art Director (Stylized Games | Mobile)

Location: Europe (Fully Remote); based in Europe and comfortable collaborating across time zones.

Company

hirify.global is a game development studio working with partners through co-development teams across US and European studio hubs.

What you will do

• Define and maintain the artistic vision, visual language, quality standards, and cohesive identity for a stylized character roster.
• Create and refine characters with distinctive personalities, expressive silhouettes, appealing proportions, memorable visual identities, and readable designs across camera distances.
• Contribute hands-on through sketches, paintovers, design explorations, visual feedback, and reviews of concepts, models, materials, expressions, and final presentation.
• Guide character development from early concepts through 3D production and final in-game implementation while balancing production, technical, and gameplay requirements.
• Lead and mentor character artists, communicate direction through references and guidelines, and provide actionable creative feedback.
• Collaborate with concept artists, character artists, animators, technical artists, game designers, and creative leadership across distributed studio teams.

Requirements

• 7+ years of professional experience in game art, including experience as a Character Art Director, Art Director, or Character Art Lead.
• Experience contributing to commercially released games and a strong understanding of full game production.
• Exceptional portfolio demonstrating stylized character design, outstanding artistic quality, and memorable character personalities.
• Strong understanding of character appeal, visual storytelling, stylized anatomy, proportions, shape language, color, and composition.
• Ability to create visually distinctive characters that communicate personality, emotion, and intent through design.
• Strong artistic judgment and the ability to refine details that improve character appeal.
• Experience guiding character art from initial concept through final in-game implementation and maintaining a cohesive visual identity across a diverse roster.
• Strong hands-on artistic skills, including communicating direction through paintovers, sketches, or visual explorations.
• Experience leading artists, providing actionable creative feedback, and collaborating with multidisciplinary teams.
• Strong understanding of stylized game art production and the relationship between character design, animation, and gameplay.
• Excellent communication skills and fluency in English.
• Based in Europe and comfortable collaborating with international creative teams across time zones.

Nice to have

• Experience with Unity3D and mobile game development.
• Familiarity with pixel-inspired, simplified, or highly stylized visual aesthetics.
• Experience directing both humanoid and non-human character designs.
• Strong understanding of facial expression design, character acting, and animation-friendly character development.
• Experience establishing character art bibles, visual guidelines, and production pipelines.
• Experience developing characters for established franchises or original IPs.
• Previous co-development experience with external creative teams.

Culture & Benefits

• Fully remote work within a supportive and collaborative environment.
• High creative ownership and direct influence over character identity, personality, and visual quality.
• Opportunity to contribute to an unannounced game project with a partner.
• Long-term collaboration, professional growth opportunities, and competitive compensation based on experience and location.
• Annual team retreats and a friendly, passionate studio culture.

Hiring process

• Submit a portfolio and a short introduction.