Lead Character Artist (AAA Games)

Location: Remote, United States

Salary: $150,400–$180,000 USD per year in California, with compensation varying by location, skills, and experience; bonuses and/or equity may also be available.

Company

hirify.global manages the application matching process for a partner developing a major AAA game project.

What you will do

• Lead, coach, and mentor a team of character artists while driving artistic quality and professional development.
• Define character art standards, workflows, guidelines, and reference assets in Unreal Engine.
• Collaborate with art, design, gameplay, animation, environment, engineering, and concept teams to develop character assets.
• Coordinate external development and outsourcing partners, including asset assignments, scheduling, reviews, and production tracking.
• Contribute to material and character art pipelines, bug resolution, custom tools, and production efficiency improvements.
• Provide clear feedback and priorities while supporting a collaborative, respectful, and high-performing team environment.

Requirements

• 10+ years of professional video game industry experience, including at least two shipped titles as a Character Artist.
• Proven experience leading, managing, mentoring, and developing character art teams; first-person game experience is strongly preferred.
• Expert proficiency with 3ds Max, Maya, ZBrush, Substance Painter, Marvelous Designer, and Unreal Engine.
• Strong mastery of PBR workflows, texture creation, baking, Substance Painter, and Photoshop.
• Advanced knowledge of anatomy, proportion, composition, volume, lighting, and color, combined with strong cross-disciplinary communication skills.
• Candidates located in Quebec must have professional proficiency in both French and English.

Nice to have

• First-person game development experience.

Culture & Benefits

• Remote work flexibility within the United States.
• 401(k) plan and Employee Stock Purchase Program eligibility.
• Medical, dental, vision, and basic life insurance coverage.
• 14 paid holidays, approximately 15–25 vacation days or discretionary time off, and up to 10 paid sick days annually.
• Paid parental and compassionate leave, mental health and wellbeing programs, family planning support, commuter benefits, and fitness expense reimbursements.
• Collaborative environment focused on creativity, innovation, professional growth, and high-quality AAA gaming experiences.

Hiring process

• hirify.global uses an AI-powered matching process to evaluate applications against the role's core requirements.
• Shortlisted candidates are shared with the hiring partner, which manages interviews, assessments, and subsequent steps.