Scopely

Art Lead - External Development

Scopely$144K — $215K *
Consumer Technology
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 7+ years of professional game art experience, including 2+ years in a lead or senior role.
  • Experience with AAA or high-end action RPGs on mobile or PC.
  • Familiarity collaborating with external or offshore development studios.
  • Strong fundamentals in composition, color, lighting, anatomy, and material definition.
  • Proficiency in hands-on paintovers and asynchronous visual problem-solving.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills for clear, constructive feedback.
  • Experience with established IPs and their approval processes.

Responsibilities

  • Guide and coordinate art quality with an external development studio across multiple art forms.
  • Establish and maintain efficient art workflows and quality standards across time zones.
  • Collaborate with the Creative Director and Art Director to craft the Art Direction.
  • Perform paintovers and visual feedback to elevate art to AAA standards.
  • Proactively identify and mitigate visual risks to maintain style and polish.
  • Translate creative direction into production-ready visual guidance for the Shanghai studio.
  • Partner with the IP holder to ensure artistic consistency with established guidelines.

Benefits

  • Comprehensive healthcare benefits.
  • Retirement benefits.
  • Pet insurance.
  • Paid holidays and Scopely free days.
  • Unlimited paid time off.
Full Job Description
Scopely is looking for an Art Lead to join our Slate Development Group in the US on a hybrid or remote basis (Hybrid in Culver City)!

We're looking for an experienced and highly collaborative Art Lead to help drive the visual quality of our new AAA action RPG. This role will partner closely with our external development studio in Shanghai, ensuring the holistic art direction aligns with Scopely's creative vision, technical requirements, and IP standards. You'll be hands-on to give feedback, provide paintovers, and push for visual problem-solving, while also acting as a key communication bridge between our internal Scopely team, our external Shanghai studio, and our world-reknown IP holder.
What You Will Do
  • External Studio Leadership
    • Partner with our external development studio to guide and coordinate art quality across characters, environments, VFX, UI, and more
    • Help establish and maintain efficient art workflows, feedback loops, and quality standards across time zones
    • Partner with the Creative Director and Art Director to craft the evolving Art Direction.
  • Quality Bar & Visual Development
    • Perform paintovers, visual callouts, and written feedback to elevate the art to a AAA-quality bar
    • Identify visual risks early and proactively course-correct to maintain style, readability, and polish
    • Help define and uphold the game's visual style, ensuring consistency across all art deliverables
  • Feedback & Communication
    • Review art submissions and playtest builds to provide concise, actionable feedback that is clear, respectful, and actionable
    • Translate high-level creative direction into concrete, production-ready visual guidance for our Shanghai studio
    • Collaborate with internal stakeholders to ensure art supports gameplay and performance needs
  • IP Holder Collaboration
    • Partner with our IP holder to establish visual guidelines, approvals, and feedback
    • Clearly interpret and relay art feedback to the development team, helping them understand intent and constraints
    • Ensure all art content aligns with established IP canon, while still meeting gameplay needs and driving towards a world-class player experience
Qualifications
  • 7+ years of professional game art experience, with at least 2+ years in a lead or senior role
  • Experience working on AAA or high-end action RPGs on mobile or PC
  • Proven experience collaborating with external or offshore development studios
  • Strong visual fundamentals (composition, color, lighting, anatomy, material definition)
  • Comfortable doing hands-on paintovers and async visual problem-solving
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills, especially for giving clear, constructive feedback
  • Experience working with established IPs and navigating approval pipelines
Nice to Have
  • Experience working with teams in China or across multiple time zones
  • Familiarity with Unity art pipelines, tooling, and processes
  • Passion for action RPGs or Low Fantasy IPs
  • Mandarin language proficiency is a strong plus


For candidates in CA, CO, NJ, NY, and WA, the annual salary range is provided below. In addition to base pay, employees may be eligible for equity, bonuses, and a comprehensive benefits package, including healthcare benefits, retirement benefits, pet insurance, paid holidays, paid Scopely free days, and unlimited paid time off. Base pay offered may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.

CA, CO, NJ, NY, and WA Annual Salary Range

$144,200-$215,000 USD

About Scopely

Scopely, Inc is an interactive entertainment company and mobile-first video game developer and publisher. The company is headquartered in Culver City, California, with offices in Barcelona, Spain; Boulder, Colorado; Dublin, Ireland; London, England; Seoul, Korea; Seville, Spain; Shanghai, China; and Tokyo, Japan. Scopely has both internal game development studios as well as partners with external development studios to create free-to-play games. Scopely also partners with intellectual property holders to create video games based on popular entertainment brands.
Learn more about Scopely
Industry
Founded
2011

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