[English version, French to follow]
About the Role

As Principal Art Director - Americas CoE, you are the central Visual Architect for Keywords in North America.

You will help define and evolve the visual identity of products from early concept exploration through production and delivery. While you will play a key role in creating compelling visual directions that support pitches and new business opportunities, you will also partner with studios and multidisciplinary teams throughout development to ensure artistic vision, quality, and visual cohesion are successfully realized.

From stylized, cozy co-op worlds to dark, UE5-powered realism, you define the visual identity that creates the "wow" moment in pitches-and then partner with execution studios to bring that vision to life at scale.

You operate at the intersection of creative vision, client engagement, and regional studio collaboration, empowered by AI-driven workflows that accelerate how we explore, iterate, and communicate visual ideas.

What You Will Do (The Mandate)
Visual Strategy & Artistic Direction

• Define and champion compelling visual directions that align with product vision, audience expectations, and market opportunities across genres, platforms, and art styles.
• Establish artistic pillars, visual identities, and style frameworks that guide environments, characters, UI, VFX, lighting, and overall player-facing presentation.
• Translate creative goals into clear, inspiring visual direction that aligns stakeholders and creates strong first impressions with clients and partners.
• Ensure visual consistency, quality, and cohesion across projects while balancing creative ambition with production and technical realities.

Pitch Leadership & Client Engagement

• Act as a key creative contributor in client engagements, pitches, workshops, and business development initiatives across North America.
• Partner with the Regional Creative Director and Business Development teams to create compelling visual targets, mood boards, and pitch materials that win new opportunities.
• Develop visual explorations, style frames, and presentation materials that clearly communicate artistic vision and production potential.
• Present and articulate visual direction to clients, stakeholders, and internal teams with clarity, confidence, and conviction.

Regional Studio Collaboration , & Discipline Supervision

• Collaborate with studios across Canada, the United States, and Mexico (potentially further reach globally across Keywords Create teams as things progress) to elevate visual quality and execution across all engagements.
• Guide and supervise art production across projects in Keywords Create.
• Provide consultative direction across concept art, environment art, character art, UI, lighting, VFX, and visual development disciplines.
• Ensure visual direction is clearly documented, scalable, and executable by internal and external production teams.
• Establish and reinforce visual standards, style guides, and review processes that strengthen consistency across the region.
• Identify visual and production risks early and guide teams toward strong, achievable solutions.

Visual Innovation & AI Enablement

• Leverage AI-powered image generation and visualization tools to accelerate mood boards, concept exploration, style development, and pre-visualization during pitch and early discovery phases.
• Integrate emerging tools and workflows to improve speed, quality, and efficiency in visual development.
• Champion responsible use of AI while maintaining strong artistic authorship, taste, and quality standards.
• Stay ahead of industry trends, artistic movements, real-time rendering advancements, and evolving player expectations.

What You Bring

• 10+ years of experience in game development, including senior Art Director, Principal Artist, Associate Art Director, or equivalent visual leadership roles.
• Proven success defining and delivering visual direction for commercially successful games across PC & console (mobile and other formats like VR are a plus).
• Exceptional visual literacy across environments, characters, UI, lighting, VFX, and world-building.
• Ability to adapt across a wide range of visual styles, from stylized and genre-driven aesthetics to high-fidelity, realistic experiences.
• Strong understanding of modern art production pipelines, real-time rendering technologies, and game development workflows.
• Demonstrated ability to translate creative vision into scalable visual frameworks executable by distributed teams and external partners.
• Exceptional communication, storytelling, and presentation skills, with experience pitching visual concepts to clients and stakeholders.
• Proven ability to influence and align multidisciplinary teams across studios and cultures without direct management responsibility.
• Experience developing style guides, visual bibles, and look-development documentation that support production execution.
• Familiarity with industry-standard tools and workflows, including modern engines and AI-assisted creative tools.
• Passion for artistic excellence, innovation, and creating memorable visual experiences that define player perception.

This is a hybrid position, however it's currently open to candidates residing in the Greater Montreal Area or willing to relocate to this region. Applicants must be legally authorized to work in Canada.

Salary Range: $185,000-215,000 CAD

Primary working language: English

Benefits

• Comprehensive benefits package that covers Dental Care, Health Care (including out of country coverage), Vision Care, Long Term Disability, Physio, Massage etc.
• Generous leave policies including 4 weeks paid vacation (plus 1 week over the Holiday Season), unlimited sick leave and 2 paid personal days and 1 paid volunteer day. We also provide parental leave top-up and an Employee and Family Assistance Plan that offer 24/7 free and confidential help with your physical and mental health.
• RRSP Matching.
• A dynamic and supportive team environment with a range of experience and an amazing culture

Directeur(-trice) artistique principal(e) - Keywords Amérique (Centre d'excellence créative)

Emplacement : Montréal, QC (hybride/flexible)
Description du poste :

En tant que directeur(-trice) artistique principal(e) - CEC Amérique, vous serez le ou la principal(e) architecte visuel(le) de Keywords en Amérique du Nord.

Vous contribuerez à définir et à faire évoluer l'identité visuelle des produits de la phase exploratoire jusqu'à la production et à la livraison. En plus de jouer un rôle clé dans la création de directions visuelles captivantes facilitant les argumentaires de vente et les nouvelles occasions d'affaires, vous collaborerez avec des studios et des équipes multidisciplinaires tout au long du développement afin de garantir la pleine réalisation de la vision artistique, de la qualité et de la cohérence visuelle recherchées.

Des mondes coopératifs stylisés et accueillants aux univers sombres et réalistes animés par UE5, vous concevrez les identités visuelles capables de couper le souffle au moment de l'argumentaire. Une fois les clients convaincus, vous travaillerez avec les studios d'exécution afin de donner vie à ces visions à grande échelle.

Vous travaillerez au croisement de la vision créative, de l'engagement avec le client et de la collaboration régionale entre studios, aidé(e) par des flux de travail reposant sur l'IA qui accélèrent notre manière d'explorer, de tester et de communiquer nos idées visuelles.

Ce que vous ferez (description des tâches)
Stratégie visuelle et direction artistique

• Définir et faire valoir des directions visuelles captivantes respectant la vision du produit, les attentes du public et les ouvertures du marché pour divers genres, plateformes et styles artistiques.
• Établir les fondements artistiques, les identités visuelles et les structures de style orientant les environnements, les personnages, l'interface utilisateur, les effets visuels, l'éclairage et la présentation générale aux joueurs.
• Traduire les objectifs créatifs en une direction visuelle claire et inspirante ralliant les parties prenantes et créant une forte première impression auprès des clients et des partenaires.
• Assurer la cohérence visuelle et une qualité uniforme entre les projets, tout en mettant en équilibre l'ambition créative, les réalités de la production et les contraintes techniques.

Leadership des argumentaires et engagement client

• Jouer un rôle clé dans la représentation de l'aspect créatif lors des interactions avec les clients, des argumentaires de vente, des ateliers et des initiatives de développement commercial dans toute l'Amérique du Nord.
• S'associer à la direction créative régionale et aux équipes de développement commercial pour créer des cibles visuelles convaincantes, des tableaux d'inspiration (mood boards) et des ressources d'argumentaire à même de décrocher des affaires.
• Développer des explorations visuelles, des structures de style et des ressources de présentation communiquant clairement la vision artistique et le potentiel de la production.
• Présenter et exprimer clairement la direction visuelle aux clients, parties prenantes et équipes i