Art Manager

Who We Are: 

Founded by an MMO legend who has led AAA teams for over 20 years, our new studio Fantastic Pixel Castle (FPC) is building an original fantasy IP from scratch. Players will be regularly engaged in our development process from early stages as part of our open and transparent studio culture, and we aim to craft an IP that will be worthy of their passion and dedication for decades to come.

We are committed to being a fully remote and global studio, so that we can hire world-class people and have them live their best lives. We think top-heavy bureaucracy stifles creativity, so we aim to stay small as we focus on delivering a game and a world that players will love. We are fully-funded, and the team will share in all of our studio's successes. We're seeking talented teammates to join us in our journey so we encourage you to apply if you're interested, even if you're not sure you check all the boxes.

Position Overview: 

Are you an empathetic leader of creative talent, with experience coordinating game content with outsourcing partners and freelancers, in the AAA gaming space? Fantastic Pixel Castle is thoughtfully assembling experienced, world-class creative talent team that identifies equally as game developers as they would as artists. We’re building a fully remote Art department, that is highly motivated and passionate about collaborating with some of the best talent in the industry, to build our new MMO, codenamed GHOST.

The Art Manager will be in charge of managing communication between internal artists and a variety of freelance and outsource creatives. In addition to supporting and growing our internal team, the Art Manager will also assemble requirements, document existing content pipelines, gather example assets and references, and craft it into step-by-step instructional art assignments for our world-class outsourcing partners. This role will foster relationships with our outsourcing partners by giving clear and concise feedback, providing paint-overs, documenting succinct notes, and ultimately organizing files between FPC and external artists.

Our ideal candidate is an experienced Art Manager that has worked on AAA games and franchises as a Lead Artist, Art Director, and/or Art Manager. The Art Manager will work closely with our internal team of artists by helping grow their careers, manage their day-to-day work load and long term schedule, and reinforce a culture of inclusivity and excellence.

This is a rare opportunity to become a core team member, playing a pivotal role in shaping and nurturing the culture of our creative collective, establishing best practices, and empowering both internal and external artists to produce world-class content. 

Art Department Manager:

• Help manage a high-functioning team of creative artists by coordinating their workloads, aiding to develop their skills, and supporting them in their career journeys
• Reinforce a healthy culture of inclusivity, excellence, creative teamwork and collaboration between the Art team and other designers, artists, producers, game leads, and studio leadership
• Work closely with the Art Director and VP of Creative to ensure the internal and external team is always working on and towards the right priorities
• Monitor, track, and anticipate art resource requirements and availability across the studio and the project milestone needs (including participating in the recruitment process for our art department)
• In addition to working with our internal team, this role coordinates the execution of externally crafted and commissioned artwork with outsourcing and freelance partnerships around the world: 
• Pipeline development and ongoing communication to ensure quality game-asset deliverables
• Generate and gather detailed documentation, video references, example art assets, production procedures, and technical requirements to support external artists
• Provide essential feedback and insight to the team leadership while communicating staffing and potential partner needs as they arise
• Clearly communicate feedback to external artists and teams, while ensuring that notes and goals are relayed to our internal team of artists, designers, engineers, and production staff for content alignment 
• Regular communication to the project leads with the status of art deliverables, dependencies, and risks
• Foster long-term relationships with outsource partners to build trust, passion, and craft excellence in best practices and techniques

Requirements:

• 12+ years of experience on a AAA game
• Proven creative and empathetic leader with experience growing a department from the early phases of development through ship
• Track record building strong and transparent communication channels with internal artists and developers, while also empowering external partners with clear feedback, art direction, and support
• Experience helping to solve complex asset pipeline problems and collaborating with tech artists and engineers
• Experience growing an art team and helping to identify and hire mid-level to senior artist with incredible talent and a strong potential to grow in a creative environment

US Salary Band: $134,000 - 205,000 USD 

CA Salary Band: $110,000 - 146,000 CAD