Senior Manager, Lead Character Artist

About the Role & Team

Disney Digital Entertainment, a division of Disney Experiences, is embarking on a mission to create the ‘digital front door’ for The Walt Disney Company, bringing all of the magic of Disney together into a new interactive universe!

We are building an expert development team that will be building a groundbreaking game experience that will herald the next generation of Disney to the world. Working with top-class industry talent, this role is perfect for the accomplished character artist and leader looking to create something epic - collaborating with an incredible group of game developers focusing on individual experiences to build a wonderfully rich and cohesive product that is truly “Disney”.

We are looking for a uniquely talented Sr. Manager, Lead Character Artist to join us on a daring and exciting new project. Are you an imaginative creative leader with superb art skills, and have a love of Disney/Pixar, Star Wars and Marvel properties? If so, you’ll want to check out this opportunity!

The Sr. Manager, Lead Character Artist will report to the Director, Art

What You Will Do

• Lead, manage and grow an internal team of highly talented character artists
• Collaborate with artists, designers, and other disciplines to create engaging, inspiring and compelling 3D characters, costumes, fashion, props and items based on Disney’s robust portfolio of worlds and characters including Disney/Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars.
• Use Maya, ZBrush, Substance, Marvelous Designer and Unreal Engine 5 to build high quality assets, sculpts and materials.
• Iterate on game assets, characters and costume designs with fellow artists via paint overs, studies, and group critiques to improve visuals and gameplay.
• Work closely with production and other discipline leads to coordinate and maintain team and project schedules.
• Champion, document and implement in-game character performance standards and evangelize best practices for asset creation, materials, lighting, etc.
• Serve as a key member of a growing game development team, helping to create and ensure a genuine Disney experience.

Required Qualifications & Skills

• Validated ability to build and manage teams, assess performance, provide leadership and creatively solve problems.
• Excellent focus on artistic quality and solid knowledge of current game development techniques used to achieve specific visual targets.
• Ability to successfully articulate and provide timely, actionable visual feedback to a diverse team of artists.
• Solid understanding of character and creature anatomy as well as fundamental visual design principles including color, composition, form, shape, structure, silhouette, scale, surface properties and lighting
• Experience developing character related content using Unreal Engine and/or UEFN as well as UE-specific character implementation and optimization techniques.
• Demonstrated problem-solving ability and passion to build something new and innovative.
• A portfolio of work that accurately represents your personal and team-based artistic achievements.

Education

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education and experience in Art and/or Design
• 8 years of PC and console game development experience, including holding a position of Character Artist and/or Lead for at least 3 years.

Additional Information

• Application must include a portfolio showcasing designs of retail environments. Please share or disable any passwords for efficient review of portfolios.

Our Benefits: Disney offers a rewards package to help you live your best life. This includes health and savings benefits, educational opportunities and special extras that only Disney can provide. Learn more about our benefits and perks at https://jobs.disneycareers.com/benefits

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The hiring range for this remote position is $143,800 to $221,700 per year, which factors in various geographic regions. The base pay actually offered will take into account internal equity and also may vary depending on the candidate’s geographic region, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience among other factors. A bonus and/or long-term incentive units may be provided as part of the compensation package, in addition to the full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits, dependent on the level and position offered.