Art Director, 2D (Casual, Slot Games)

📍 Location: [Remote]

✨ Role Overview

The Art Director, 2D will be the chief visual leader for our casual and slot game portfolio. You will be responsible for defining, driving, and maintaining the artistic vision and quality across multiple projects, ensuring all visuals are highly polished, market-driven, and perfectly aligned with product goals. This role requires a balance of exceptional artistic skill, strategic market insight, and proven leadership ability to inspire and guide a team of talented 2D Artists and Animators.

🎯 Key Responsibilities

I. Vision & Strategy

• Define Art Style: Establish the unique, high-quality 2D visual style, aesthetic, and brand identity for new and live casual and slot titles, including themes, characters, environments, and special features.
• Market Alignment: Conduct competitive analysis and research market trends (e.g., color palettes, popular themes, visual features) in the casual and iGaming sectors to ensure our art direction is commercially viable and competitive.
• Create Style Guides: Develop and maintain comprehensive visual style guides, references, and art pipelines that ensure visual consistency and technical efficiency across all projects and assets.
• Concept Development: Lead the initial concept phase, providing hands-on input, sketches, and mood boards to translate high-level design briefs and narratives into visual reality.

II. Team Leadership & Management

• Mentorship and Guidance: Lead, mentor, and motivate the 2D Art team, providing clear, constructive, and actionable creative feedback on all assets to elevate overall team quality.
• Hiring & Development: Participate in the recruitment, interviewing, and evaluation of 2D Artists, helping to grow and develop the team's skillset.
• Process Optimization: Establish efficient art creation workflows and best practices, integrating new tools (including AI-assisted pipelines) to maximize team throughput while maintaining quality.
• Resource Planning: Collaborate with clients and the internal team to manage project timelines, allocate resources effectively, and mitigate art-related risks to ensure on-time delivery.

III. Collaboration & Quality Assurance

• Cross-Functional Partnership: Work closely with Game Designers, Product Managers, and Development Leads from the client side and internal art and animation teams to ensure the visual design enhances gameplay, maximizes player engagement, and meets all technical and platform constraints.
• Final Quality Review: Be the final approver for all 2D assets, animations, and marketing visuals, ensuring they meet the highest standard of polish required for a global audience.
• UI/UX Oversight: Provide critical artistic direction on the UI and UX, ensuring visual elements are intuitive, clear, and engaging for players in high-stakes slot environments.

✅ Essential Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional experience in Game Development, with at least 2+ years in a Lead Artist, Principal Artist, or Art Director role.
• Mandatory experience working specifically on Casual Mobile Games and/or iGaming/Slot Titles, with a portfolio demonstrating success in these highly stylized and market-driven genres.
• Expert proficiency in Adobe Photoshop and other industry-standard 2D software.
• Exceptional understanding of art fundamentals: composition, light, shadow, form, color theory, and visual hierarchy.
• Proven ability to establish, communicate, and enforce a cohesive and high-quality art style across a multi-project environment.
• Strong leadership, time management, and problem-solving skills, with experience managing and mentoring a team of artists.
• English level - B2-C1

➕ Desirable Skills (Will be a Strong Plus)

• Experience with 2D animation software (e.g., Spine, After Effects) and an understanding of motion principles, particularly for high-impact slot features (Big Wins, Bonus Rounds).
• Familiarity with game engines (Unity or Unreal) and asset integration workflows.
• Knowledge of emerging technologies and tools, such as AI-assisted art generation.