Art Manager

Kwalee is one of the world’s leading multiplatform game publishers and developers, with well over 750 million downloads worldwide for mobile hits such as Draw It, Teacher Simulator, Let’s Be Cops 3D, Traffic Cop 3D and Makeover Studio 3D. Alongside this, we also have a growing PC and Console team of incredible pedigree that is on the hunt for great new titles to join TENS!, Eternal Hope and Die by the Blade. 

With a team of talented people collaborating daily between our studios in Leamington Spa, Bangalore and Beijing, or on a remote basis from Turkey, Brazil, the Philippines and many more places, we have a truly global team making games for a global audience. And it’s paying off: Kwalee games have been downloaded in every country on earth! If you think you’re a good fit for one of our remote vacancies, we want to hear from you wherever you are based.

Founded in 2011 by David Darling CBE, a key architect of the UK games industry who previously co-founded and led Codemasters for many years, our team also includes legends such as Andrew Graham (creator of Micro Machines series) and Jason Falcus (programmer of classics including NBA Jam) alongside a growing and diverse team of global gaming experts. Everyone contributes creatively to Kwalee’s success, with all employees eligible to pitch their own game ideas on Creative Wednesdays, and we’re proud to have built our success on this inclusive principle. Could your idea be the next global hit?

What’s the job?

As our Art Manager you’ll be part of the core art team working to improve our processes, hit our deadlines, source and manage outsourcers, and upskill the other members of the team. 

What you will be doing 

• Working closely with Department Leaders to optimise how the Art Department operates and define and establish best practices

• Organising and managing Art documentation, libraries and workshops.

• Driving recruitment for the Art Department.  Working closely with HR and senior management to improve the hiring process and being responsible for onboarding and offboarding of staff.

• Ensuring that the team is adequately resourced to meet the studio’s requirements

• Being an advocate for the Art Team.  Championing art requirements and needs in stakeholder meetings.  Evangelising working practices within the art team and elsewhere.  Promoting a positive inclusive team culture 

• Working with Art Leads in identifying areas or individuals in need of support and managing teams personal development

• Facilitating collaboration with external and internal teams and ensuring strong communication between teams and departments.

• Searching for, evaluating, and managing outsource partners to support our internal efforts

How you will be doing this

• You’ll be part of an agile, multidisciplinary and creative team and work closely with them to ensure the best results.

• You'll think creatively and be motivated by challenges and constantly striving for the best.

• You’ll work with cutting edge technology, if you need software or hardware to get the job done efficiently, you will get it. We even have a robot!

Team

Our talented team is our signature. We have a highly creative atmosphere with more than 200 staff where you’ll have the opportunity to contribute daily to important decisions. You’ll work within an extremely experienced, passionate and diverse team, including David Darling and the creator of the Micro Machines video games.

Skills and requirements

• Have a minimum of 5+ years experience in the games industry (Ideally mobile / hypercasual) with at least 3 years as a lead

• Strong leadership and interpersonal skills.

• Proven experience of supporting artists across disciplines and workflows, with the ability to identify workflow issues and implement solutions to mitigate them.

• Experience working collaboratively and productively in cross discipline teams

• Self motivated and self sufficient

• Strong aesthetic judgement

• Well versed in a range of Art production tools (Maya,Photoshop,Illustrator,After Effects etc)

• Familiar with a range of Management tools (JIRA, Trello, etc)

• Familiar with Git

• Knowledge of Unity and other game engines

• Strong visual, verbal and written communication skills evidenced through experience as a mentor to others and authoring clear detailed documentation 

• Scheduling, budgeting and outsourcing experience

• Fluent in English, both written and verbally

Desirable

• A strong interest in mobile games

We offer

• We want everyone involved in our games to share our success, that’s why we have a generous team profit sharing scheme from day 1 of employment

• In addition to a competitive salary we also offer private medical cover and life assurance

• Creative Wednesdays!  (Design and make your own games every Wednesday)

• 20 days of paid holidays plus bank holidays 

• Hybrid model available depending on the department and the role

• Relocation support available 

• Great work-life balance with flexible working hours

• Quarterly team building days - work hard, play hard!

• Monthly employee awards

• Free snacks, fruit and drinks

Our philosophy

We firmly believe in creativity and innovation and that a fundamental requirement for a successful and happy company is having the right mix of individuals. With the right people in the right environment anything and everything is possible.

Kwalee makes games to bring people, their stories, and their interests together. As an employer, we’re dedicated to making sure that everyone can thrive within our team by welcoming and supporting people of all ages, races, colours, beliefs, sexual orientations, genders and circumstances. With the inclusion of diverse voices in our teams, we bring plenty to the table that’s fresh, fun and exciting; it makes for a better environment and helps us to create better games for everyone! This is how we move forward as a company – because these voices are the difference that make all the difference.