Art Director (Video games)

This is an 18-month project position initially with potential for extension based on project needs. Full benefits package included.

We're looking for an Art Director with UI/UX experience to design a new suite of 3D educational game-like simulations for K-12 students. You'll be setting the visual direction of our proof-of-concepts and eventual products across multiple subject areas (like human anatomy, engineering, environment), including 2D, 3D and UI elements. It's a hands-on role in a small team, with some access to external freelance/contract resources where needed, and potentially working with external development teams. Our current goal is to establish the product direction, so you should love mocking-up from scratch - we're in the early stages and working with a blank canvas. Although we're in rapid prototype mode as we iterate on our ideas, we need to ensure eventual scalability and so pipeline development experience is important. You should be comfortable working within a game engine environment and with all the latest tools coming online.

There are two big challenges for this role: 1. Creating cohesion amongst very differently seeming teaching subjects, and 2. communicating sometimes complex mechanics and information in a digital environment (think how the Civilization games manage to not overwhelm the player). The perfect person will have a mix between traditional art direction (across 2D and 3D) and good UI/UX design experiences.

Primary accountabilities:

• Developing mock-ups across 2D, 3D and UI and creating consistency across experiences (a strong emphasis on UI)
• Implementing ideas (quick and dirty) for rapid prototype testing within game engines
• Assembling and coordinating with external resources where needed
• Establishing and key parts of the art pipeline

About the George Lucas Educational Foundation

Working at the George Lucas Educational Foundation means collaborating with a small, creative team that is passionate about transforming pre-K12 education. The Foundation fosters a business culture where ideas and decisions from all people help us grow, innovate, and pursue our mission to improve education in a rapidly changing world. Our staff members are excellent at what they do, ready to learn more, and open to trying new ways of doing things in order to best deliver on the Foundation's mission.

About Lucas Learning

This division sits alongside Edutopia and Lucas Educational Research. It focuses on bringing STEM learning simulations into K-12 that leverage rigorous project-based learning design principles. Lucas Learning aims to take a partnership-first strategy by working with organizations that are already advanced in developing educational simulations. We're a newly established lean and primarily remote team.

Requirements

Education / Experience:

• Relevant Fine Arts, Industrial Design qualification, or equivalent experience
• 10+ years in Art production for games or interactive experiences, with at least 5 working in primarily 3D environments
• 5+ years as an Art Director in a gaming studio or equivalent
• Experience working from a blank canvas

Required Skills / Competencies:

• Familiar with AI creation for concept art
• Strong UI and usability instincts
• Frequent experience in rapid prototyping in-engine, or using figma etc
• Experience with 3D real-time experiences
• A master of tools such as blender, maya, and comfortable working in Unity/Unreal
• Pipeline building

Technical Skills:

• Highly proficient in tools for end-to-end art production, from concepting to implementation:
• Maya
• Blender
• Substance
• Houdini
• Figma
• Unreal/Unity
• Adobe suite

Bonus points:

• Experience working on products for 12-15 year olds

The full-time salary range is between $140K and $170k, with exact salary depending on experience, skills, geographic location, performance, and business or organizational needs.

Benefits

The George Lucas Educational Foundation offers comprehensive health, vision, and dental insurance; an employer match of up to 6% of your salary for your retirement fund, vested immediately; and an annual education stipend to spend on professional development.