[Hiring] 3D Art Lead @Storytoys

Role Description

The 3D Art Lead is responsible for the people, craft and technical development of the 3D discipline within StoryToys' mobile games development team. The role combines strong people leadership with expert knowledge of end-to-end real-time 3D production, from modelling, UVs and texturing through rigging, skinning, animation, Unity implementation and mobile optimisation.

The role owns the health and continuous development of StoryToys' 3D production workflow, establishing scalable standards, identifying bottlenecks and working across Art, Engineering, Technical Art, Production, QA and Creative to deliver high-quality, efficient and maintainable 3D content.

The 3D Art Lead is also responsible for developing team capability through mentoring, performance management, recruitment and resource planning, while remaining technically credible and sufficiently hands-on to investigate problems, prototype solutions and provide effective artistic and technical direction.

Main Duties & Responsibilities

• Leadership & People Management
  • Lead, coach and support the 3D art team, creating an environment for high-quality work and skill development.
  • Conduct regular 1:1s with direct reports, set expectations and development goals, provide timely performance feedback, identify training opportunities and performance interventions.
  • Participate in portfolio reviews, interviews, hiring decisions, onboarding, training and mentoring for 3D art roles.
• Strategic Planning & Resource Management
  • Work with the Art Manager / Head of Art, Production and project leads to allocate 3D team members according to project needs.
  • Support task planning, estimation, prioritisation, dependency management and risk identification within an Agile production environment.
• 3D Pipeline Ownership & Process Improvement
  • Own the health and continuous development of the 3D production pipeline.
  • Ensure 3D assets are correctly integrated into Unity and workflows remain efficient.
• Technical Leadership & Quality Assurance
  • Act as the 3D technical representative when working with Engineering, Technical Art, Production and other teams.
  • Review 3D work and provide clear, actionable feedback across various disciplines.
  • Remain close enough to production to investigate problems and provide support.
  • Ensure assets are optimised for mobile platforms without compromising quality.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration & Partnerships
  • Partner closely with Technical Artists to improve the overall 3D production workflow.
  • Work closely with designers, programmers, technical artists, producers and QA to ensure successful implementation of 3D assets.
• Continuous Improvement & Risk Management
  • Investigate recurring or high-impact issues affecting 3D production.
  • Support the growth of the 3D discipline within the Art Department.

Qualifications

• Extensive professional experience in 3D art for games, animation, interactive media or a closely related field.
• Expert knowledge of real-time 3D production workflows.
• Advanced proficiency in Maya across core 3D production disciplines.
• Strong working knowledge of Substance Painter and relevant Adobe Creative Cloud applications.
• Portfolio or showreel demonstrating high-quality 3D artwork and relevant production experience.
• Strong professional experience using Unity.
• Strong understanding of mobile optimisation principles.
• Experience collaborating with Technical Artists and Engineers.
• Experience using version control systems, such as Git.

Desirable

• Knowledge of shaders, visual effects (VFX), lighting and Unity rendering pipelines.
• Proven experience leading, mentoring or managing artists.
• Strong communication, listening, problem-solving and leadership skills.
• Proven experience improving 3D production pipelines or workflows.
• Professional experience within the games industry, ideally in mobile game development.
• A degree in Fine Arts, Game Design, Computer Graphics, Animation or a related discipline.

Education

• A degree in Fine Arts, Game Design, Computer Graphics, Animation or a related field is preferred but not mandatory.