The Role
Lead a team of artists in creating high-quality visuals, focusing on animal and creature design, while managing art production and team development.
Summary Generated by Built In
We are seeking a talented Lead Character Artist to join our dynamic Development team at Avalanche Studios Group in Stockholm. In this role, you'll act as a vital link between our Art Director and a team of artists, ensuring the artistic vision is translated into outstanding visual content, with a strong emphasis on animal and creature design. If you're passionate about leadership, realism-driven creature art, and long-term creative excellence, we want to hear from you.
What you'll do
- Lead and inspire a team of talented artists, clearly communicating and implementing the artistic vision to deliver exceptional quality visuals, with a strong focus on animals, and characters.
- Act as a subject-matter expert in animal anatomy, behavior, and realism, ensuring authenticity and visual credibility across all creature assets.
- Oversee visual asset creation, ensuring artwork meets productivity, delivery, and quality benchmarks throughout the pipeline.
- Collaborate cross-functionally with designers, developers, and other stakeholders to resolve bottlenecks, improve workflows, and foster a positive, high-performing team culture.
- Occasionally contribute hands-on to asset creation, using your artistic expertise to guide quality, consistency, and problem-solving at a high level.
- Advocate for systemic improvements, scalable solutions, and long-term thinking within art production and pipelines.
People Management
- Support your direct reports throughout their entire employee journey, from hiring and onboarding to performance evaluations and career growth.
- Actively engage in team members’ professional development by providing constructive feedback, mentorship, and clear growth paths.
- Handle administrative responsibilities such as approving time reports, leave requests, and maintaining accurate employee records.
- Serve as a company representative regarding organizational, cultural, and legal responsibilities, ensuring compliance with workplace standards, employee privacy, and working conditions.
Who you are
- Extensive experience in game development within Art departments, with a high degree of expertise in animal and creature design, as well as strong foundations in general character art.
- Deep understanding of realistic anatomy, materials, fur/skin workflows, and creature-specific production challenges.
- Proven leadership skills with a track record of coaching and developing high-performing art teams.
- Strong organizational and communication skills, able to align artistic goals across multiple disciplines.
- Experience with or strong interest in pipeline creation, optimization, and long-term workflow improvements.
- A proactive, solution-oriented mindset and a passion for improving both creative quality and production efficiency.
Note: Research shows under-represented groups in the industry might not apply to a job if they don’t check off every requirement. At Avalanche, we’re more about your drive to learn and interest in tackling challenges than what’s on your resume! So don’t stress if you don’t tick every box— shoot us your application anyway! Diverse opinions and different experiences are what make our teams so great, not itemized lists of qualifications.
The Stockholm location
Our Stockholm office is situated in Södermalm, the beating heart of the city’s game industry. It’s a physical representation of our games – the lush vegetation of Just Cause and theHunter: Call of the Wild meets corroded metal straight out of Mad Max. Our hybrid model requires you to be in the office on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays to foster collaboration and creativity.
Our values
At Avalanche Studios Group, we create worlds beyond limits. But that’s not exclusive to our games, so we’re committed to developing a diverse and inclusive workplace. All Avalanchers have a shared responsibility to create an open work environment where everyone is treated equally and respectfully. Being part of our world is not contingent on your heritage, your gender, or sexual orientation. It’s all about your passion and creativity.
How to apply
To apply for this position, please register below and provide your CV in English. We review applications continuously. All further studio-related information is provided under a non-disclosure agreement.
At Avalanche Studios Group we're always on the lookout for talented individuals to join our passionate team, but please note that relocation assistance is not available for this role.
Skills Required
- Extensive experience in game development within Art departments
- High degree of expertise in animal and creature design
- Proven leadership skills with track record of coaching and developing teams
- Deep understanding of realistic anatomy and materials
- Experience with pipeline creation and optimization
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The Company
What We Do
Avalanche Studios Group is a leading interactive entertainment company, offering a rich portfolio of games from its divisions Avalanche Studios, Expansive Worlds, and Systemic Reaction, including the Just Cause franchise, Rage 2, theHunter: Call of the Wild, and Generation Zero. Avalanche Studios Group is committed to being a truly inclusive and sustainable workplace that creates innovative games through the power of our people’s creativity. All of Avalanche Studios Group games are developed using the proprietary Apex engine, enabling vast open worlds with endless creative possibilities. Learn more at www.avalanchestudios.com/
