At Velan Studios, we foster a culture of curiosity. Our games embrace diversity and are fueled by the adventurous spirit of our team. We are the creative minds behind titles like Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, Knockout City, Hot Wheels Rift Rally, Midnight Murder Club as well as the VR game Bounce Arcade, and our journey continues! Our studio's mission is to pioneer groundbreaking gaming experiences and reimagine play in new ways. We're committed to pushing the boundaries of traditional gaming, blurring the lines between reality and fantasy, and revolutionizing the industry one game at a time.
Are you looking for a rare opportunity to help shape the next generation of artists in a growing, mid-sized game studio. If you’re excited about bringing both strategic vision and a genuine commitment to nurturing talent across every level of the art department we’d like to talk to you! Velan Studios is looking for a Specialist or Principal level Artist to fill a role as the Studio Art Manager
We’re seeking a seasoned leader, reporting to the CEO, to lead and grow our art organization across Toronto and Troy studios. This role will oversee a team of approximately 30+ artists working under a structured hierarchy of senior people managers, project leads and sub-leads, ensuring the department delivers exceptional quality across all projects while cultivating a strong culture of feedback, development, and creative excellence.
Responsibilities
- Leadership & Mentorship
- As a key partner in building our next generation of creative talent, the Studio Art Manager will work closely with senior people managers to empower their project leads, strengthen feedback loops and ensure the department maintains a strong bench of artists ready for new challenges.
- Lead and coach senior people managers, ensuring they in turn mentor leads and sub-leads with clarity and consistency.
- Champion career development frameworks, succession planning, and skill-building initiatives to strengthen the internal talent pipeline.
- Setting job expectations for disciplines at every stage; from job postings, hiring, onboarding, year-end reviews, while ensuring clarity and consistency across people leaders.
- Strategic & Operational Impact
- Partner with Studio Leadership and Production to define the long-term art vision, standards, and goals for both locations.
- Oversee art resource planning and headcount allocation across all active projects, balancing creative ambitions with production needs.
- Partnering with Human Resources and Production to foresee hiring needs based on current and future project needs as well as recruiting, internships, outsourcing, external outreach, and external developer relationships
- Creative Direction & Quality
- Collaborate closely with Game Directors, Art Directors, and department leads to uphold the studio’s visual identity and artistic direction.
- Identify and drive departmental initiatives that improve artistic quality, workflow efficiency, and cross-discipline collaboration.
- Support creative problem-solving and ensure alignment between creative goals and practical production realities.
- Culture & Collaboration
- Serve as a cultural leader across both locations, building trust, alignment, and shared artistic standards.
- Promote strong communication channels across teams and studios to ensure consistency and cohesion in the art organization.
- Model empathy, inclusion, and leadership transparency as cornerstones of team culture.
Requirements
- 10+ years of experience in game art leadership or related creative leadership roles.
- Experience managing multi-level hierarchies within a production environment, with a total team size of 50+ artists.
- Proven ability to balance creative excellence with operational decision-making.
- Strong understanding of art production pipelines, tools, and resource planning.
- Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills; able to inspire, influence, and develop others.
- Has shipped multiple games in an art-focused role: concept, character, environment, illustration, world-building, etc.
- Experience using Unity, Unreal, or proprietary engines, software, and tools.
- Experience with modern workflows and knowledge of the entire lifecycle of a project, for current AAA games both large and small.
- Excellent collaboration and both written and verbal communication skills.
Job Location & Compensation Info
This is a hybrid or onsite position. Hybrid is 3 days a week in studio. Our studio is located in Toronto, ON.
Periodic travel between Toronto and the Capital Region (Troy, NY) will be required based on candidate’s home location.
The salary for this position is typically within the range specified below* per year. Please note that the actual base pay may vary based on factors such as your qualifications, skills, experience, and other relevant considerations.
*Specialist $95,000.-$145,000. CAD
*Principal $115,000.-$170,000. CAD
Velan Studios is dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace, so if you are excited about a role, but your experience doesn’t align perfectly, we encourage you to submit a General Application. Velan Studios is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to inclusion, diversity, and providing a workplace free from discrimination and harassment. We seek to create a work culture that matches the diversity of our players.
Top Skills
What We Do
Velan Studios is a new development studio made up of a diverse team of game industry veterans. We have created hundreds of games, selling millions of copies over the past 25 years. Our team is embarking on a new journey to create breakthrough experimental games that will stoke the imagination and entertain, and new kinds of experiences that push the frontier of gaming forward.
