About Salto

We’re a new mobile game studio founded by two industry veterans who have held leadership positions at renowned companies, including Hutch, Square-Enix, Socialpoint and Gameloft. We’ve recently been backed by a team of business angel superstars who are ready to provide their expertise for this journey.

We’re aiming to carve a unique niche: creating games that bridge the gap between casual and midcore, for players who love gaming but don’t necessarily label themselves as gamers.

The role

As a Senior/Lead Artist, you’ll be pivotal in crafting the visual style of our games, appealing to our target audience and guiding a talented art team. Join a studio with big ambitions, a clear mission, and a culture of small, happy and autonomous teams!

Responsibilities

Creative Leadership

• Deliver high quality assets for our first game in your area of expertise - whether it’s concept art, illustration, 3D modelling, UI design, VFX or other areas.

• Create and maintain a clear artistic vision for the game.

• Direct our outsource partners to ensure a cohesive art style across all game and marketing assets.

• Help to define effective art pipelines and processes.

• Lead with creativity and pragmatism, understanding that perfect is the enemy of good.

Cross-team collaboration

• Work with the Technical Director to ensure that Salto tooling is delivering value for the artists, optimising development and improving quality. 

• Drive the creative marketing effort on the game. Collaborate with the Performance Marketing team, research industry trends, understand what’s working and iterate creatives quickly.

• Identify risks to artistic delivery at Salto. Actively seek solutions to uphold and develop the quality, consistency and timeliness of artistic output. 

Team Management 

• Help with hiring for the team as it grows, including identifying strategic hires and skills gaps, creating role descriptions, interviewing and onboarding.

• Mentor the Art team at Salto. Drive a culture that leverages and actively develops team skills and experience. 

• Lead by example. Be a champion for a happy and healthy studio culture. Ensure team members feel empowered at work through a process of empathetic, reflective management and motivation.

Requirements

• Ability to define and work within a range of art styles. 

• Previous experience working as a Senior / Lead Artist on a successful mobile title.

• Competency with Unity. Familiar with technical constraints and optimisation. 

• An excellent communicator with the ability to provide clear art direction, feedback and mentoring tailored to the skill level of team members across all Art disciplines.

• The ability to work in a Lean development environment, creating work quickly for release.

• A deep understanding of how game art/visual design supports gameplay, UX, narrative and brand positioning / marketing.

• Able to communicate and propagate the artistic vision through graphic design, 2D concepts, layout, type, UI, animatics, etc.

• Excellent understanding of composition.

• Experience with 3D, texturing and lighting.

• High competency with the required 3D and 2D software such as; Maya, Blender, Adobe suite.

Bonus points

• Management / art direction experience

• Experience with motion graphics.

• Experience in marketing & the testing of art styles.

• Worked with external outsourcers and design agencies. 

• Able to implement UI, 3D, VFX assets directly in Unity.

• Previous experience working on LiveOps.

Please include a portfolio/reel or PDF/links to examples of your work in the application.

Location

Initially fully remote, and moving to a hybrid work model after roughly 6 months - 3 days a week (Monday, Thursday & Friday) in person in our studio in London, with the remaining 2 days available to work from home.

Benefits

• Flexible working

• Contributory Pension

• Tax advantaged share options

• 31 days holiday (inc. bank holidays)

• Additional company-wide holiday recharge time over the Christmas period

• Free drinks and snacks in the office

• Socials and events

Salto Games is an equal opportunity employer committed to creating a diverse and supportive work environment. We believe the magic of games stems from the diverse voices that craft them, serving both our teams and the wide array of players we represent. Our commitment to equality and respect spans across all aspects of employment, welcoming individuals from all backgrounds. We adhere to a strict non-discrimination policy regarding age, disability, sex, ethnicity, religion or belief, gender identity and expression, marital/civil partnership status, pregnancy/maternity, or sexual orientation.

If you have any uncertainties about fitting in, or reservations about a career in the games industry, please do reach out. We want to get to know you and are always interested in hearing people’s stories. Your unique perspective is invaluable to us!