Lead Prop Artist

Proletariat, Inc. is seeking a Lead Prop Artist to join us in our work on World of Warcraft. In this role, you will guide, support, inspire, and manage Prop Artists as they fill out the game’s world with new items that WoW’s characters will carry, wear, and interact with, from a simple melted candle, to a legendary weapon, to an Orc battle wagon. You will concept, model, and texture props for World of Warcraft from start to finish and offer insightful and creative guidance. Set an example for our team with your detailed understanding of environmental storytelling, artistic composition, mastery of tools, and understanding of art pipeline and production processes. You are an organized time manager, problem solver, originator of process, partner to other leads, team morale booster, a patient and empathetic communicator and listener, and an out-of-the-box thinker.

 Responsibilities:

• Be the voice for the Proletariat Prop Art team to the wider Proletariat and Blizzard teams.
• Work with the Art Directors and other Art Leads to shape and uphold direction and vision for props from various cultures in WoW, communicate it to the team, and set the tone for environmental storytelling with fresh ideas and technically solid execution.
• Mentor, motivate, collaborate with,and guide Prop Artists; amplify their strengths, review their work on technical and aesthetic bases, and stay aware of their workloads, including support of the team’s work/life balance.
• Provide guidance in Prop Art processes and instruct the team regarding new processes and software to match project needs
• Be a driving force in creating a welcoming and respectful atmosphere for collaboration, communication, and creativity, with an emphasis on the values of diversity and inclusion.
• Assist in running the day-to-day workflow and create and maintain process documentation for Prop Art-related processes.
• Establish clear and consistent schedules in conjunction with Producers, and identify potential problems in the art pipeline and work with other project leads to prevent them.
• Interview, hire, and train new team members in collaboration with the Recruitment team.
• Lead the team in shaping ideas, consistent vision, and production-ready concept art

Your Background:

• Extensive experience concepting, modeling, and texturing high quality prop and weapon art for games, animation, or film, with some leadership or mentorship experience
• Portfolio examples that show a strong understanding of traditional art principles including composition, shape language, color theory, and visual storytelling
• Portfolio examples that show experience in stylized material pipelines
• In-depth knowledge of technology, terminology, and techniques of game art development, including an awareness of design and programming considerations
• Positively influences team morale and empowers team members, able to clearly communicate expectations and rally team around an objective.
• Leads with empathy, strong ethics, flexibility, confidence, self-awareness, and the ability to see all sides of complex situations.
• Able to communicate artistic issues to non-artists; strong presentation skills
• Brings creativity and initiative to both preproduction and production concept tasks and adapts swiftly to new themes and directions
• Ability to provide oversight to multiple timelines, self-manage and meet deadlines, able to work unsupervised for long periods and able to supervise others.

• Can be relied upon to quickly learn new processes and software as needed.
• Experience working in an iterative, agile environment.
• Self-directed, enthusiastic, positive, embraces critiques.
• Understands the audience and appreciates games

Send us

• Resume/CV
• Cover Letter
• Link to your portfolio

• Healthcare, dental, and vision, most of which are 100% sponsored by Proletariat to cover you and your family.
• 401K plan with generous matching contributions.
• Wellness reimbursements and discounts
• Flexible working hours.
• Our office is currently still remote, but we look forward to moving to an optional hybrid model in the future. If you’re based outside of the Boston-area and you’re not looking to relocate, we understand! Just let us know your situation during your phone screen conversation, and we’ll see if we can accommodate making a remote hire!

Proletariat values a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status.

We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.