📍 Toronto, ON, Canada | Full-Time | Manager / Supervisor
About Certain Affinity
Certain Affinity is a world-class game development studio dedicated to creating innovative, high-quality gaming experiences. Our diverse team of talented professionals delivers exceptional content for AAA titles, collaborating with some of the biggest names in the industry. We value creativity, technical excellence, collaboration, and a culture of continuous growth.
We are seeking an experienced and passionate Lead Character Artist to join our Toronto studio. This is a leadership position where you will play a key role in defining the artistic vision for characters and creatures, guiding a team of artists, and ensuring consistent, high-quality work across multiple projects.
Role Overview
As Lead Character Artist, you will be responsible for leading and mentoring the character art team while collaborating closely with project Art Directors, technical teams, and project leadership. You will set the artistic direction, develop workflows, and ensure that all characters meet aesthetic, technical, and performance standards.
This role requires a blend of creative vision, technical expertise, and leadership skills. You’ll not only produce exceptional art but also inspire and guide your team to deliver work that exceeds expectations.
Key Responsibilities
- Work closely with Art Directors and project leadership to develop and maintain a clear artistic style for characters, creatures, and related assets.
- Lead and mentor the character art team, fostering professional growth, collaboration, and a high level of creative satisfaction.
- Provide clear, constructive feedback and direction on artistic and technical aspects of character creation.
- Define, document, and refine workflows and pipelines for character art creation, ensuring efficiency and quality across projects.
- Collaborate with technical teams to optimize assets for performance without compromising artistic quality.
- Build and maintain strong relationships with partners, clients, and internal stakeholders to ensure alignment on vision and deliverables.
- Coordinate resources, schedules, and priorities across multiple projects, ensuring timely delivery of high-quality character art.
- Assist in interviewing, hiring, training, performance reviews, and resolving issues within the character art department.
- Represent Certain Affinity’s character art team at industry events, conferences, and recruitment activities.
Requirements
- 7+ years of experience in game development, with at least 3 years in a lead character artist role.
- Proven track record with multiple shipped AAA titles, including at least one in a Lead Character Artist capacity.
- Exceptional leadership skills with experience building, mentoring, and guiding teams of highly skilled artists.
- Strong interpersonal skills, with the ability to inspire and motivate artists while managing creative processes effectively.
- Deep understanding of art pipelines, workflows, and cross-disciplinary collaboration in game development.
- Strong foundation in traditional art principles, including anatomy, figure drawing, illustration, and design.
- Expert-level proficiency in ZBrush, Autodesk Maya, 3ds Max, or similar 3D software packages.
- Proficiency in material and texture creation tools such as Substance Designer, Quixel Suite, Adobe Photoshop, etc.
- Experience with proprietary and third-party 3D game engines, such as Unreal Engine or Unity.
- Ability to interpret, communicate, and articulate visual direction clearly through both imagery and words.
- Strong portfolio showcasing a range of character design and development work.
- Commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion within the workplace.
Extra Credit
- Solid understanding of motion principles and their influence on character personality, movement, and emotion.
- Experience in providing constructive feedback and guiding the character authoring process.
- Skills in graphic design, concept art, or stylized texturing.
Why This Role is Exciting
This is more than a leadership position — it’s an opportunity to define the character art vision for high-profile AAA projects while shaping the creative culture of Certain Affinity. You’ll work alongside passionate artists in an environment that values innovation, artistry, and teamwork.
You’ll have the chance to lead, mentor, and inspire, ensuring every character created by your team is not only technically excellent but also visually captivating and true to the project’s vision.
Join Us
If you are a visionary character artist with leadership experience and a passion for delivering exceptional art, Certain Affinity offers a rewarding and collaborative environment where your skills can make a real impact.
📩 Apply today with your portfolio and demonstrate how you can lead and inspire our character art team.