Welcome to Maxis, home to tinkerers, craftspeople, & storytellers. Our drive is to inspire everyone to make a better world through creative play. As the developer of The Sims, we create games and experiences for millions of people around the world and are always looking for new ways to inspire our players. Maxis is a place where you can do what you love and help others grow while doing it; a place where your unique voice can be heard and seen. We put creativity and inclusivity at the core of our work and don't settle for seeing the world only as it is, but strive to build a world as it could be.

Teams are building the next generation game and creative platform, Project Rene and reimagining The Sims that players know and love with even more new ways to play. We're excited you're interested to learn more about how you can join our team and dream big.

You will be reporting to the Executive Producer.

We are seeking a video game development art director to champion the visual experience of our next project. You can create a clear aesthetic vision and promote it across our internal and partner organizations. They come with a passion for what we do and the collaborative know-how to make dreams a reality.

Responsibilities:

• Sell our project’s visual experience to partners both within and outside our game development team

• Oversee and champion providing clarity to the art team for the vision for the product 

• Team up with project leadership on high-level objectives

• Foster, own and inspire creativity that aligns to high-level, cross discipline objectives within the game team

• Create and promote style guides and high-level documentation

• Nurture the growth and well-being of the art team

• Grow and train artists to manage high level goals and improve results, pipelines and processes

• Help develop partnerships with external outsourcing partners to ensure quality, consistency and delivery

• Collaborate with artists, tech art and engineering to establish pipelines and workflow

Qualifications:

• Accomplished art leader with 7+ years experience in game development and at least one shipped title as a video game art lead

• Experienced at establishing an art vision and guidelines

• Accomplished in leading and inspiring teams of artists and advocating for execution from pre-production, production and into an evolving live service

• Titles shipped on multiple platforms, including mobile and HD formats.

• An understanding of all aspects of contemporary 3D game development: concept art, character modeling, prop modeling, environment modeling, lighting, animation, visual effects and user interface design.

• Experienced in working with team partners to create content plans and developing a staffing ramp to make those plans possible

• Experience setting up and working with external development partners

• Prototyping ability

• Sense for visual storytelling, composition, lighting, form and palette

• Deep, demonstrated passion for game development and game art

Bonus

• Experience in platforms that use user generated content

Visit us at: https://www.ea.com/ea-studios/maxis

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

The base salary ranges listed below are for the defined geographic market pay zones in these locations. If you reside outside of these locations, a recruiter will advise on the range and benefits for your specific location.

EA has listed the base salary ranges it in good faith expects to pay applicants for this role in the locations listed, as of the time of this posting. Pay offered will be determined based on numerous relevant business and candidate factors including, for example, education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, and business or organizational needs.

BASE SALARY RANGES

• California (depending on location e.g. Los Angeles vs. Sacramento):

º $138,200 - $219,000 USD Annually

• British Columbia (depending on location e.g. Vancouver vs. Victoria):

º $126,000 - $176,300 CAN Annually

• Washington (depending on location e.g. Seattle vs. Spokane):

º $136,600 - $202,300 USD Annually

Base salary is just one part of the overall compensation at EA. In the US, we offer a package of benefits including paid time off (3 weeks per year to start), 80 hours per year of sick time, 16 paid company holidays per year, 10 weeks paid time off to bond with baby, medical/dental/vision insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, and 401(k) to regular full-time employees. Certain roles may also be eligible for bonus and equity. For British Columbia, we offer a package of benefits including vacation (3 weeks per year to start), 10 days per year of sick time, paid top-up to EI/QPIP benefits up to 100% of base salary when you welcome a new child (12 weeks for maternity, and 4 weeks for parental/adoption leave), extended health/dental/vision coverage, life insurance, disability insurance, retirement plan to regular full-time employees. Certain roles may also be eligible for bonus and equity.