About this job
Who We Are:
Gram Games is the studio behind popular titles like 1010!, Six!, Merge Dragons!, and Merge Magic!, with more exciting projects in the pipeline. We are proudly part of the Zynga & Take-Two Interactive family. We do things differently here: we work in small self-managing teams, giving you an incredible amount of ownership, autonomy, and impact.
At Gram, everyone is expected to have a razor-sharp focus on creating a tangible impact on their team, their work environment, and on the overall company strategy. If you are motivated by autonomy, constant improvement, collaboration, and a sense of belonging, this is the place for you.
Position Overview:
We are seeking a visionary Art Director to join our Studio Leadership Team and spearhead the artistic direction of Merge Dragons! In this key role, you will be responsible for defining the strategy and owning the art direction.
As an experienced leader, you possess a nuanced understanding of leadership, communication, and production practices. You excel at optimising engagement and quality within your team, all while fostering a collaborative environment rooted in the culture and values of Gram Games.
A natural strategic thinker, you have the ability to forecast the future of art creation and translate complex strategies into achievable, high-impact tactical plans. Your expertise will ensure the predictable delivery of art features, technology, and updates, ensuring our creative strategy is always matched by effective and consistent execution.
At Gram we embrace a hybrid work environment. Within this role, you would work 2 days per week in our London office and the remaining days at home.
What You'll Do:
- Lead the end-to-end visual direction for Merge Dragons!, from pre-production through to live operations
- Define the art strategy and tactical plans, ensuring the predictable delivery of high-quality assets and technical features
- Manage and mentor the art leadership team, fostering a high-performance culture focused on growth, morale, and Gram Games’ values
- Collaborate with Product, Design, and Tech Art to translate complex systems into intuitive, scalable UI/UX solutions within Unity
- Oversee production pipelines and outsourcing partnerships, ensuring creative goals are met within technical and performance constraints
- Present the art vision and project updates with gravitas to the wider organization and studio leadership
- Evaluate and integrate emerging trends and technologies—including AI tools—to optimize the art pipeline and maintain a competitive edge
What You Bring:
- Proven Leadership: A track record of leading art teams for games, through the full development lifecycle—from early concepting to live operations
- Engine Expertise: Strong working knowledge of Unity pipelines and a clear understanding of how to align artistic vision with technical performance targets
- Cross-Discipline Collaboration: The ability to turn complex game systems into clear, player-centric experiences through close partnership with Engineering and Design
- Artistic Fundamentals: Mastery of colour theory, lighting, and composition, and the ability to apply these fundamentals to influence the game’s overall direction
- Strategic Mindset: "Outside-the-box" thinking regarding new art features and a proactive approach to solving production challenges
- Communication Skills: Experience creating supporting materials (style guides, mood boards, etc.) to clearly articulate art direction to internal and external departments
- Positive Energy: An energetic, "can-do" attitude that inspires peers and fosters a collaborative atmosphere
Bonus Points:
- Experience within the mobile gaming sector
- Proven experience leading UI/UX direction for a shipped title
- A portfolio that demonstrates both high-level UI visual quality and deep UX thinking
- Experience creating and maintaining robust UI design systems
What We Offer You:
- Highly competitive salary
- Private medical care
- Company bonus scheme
- Awesome onsite chef serving breakfast, lunch, and lots of treats (naughty and nice)
- Life insurance and a favorable pension scheme
- Healthcare cash plan including dental and optical coverage
- Amazing tech to work with and consoles to play and relax with everywhere you look!
#LI-Hybrid
We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer, which means we are committed to creating and celebrating diverse thoughts, cultures, and backgrounds throughout our organization. Employment with us is based on substantive ability, objective qualifications, and work ethic – not an individual’s race, creed, color, religion, sex or gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin or ancestry, alienage or citizenship status, physical or mental disability, pregnancy, age, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, status as a victim of domestic violence or sex offenses, reproductive health decision, or any other characteristics protected by applicable law.
As an equal opportunity employer, we are committed to providing the necessary support and accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities, health conditions, or impairments (subject to any local qualifying requirements) to ensure their full participation in the job application or interview process. Please contact us at jobs@gram.gs to request any accommodations or for support related to your application for an open position.
Please be aware that Zynga does not conduct job interviews or make job offers over third-party messaging apps such as Telegram, WhatsApp, or others. Zynga also does not engage in any financial exchanges during the recruitment or onboarding process, and will never ask a candidate for their personal or financial information over an app or other unofficial chat channel. Any attempt to do so may be the result of a scamp or phishing attack, and you should not engage. Zynga’s in-house recruitment team will only contact individuals through their official Company email addresses (i.e., via a zynga.com, take2games.com, naturalmotion.com, smallgiantgames.com, themavens.com, gram.gs email domain).
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