3D Game Art Director

ClassDojo’s vision is to give every child on Earth an education they love. We’re doing this by connecting communities of teachers, children and families, and then giving them learning experiences their children love. This means ClassDojo is a consumer network, and grows like one; we are already serving communities at massive scale: last year we served 1 in 20 children in primary school in the world—52 million children—with a team of just 55. The communities we serve love and adore ClassDojo (see what they're saying); our Net Promoter Score is usually in the 70s and 80s.

As Game Art Director, you'll define ClassDojo’s visual direction, and lead our art development process. You’ll work hands-on in 2D and 3D, as well as leading teams of artists to ensure assets are delivered consistently across our products, services and games. Your responsibilities will include:

Responsibilities

Game art direction & production

• Set the standard for 2D, 3D and UI art that 50 million+ children around the world will experience, and ensure your team of artists upholds and exceeds this standard
• Develop and manage art pipelines and processes to optimize workflows within the team
• Oversee the look and feel of a mobile game, taking an active, hands-on role in helping to develop, maintain, and refine game art
• Assist with formal and informal critique, and provide effective feedback

Project leadership

• Source and manage artists, including creating briefs and managing outsourced artists
• Help identify inconsistencies and opportunities for improvement within the creative process
• Help to ensure accuracy of art scope, schedule, and budget
• Help develop creative estimates and ensure high quality execution of all deliverables
• Help foster inter-department communications as they relate to art

Team leadership

• Lead, guide and inspire a team of artists, including defining goals, standards, processes and day-to-day feedback, both formal and informal creative critique
• Research, explore, and communicate best practices, and discern which ideas are most effective
• Collaborate cross-functionally, working closely on the end-to-end game design process with producers, engineers, community and everyone else on a tightly knit team
• Blend creativity with methodical testing and balancing

Competencies

You’ll need:

• 5+ years experience leading 2D and 3D art on a game production team, including shipped titles—ideally from pre-production through launch and live ops
• Proven ability to think conceptually and broadly about a project, game and brand as a whole, and to develop and evolve creative systems
• Demonstrated experience building and leading an art team to an extremely high level of achievement
• Expert understanding of art direction and storytelling
• Exceptional standards for quality and good taste
• Experience managing projects, priorities, and deadlines with a strong attention to detail
• Clear, concise verbal and written communication
• Temperament to move faster than most reasonable people believe is possible; an instigator
• Ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams
• Experience in a company with a high-quality culture
• A great passion for games, understanding of the casual market and ability to think out of the box — plus, knowing what makes a good game

About ClassDojo

A Y Combinator/Imagine K12 company, ClassDojo's long-term goal is to give every child on Earth an education they love. The ClassDojo app is the #1 communication app for micro-communities of K-8 teachers, children and families globally; they use it to stay connected, sharing what's happening through the school day through photos, videos, messages, and activities. The company is now helping kids get learning experiences they love, beyond school. Today, ClassDojo is used by 95% of pre K-8 schools in the US, as well as in a further 180 countries.

You can read more about our vision to change education from the ground up here: https://medium.com/@samchaudhary/https-medium-com-samchaudhary-how-to-change-education-from-the-ground-up-f82b8f3e4b95.

The Team

We believe focused, talented, non-hierarchical teams can achieve a surprising amount: https://blog.ycombinator.com/its-surprising-how-much-small-teams-can-get-done-sam-chaudhary-of-classdojo/. Our team is made up of talented, motivated, intense and interesting people from around the world, with deep backgrounds in education, as well as from leading consumer internet organizations like Instagram, Netflix, Dropbox, Uber, Y Combinator and more. We’re building a company that is pioneering the future of education, and one that is the kind of place we’ve all always wanted to work. We believe you’ll do the best work of your life here.

Diversity

We strongly feel the best way to do this is to work with people from diverse backgrounds that truly reflect the world. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. In accordance with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records. We are happy to accommodate any disabilities or special needs. We hire both locally in San Francisco, and distributed teammates around the world.

If you're interested in pioneering the future of education at massive scale, we'd love to hear from you.