Principal Art Director - Keywords Americas (Creative Centre of Excellence)

As Principal Art Director – Americas CoE, you are the central Visual Architect for Keywords in North America. You will help define and evolve the visual identity of products from early concept exploration through production and delivery.

Responsibilities

Visual Strategy & Artistic Direction

• Define and champion compelling visual directions that align with product vision, audience expectations, and market opportunities across genres, platforms, and art styles.
• Establish artistic pillars, visual identities, and style frameworks that guide environments, characters, UI, VFX, lighting, and overall player-facing presentation.
• Translate creative goals into clear, inspiring visual direction that aligns stakeholders and creates strong first impressions with clients and partners.
• Ensure visual consistency, quality, and cohesion across projects while balancing creative ambition with production and technical realities.

Pitch Leadership & Client Engagement

• Act as a key creative contributor in client engagements, pitches, workshops, and business development initiatives across North America.
• Partner with the Regional Creative Director and Business Development teams to create compelling visual targets, mood boards, and pitch materials that win new opportunities.
• Develop visual explorations, style frames, and presentation materials that clearly communicate artistic vision and production potential.
• Present and articulate visual direction to clients, stakeholders, and internal teams with clarity, confidence, and conviction.

Regional Studio Collaboration & Discipline Supervision

• Collaborate with studios across Canada, the United States, and Mexico to elevate visual quality and execution across all engagements.
• Guide and supervise art production across projects in Keywords Create.
• Provide consultative direction across concept art, environment art, character art, UI, lighting, VFX, and visual development disciplines.
• Ensure visual direction is clearly documented, scalable, and executable by internal and external production teams.
• Establish and reinforce visual standards, style guides, and review processes that strengthen consistency across the region.
• Identify visual and production risks early and guide teams toward strong, achievable solutions.

Visual Innovation & AI Enablement

• Leverage AI-powered image generation and visualization tools to accelerate mood boards, concept exploration, style development, and pre-visualization during pitch and early discovery phases.
• Integrate emerging tools and workflows to improve speed, quality, and efficiency in visual development.
• Champion responsible use of AI while maintaining strong artistic authorship, taste, and quality standards.
• Stay ahead of industry trends, artistic movements, real-time rendering advancements, and evolving player expectations.

Requirements

• 10+ years of experience in game development, including senior Art Director, Principal Artist, Associate Art Director, or equivalent visual leadership roles.
• Proven success defining and delivering visual direction for commercially successful games across PC & console.
• Exceptional visual literacy across environments, characters, UI, lighting, VFX, and world-building.
• Ability to adapt across a wide range of visual styles.
• Strong understanding of modern art production pipelines, real-time rendering technologies, and game development workflows.