Associate Art Director

We are seeking an Associate Art Director, a leader who combines artistic vision and creative tastemaking with operational discipline and managerial support. In this role, you will work closely with the Senior Art Director to drive the artistic vision for a key pillar of League of Legends, acting as the day-to-day steward of artistic quality and coherence in your area. Beyond your artistic responsibilities, you will also help support our managerial structure by providing guidance and leadership of art craft teams, as well as facilitating broader art department rituals and gatherings.

As an Associate Art Director on League of Legends, you will report to the Senior Art Director and drive the art direction for Cosmetics on League of Legends. You will define compelling thematics and premium cosmetic experiences, ensuring they meet League’s quality bar while resonating with a global player base. You’ll partner closely with art-craft discipline leads, Production, and co-development studios to deliver cohesive content at scale, balancing artistic ambition with production realities. You will maintain stakeholder alignment, build and scale clear artistic frameworks, create product creative briefs, and maintain quality and cohesion across a distributed development environment.

Responsibilities:

• Partner with the League of Legends Senior Art Director to establish, communicate, and execute the artistic vision for the Cosmetics pillar, acting as the primary artistic decision-maker for your area.
• Develop and scale cosmetics for live-service content pipelines
• Define and drive resonant thematics for cosmetic content at scale, ensuring high-quality execution from concept through release.
• Support the art department's managerial structure by providing guidance and leadership across multiple art craft teams, mentoring talent, building the leadership bench, and ensuring craft excellence. Oversee a healthy art team, considering pace, size, growth; staffing, hiring, performance management of, and through, Craft & Art Leads & Art Managers, which includes managing career growth, comp, and morale of all direct reports. 
• Partner with co-development studios to ensure aligned, cohesive output across distributed development environments.
• Coordinate weekly rituals, reviews, and gatherings for the art department to maintain organizational focus and rhythm.
• Establish review gates, style guides, and artistic toolkits to ensure consistent quality and independent execution within your pillar.
• Create and maintain artifacts that inform, align, and empower disciplines working in creative spaces
• Collaborate with marketing to deliver a unified experience between content and marketing
• Mentor and grow art team talent, fostering a culture of high standards, psychological safety, and strong creative ownership

Required Qualifications: 

• 8+ years of experience in game art, with at least 3+ years in an art leadership role (Associate Art Director, Art Lead, or equivalent).
• Proven track record as an artistic leader and vision holder for content pipelines in games. 
• Experience working with multiple disciplines to deliver on a goal
• Experience partnering with production to plan roadmaps and allocate resources without compromising artistic quality.
• Strong ability to communicate artistic vision clearly through pitches and artifacts
• Experience developing and scaling cosmetic or live-service content pipelines

Desired Qualifications:

• Deep understanding of the League of Legends IP, its skin catalogue and Alternate Universes.
• Experience working with external partners or co-development studios
• Experience in creating high quality, stylized art (such as 2D concepts, 3D character, animation, or VFX)

When submitting your application, please provide a portfolio of your high-quality game art - including stylized artwork. And as a part of the application process, you may also be asked to complete an art test.

For this role, you'll find success through craft expertise, a collaborative spirit, and decision-making that prioritizes the delight of players. We will be looking at your past studies, experience, and your personal relationship with games. If you embody player empathy and care about players' experiences, this could be your role!

Our Perks:

Riot focuses on work/life balance, shown by our open paid time off policy and other perks such as flexible work schedules. We offer medical, dental, and life insurance, parental leave for you, your spouse/domestic partner, and children, and a 401k with company match. Check out our benefits pages for more information.

At Riot Games, we put players first. That mission drives every decision in our quest to create games and experiences that make it better to be a player. Whether you’re working directly on a new player-facing experience or you’re supporting the company as a whole, everyone at Riot is part of our mission. And just like in our games, we’re better when we work together. Our goal is to create collaborative teams where you are empowered to bring your unique perspective everyday. If that sounds like the kind of place you want to work, we’re looking forward to your application.

It’s our policy to provide equal employment opportunity for all applicants and members of Riot Games, Inc. Riot Games makes reasonable accommodations for handicapped and disabled Rioters and does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, handicap, veteran status, marital status, criminal history, or any other category protected by applicable federal and state law. We consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with applicable federal, state and local law, including the California Fair Chance Act, the City of Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, and the Washington Fair Chance Act.

Per the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, the following core duties may create a basis for disqualifying candidates with relevant criminal histories:

• Safeguarding confidential and sensitive Company data
• Communication with others, including Rioters and third parties such as vendors, and/or players, including minors
• Accessing Company assets, secure digital systems, and networks
• Ensuring a safe interactive environment for players and other Rioters

These duties are directly related to essential operations, safety, trust, and compliance obligations within our organization. Please note that job duties may evolve based on business needs and additional responsibilities may be assigned as necessary to maintain operational efficiency and security.