Creative Art Director

Mente Systems Inc. specializes on innovating human interactive technologies. We offer an energetic, creative culture and a community of teams making great innovative interactive experiences, products and applications. We are a group of extremely passionate technologists, entrepreneurs, thinkers and builders focusing on creating great product for devices that span from showrooms, product prototypes and strategic advisory. We are looking for a creative director who will define and develop the artistic style for interactive applications for our clients. This person will report to the VP of Client Services and will work collaboratively with a team of designers, engineers, software developers and project managers.

What We Want You to Do:

  • Think critically and strategically. Work closely with client services to develop a strategy.
  • Concept, Design and enhance all of our 3D Assets
  • Help hire on and manage 3D contractors / full-time employees as needed
  • Work with us to consistently push the boundaries of interactive technologies.
  • Drive the development of frameworks that describe key aspects of a proposed experience, and how it reconciles business and user needs; execute top-level deliverables based on user-centered design techniques
  • Lead the creation of visually compelling representations of the solution's high-level interaction, navigation, and organization design (i.e., concept models)
  • Estimate, plan, and lead all creative work (across all sub domains, including Visual Design, Information Architecture, 3D asset development and Interactive Development)

What We Want to See:

  • Extraordinary client facing interpersonal skills
  • 5+ years of experience in art direction and production (including modeling / texturing)
  • 1-2 years of experience with animation and rigging
  • Familiarity with Unity/UDK Development pipeline
  • An extraordinary sense of design
  • A passion for all things interactive, and a good understanding of the VR industry and applications
  • Bonus points for mobile games experience

Who You Are:

  • You are as good as you can get the team motivated. And a self-starter who is excited about creating the ultimate interactive environment and journey for our clients
  • Entrepreneurial at heart, thrive in an ever evolving start-up environment and your passion is evident in your work
  • Enjoy making sense of chaos, continuously learning and working with a diverse group of builders, entrepreneurs, creators and all around great people.
  • Interested in exploring the latest developments in technology, specialty sensors and beyond.
  • Fast learner and open to feedback constructive criticism
  • Desire to dive in and learn in a fast-paced environment
  • Collaborative team player with the ability to shift gears quickly, efficiently and effectively
  • Dependable and reliable and able to articulate your thinking to the team
  • Phenomenal sense of humor and outlook on life… we work hard, and play harder : )
  • Strong understanding of UX and UI roles within product design and consumer grade experiences
  • Solid understanding of user research and user centered design
  • Hands-on design skills in wire frames, persona development and visual design

Job Requirements:

  • Bachelor's degree required in design-related discipline: Interaction, Information or Interface design; Human-Computer Interaction; Design Planning; Graphic Design; Gaming Technologies, Communications. We are pretty open here…
  • 5+ years of industry experience, agency experience a plus
  • Solid verbal communication skills, with experience presenting to all levels of clients and co-workers
  • Candidates must be well-versed in user-centered design methods and techniques and have production capabilities (Maya, Cinema4D, Sketch up, Unity, Zbrush, Adobe Creative Suite, Adobe After Effects, 3DX Max)
  • Must possess a deep understanding in related creative tracks: design, interactive development, strategy
  • Must have been in a client-facing role and have project experience in working with teams on large scale, long-term projects

Frequent travel may be required

  • Travel availability up to 25-40%

Job Type: Full-time

Experience:

  • art direction: 5 years (Required)
  • animation and rigging: 1 year (Required)

Education:

  • Bachelor's (Required)

Location:

  • Tysons Corner, VA (Preferred)

Work authorization:

  • United States (Required)

To apply, please send your resume and cover letter to jobs@theinclab.com