Art Director - RuneScape

Location:

Cambridge, UK – This position offers flexible working options, including predominantly remote work. Applicants are preferably based (or willing to relocate) within a comfortable commuting distance of our office to attend onsite as required.

Can you give one of gaming’s longest-running worlds a clear visual voice—and lead the team shaping its next era?

Rune Scape has welcomed more than 300 million player accounts across 25 years. As the game progresses along its Road to Restoration, we’re looking for an Art Director to define and champion the visual direction behind its next chapter.

You’ll take ownership of Rune Scape’s artistic vision across environments, characters, creatures, UI, VFX, lighting and cinema tics, bringing greater quality, consistency and clarity to the experience across PC and mobile. You’ll lead a large multidisciplinary art team, setting a clear creative direction while staying close to the day-to-day realities of live game development.

You’ll have genuine autonomy to assess how the team operates, evolve its structure and raise the quality bar across the game. Your work will directly influence player experience, the desirability of cosmetic content and the long-term visual strategy of one of the world’s most established MMORPGs.

• Own and evolve Rune Scape’s visual direction, creating a cohesive artistic vision across environments, characters, creatures, UI, VFX, lighting and cinema tics while respecting the game’s established identity.
• Lead and develop a large multidisciplinary art team, assessing its structure, capabilities and craft standards to ensure it is set up to deliver at the required quality and pace.
• Establish and maintain a clear quality bar, reviewing work throughout development and providing actionable direction that improves visual consistency and in-game execution.
• Drive end-to-end improvements to Rune Scape’s cosmetic content, increasing its quality, consistency and player-perceived value while supporting an important commercial area of the game.
• Partner with the Creative, Development and Product Directors, aligning artistic priorities with gameplay goals, production requirements and the wider Road to Restoration.
• Work closely with Technical Art and Engineering, improving pipelines, tools and workflows while balancing creative ambition with the technical realities of a live game across PC and mobile.
• Champion accessibility, readability and player experience, ensuring visual decisions support clear gameplay and remain effective across platforms.
• Represent the art discipline across Rune Scape and the wider studio, contributing to recruitment, talent development and the game’s long-term creative strategy.

• Significant, demonstrable experience in Art Direction or senior art leadership within the games industry, gained on shipped or live titles.
• A proven track record of taking artistic direction from initial vision through to in-game execution, balancing creative ambition with live-service schedules, technical limitations and production realities.
• Proven experience leading a sizeable multidisciplinary art team, including managing performance, developing artists and navigating structural or organisational change.
• A strong professional background directing stylised or stylised-realistic 3D art, supported by demonstrable knowledge of 3D pipelines, production tools, optimisation and technical constraints.
• A strong portfolio demonstrating artistic vision, visual problem-solving and the ability to establish a consistent quality bar across multiple art disciplines.
• Proven experience joining and improving an established or live game, rather than only defining the direction of new projects from their earliest stages is desired.

• Private Healthcare, including Dental Plan.
• Discretionary annual performance bonus.
• Minimum 6% Pension contributions.
• Life Insurance.
• Enhanced family leave policies from day 1.
• Flexible working hours.
• 25 days annual leave + Bank holidays & the option to buy/sell holidays + so much more!

Inclusion & Accessibility Statement

We are committed to providing equal opportunities and creating an environment where…