Art Director Manager, TCG

We at Ravensburger are both a truly global company and a family. As a bunch full of different characters and personalities with heart and a passion for achieving our goals together, we offer a great range of entertainment for children and families. What drives us forward? A shared sense of purpose. Together we are working on creating something meaningful - pure fulfillment for your career!

The Art Director Manager, TCG provides mentorship and leadership, in collaboration with the Creative Manager, to a selection of Art Directors, ensuring creative consistency, process alignment, and timely delivery of high-quality artistic deliverables. The Art Director Manager, TCG is responsible for providing clear feedback across teams and collaborate cross-functionally to maintain best practices and streamline licensor approvals. In addition to overseeing key direct reports, the Art Director Manager is responsible for art directing a number of illustrations per set throughout the year.

Job Duties and Responsibilities (Essential Functions):

• Manage Art Directors through mentorship, feedback, and support; foster career growth through coaching and training.
• Work closely with the Creative Manager and other creative leadership to align on team changes, dynamics, and process improvements
• Foster and promote a healthy and productive work environment, creating solutions for effective results with key stakeholders across the organization
• Clearly communicate process updates and strategic plans to direct reports.
• Manage 1:1 meetings and team meetings with FTE Art Directors on a bi-weekly basis
• Create presentations that communicate proposed strategies, along with pro/con analysis using direct report–provided metrics.

Card Art & Creative Responsibilities

• Partner with Creative Manager and Creative Director on reviewing card art descriptions, ensuring alignment with narrative and production goals.
• Participate in regular creative meetings with stakeholders and collaborate cross-functionally to streamline licensor submission processes.
• Independent direction ~10 card illustrations per set and provide timely, actionable feedback to freelance and internal artists.
• Prepare concept art, sketches, and final artwork for licensor reviews as requested by set lead.
• Develop assets and work within licensor and Ravensburger TCG guidelines, ensuring quality and consistency across sets.
• Create corrective overlay artwork to guide and mentor artists.
• Actively research the industry and recruit new artistic talent; participate in growing the freelance artist pool with an aim to enhance the product and reflect Ravensburger’s quality standards.

Knowledge/Skills/Abilities:

• Confident, empathetic, and collaborative disposition
• Communicates with clear, constructive, and helpful feedback to artists and art directors so their best work comes through.
• Collaborative and active team player, comfortable engaging in vigorous but positive debate to find the right solutions.
• Proven success in leading through influence and mutual trust.
• Committed to diversity and inclusion in artistic representation and team culture.
• Experience working internationally with colleagues, partners, and fans.

Artistic & Technical Expertise

• Strong aesthetic sense and eye for quality.
• Knowledge of artistic and technical illustration fundamentals.
• Ability to create artwork to solve narrative needs.
• Knowledge and love of Disney Animation, and a proud steward of the brand.
• Technical expert in Adobe Suite, Procreate, or related software applications
• Wrike, Asana, Base Camp or other related production management software skills a plus

Strategic & Professional Skills

• Thrives in a fast-paced, evolving industry with shifting priorities.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to present ideas persuasively and generate reports on program results and industry trends.
• Detail-oriented and able to self-manage the moving parts of an evolving creative pipeline.
• Ability to meet tight deadlines and inspire others to do the same.
• Out-of-the-box thinker who finds solutions to creative challenges and process needs.
• Test-and-learn innovator…