Principal Visual Artist

Fanatics Collectibles•New York, NY

7d•$155,520 - $225,000•Remote

About The Position

Fanatics is building a leading global digital sports platform. We ignite the passions of global sports fans and maximize the presence and reach for our hundreds of sports partners globally by offering products and services across Fanatics Commerce, Fanatics Collectibles, and Fanatics Betting & Gaming, allowing sports fans to Buy, Collect, and Bet. Through the Fanatics platform, sports fans can buy licensed fan gear, jerseys, lifestyle and streetwear products, headwear, and hardgoods; collect physical and digital trading cards, sports memorabilia, and other digital assets; and bet as the company builds its Sportsbook and iGaming platform. Fanatics has an established database of over 100 million global sports fans; a global partner network with approximately 900 sports properties, including major national and international professional sports leagues, players associations, teams, colleges, college conferences and retail partners, 2,500 athletes and celebrities, and 200 exclusive athletes; and over 2,000 retail locations, including its Lids retail stores. Our more than 22,000 employees are committed to relentlessly enhancing the fan experience and delighting sports fans globally. We're building a small, senior team to create exceptional real-time, web-first interactive experiences across our portfolio. Work that pushes what WebGL can do and sets the bar for high-craft fan engagement. We blend the creative sensibility of top interactive studios with the technical ambition of game development, and we're hiring the founding members who will shape everything that follows. We're looking for a Principal Visual Artist to lead the visual identity and art direction of our interactive work. You'll partner with the Creative Director to define the look and feel of each project, set the visual standard for the team, and drive that quality from early concept through to production-ready assets across 2D and 3D. As the team grows, you'll lead and mentor artists, shape workflows, and own the visual direction of features end to end. You care about craft at every stage. You understand that great real-time art starts with smart decisions made early, and you're comfortable taking ownership across disciplines in a small team where your judgment sets the quality bar.

Requirements

A portfolio that spans disciplines: concept and illustration, texture and surface work, 3D modelling, and asset production, showing both range and depth
Proven experience leading visual direction on features or projects, with the judgment to make art decisions that serve the overall experience
Experience leading, mentoring, or growing artists on a team
Strong visual development skills: style frames, mood boards, colour theory, and composition thinking
Proficiency in Blender (or equivalent) for 3D modelling, UV layout, texturing, rigging, and animation
Strong 2D skills in Photoshop, Illustrator, or equivalent, with a focus on texture creation, graphic design, and illustrative work
Understanding of real-time asset constraints: poly budgets, texture resolution and atlasing, material complexity, and what makes assets performant at runtime
A collaborative approach: you hand off cleanly, communicate constraints clearly, and take technical feedback without friction

Nice To Haves

Background in game development (highly preferred) or experience producing assets for a real-time engine
Experience with motion design, animated asset production, or creating animation references to guide a technical team
Familiarity with glTF pipelines and well-structured, runtime-ready exports
Experience with shader authoring or authoring tools

Responsibilities

Lead the visual direction of features and projects, translating creative vision into clear production direction through concepts, style frames, and visual references
Define and maintain the visual language, tone, and quality standard across all output as the team and portfolio grow
Lead, mentor, and grow a team of artists, providing feedback, direction, and career development support
Produce concept, illustration, and 2D art assets (textures, surface detail, iconography, UI elements, graphic work) that integrate into 3D and interactive environments
Model, UV, texture, rig, and animate 3D assets to production standard, working within defined real-time budgets
Use motion and animation tools to produce motion references and effects concepts that guide technical implementation
Collaborate closely with the wider creative team to ensure clean, well-structured handoff for runtime, iterating based on how art behaves in-engine
Shape art production workflows, asset pipelines, and standards as the team scales