Animation Concept Artist Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

Who we are

Neros is a defense technology company rebuilding America's drone industrial base. We design and manufacture high-performance unmanned systems that are tested in combat, iterated at startup speed, and built at massive scale. Our team culture is fast, hands-on, and obsessed with closing the gap between design and deployment.

As drones transform the character of warfare, Neros is delivering the systems America and its allies needs to compete on the modern battlefield and deter future conflicts, or else win them. We're building a lean Marketing organization of creatives and operators who want to move fast, take extreme ownership, build a brand from the ground up, and tell the Neros story.

What you will be doing

We're looking for a Concept Artist to lead the visual imagination of the company - you'll own the art direction, concepting, and illustration of how our systems are deployed, and build creative that resonates across military end users, government procurement, and the public at large.

You'll define our illustration styles spanning marketing, technical guides, and concept of operations presentations. You'll get deeply immersed in our current and future products, as well as the battlefield realities that American and allied warfighters encounter.

This role straddles visual development, art direction, technical illustration, and storytelling.

Responsibilities

• Own 2D and 3D art direction for product concepts and illustrations spanning our Marketing channels, customer presentations, and technical guides
• Define how Neros visually depicts current and future product capabilities, as well as the warfighter scenarios where they're employed
• Define our concept of operations illustration style, rendering how our systems are employed across mission profiles, operational scenarios, deployment sequences, and battlefield constraints
• Evolve our visual design language across illustration surfaces: cutaways, callouts, sequences, diagrams, TTP, hero illustrations, etc
• Translate technically complex product specs and features into intuitive visuals
• Work collaboratively with brand marketing to art direct and execute artworks for customer-facing content like social media, motion graphics, merchandising and large scale trade shows and events
• Manage multiple concurrent concept projects of varying scope and complexity

You should have the following

• 5+ years as concept artist in games, film or entertainment
• Expert knowledge in 2D illustration and conceptual storytelling with 3D tooling experience like ZBrush, Blender, Rhino, Unreal Engine or Keyshot
• Enthusiasm to join a low-structure, high velocity startup where you'll lean on your judgment and creative instincts more than pre-defined process
• Demonstrated experience in executing 2D concept design, storyboarding and visual storytelling
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• High attention to detail and ability to document work processes and establish systems
• A portfolio showcasing a range of design styles in 2D and 3D. Projects that clearly delineates where you were sole creative owner versus shared responsibility, and what specific deliverables you owned in group efforts

Nice to have

• Experience working in defense, aerospace, robotics, frontier technology or hardware development is preferred
• Experience illustrating for physical events, print, and team wear
• Experience with technical visualization specifically for defense tech or military hardware
• Experience working cross functionally with other teams like marketing or brand design
• 3D modeling or technical animation experience

US Salary Range

$103,500 - $144,500 USD

The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors, inclusive of base salary only. Actual salary may vary based on (but not limited to) work experience, education and/or training, critical skills, and/or business considerations. Highly competitive equity grants are considered part of Neros' total compensation package.

We're an equal opportunity employer. We welcome all applicants without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.