Senior Concept Artist

Senior Concept Artist

ESPN is seeking a highly imaginative and versatile Senior Concept Artist to help shape the future of sports storytelling across broadcast, digital, social, experiential, and emerging platforms. This role is ideal for a strategic visual thinker who can take big ideas from early exploration through polished creative execution, translating abstract concepts into compelling visual systems, storyboards, proof-of-concept frames, motion studies, and final design solutions.

The ideal candidate is both an exceptional maker and a confident creative leader; someone who can generate industry-leading work, guide multi-disciplinary teams, and partner across ESPN, Disney, and external stakeholder groups to deliver innovative creative at the highest level. This person should be comfortable moving between concept development, art direction, motion design, animation, live-action production, and emerging technologies, while helping build creative systems designed for long-term success.

Responsibilities

• Create industry-leading concept work that brings ambitious ideas to life, from early storyboards and visual exploration to proof-of-concept frames and refined final creative.
• Develop and oversee multi-disciplinary creative across platforms and products, including broadcast graphics, video editing, motion design, animation, live action, digital, social, and experiential work.
• Lead, guide, and collaborate with large, multi-layered creative teams with confidence, fairness, transparency, and a strong sense of creative purpose.
• Direct strategic creative systems, visual toolkits, and design frameworks engineered for consistency, scalability, and long-term success.
• Lead advanced motion design and animation builds while staying current with evolving industry tools, technology, and production workflows.
• Concept, direct, and support live-action shoots, including creative development, production planning, and post-production execution.
• Prepare and present creative briefs, concepts, and strategic recommendations to internal teams, senior leadership, external partners, and stakeholders.
• Push creative excellence and innovation in AR, VR, XR, real-time graphics, and emerging storytelling spaces.
• Partner with stakeholder groups across ESPN and Disney to ensure alignment, collaboration, and successful creative outcomes.
• Mentor, coach, and elevate emerging designers, animators, and artists across the team.
• Stay curious and knowledgeable about design trends, emerging technologies, sports media, visual storytelling, and industry best practices to help maintain ESPN's position as a leader in sports design.

Required Qualifications

• Strong portfolio demonstrating high-level concept development, art direction, visual storytelling, and polished design execution.
• Proven ability to translate strategic goals, brand systems, and creative briefs into compelling visual concepts.
• Experience developing creative from early exploration through final execution, including storyboards, mood boards, proof-of-concept frames, style frames, and design systems.
• Strong understanding of composition, typography, color, layout, motion principles, and visual hierarchy.
• Experience working across multiple creative disciplines, including design, animation, motion graphics, video, or 3D concept development.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with creative directors, designers, animators, editors, producers, stakeholders, and external partners.
• Strong communication and presentation skills, with the ability to clearly explain creative ideas and respond thoughtfully to feedback.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced, high-visibility creative environment.
• Curiosity about emerging creative tools, technologies, design trends, and evolving production workflows.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience creating high-end 3D concepts, style frames, visual systems, or proof-of-concept work for broadcast, sports, entertainment, or live-event storytelling.
• Experience contributing to large-scale tentpole events, premium broadcast packages, or high-profile brand initiatives.
• Advanced knowledge of tools such as Cinema 4D, Houdini, Unreal Engine, Redshift, After Effects, Premiere, Photoshop, Illustrator, Figma, or related creative platforms.
• Strong motion design, animation, editing, or live-action production experience.
• Experience building creative systems, toolkits, or scalable design frameworks across platforms.
• Experience mentoring, coaching, or providing creative direction to designers, animators, or multidisciplinary creative teams.
• Passion for sports, culture, technology, innovation, and the future of visual storytelling.

Required Education

• High School Diploma

Preferred Education:

• College degree in related fields