Associate Creative Director, Visualization

Panthalassa is building massive-scale ocean technology designed to operate in harsh conditions for years at a time without human maintenance or intervention. In this on-site role in Portland, OR, you’ll translate emerging ideas and technical concepts into clear, compelling visuals that help people understand what’s being built and why it matters.

This Associate Creative Director, Visualization position combines creative direction with hands-on visualization work. You’ll help shape a distinctive visual language for Panthalassa’s technology, lead the visualization pipeline from early concept to final render, and mentor artists as an in-house team grows.

What you’ll do

• Collaborate directly with the CEO, Creative Director, and engineering teams to convert emerging ideas into visuals that land with clarity and impact.
• Develop and evolve Panthalassa’s visual language, guiding how it changes over time as the technology matures.
• Lead creative direction from early concepts through drawings, storyboards, and finished deliverables including renderings, decks, and animations.
• Build and guide the production pipeline covering concepting, modeling, texturing, lighting, composition, rendering, and animation.
• Stay hands-on when needed, including sketching, modeling, and scene building.
• Direct and review freelance artists, and help grow an in-house group of 2D, 3D, and motion designers.

What you bring

• 5+ years of professional experience as a 3D artist, animator, concept artist, or industrial designer, including a track record leading visual direction for complex technical, mechanical, or industrial subjects.
• The ability to hold your own in strategic conversations about products and technologies that don’t yet exist, including asking sharp technical questions and understanding engineering reasoning well enough to visualize it accurately.
• Strong grounding in industrial design, mechanical design, or vehicle design, with mastery of hard surface modeling.
• Exceptional command of light, value, composition, color, staging, mood, form, and spatial scale.
• Strong sense of motion, animation, and camera.
• Experience mentoring, leading, or reviewing other artists, or readiness to grow into that responsibility.
• Excellent communication, with comfort giving and receiving direct, constructive critique in a collaborative environment.
• Genuine interest in ocean technology and climate solutions.

Nice to have

• Strong drawing and 2D illustration skill set.
• Ability to create environmental concept art.

Compensation and benefits

• $125,000 - $180,000 cash compensation (yearly).
• Equity in the company.
• Flexible paid time off.
• Health insurance: company pays 100% of the gold-level PPO plan for full-time employees, partners, and dependents.
• Dental insurance: company pays 100% for full-time employees, partners, and dependents.
• Vision insurance: company pays 100% for full-time employees, partners, and dependents.
• Disability insurance: company pays 100% for long-term financial support if you become disabled.
• Ability to contribute to tax-advantaged accounts, including 401(k), health FSA, and dependent care FSA.
• Relocation assistance to support a move to Portland (if needed).

Location

On-site role in Portland, Oregon, with offices, lab, and shop located in the city.