Neill Harrison Email & Phone Number

Los Angeles, Ca, Us

Leading Art and Audio teams for Mountaintop's exciting first project, Spectre Divide.

Redmond, Wa, Us

• Led Art Organization up to 180 developers, overseeing budget for staffing, annual rewards/promotions, software, and outsourcing• Represented the Art discipline to Studio Leadership and presented progress updates to top Xbox Executives during project and business reviews• Coached and mentored a team of Directors/Supervisors to ensure operational effectiveness, team health, and future leadership development• Fostered a culture of collaboration, trust and inclusivity with clear accountability and alignment with project goals • Conducted talent reviews, reward calibrations, and managed underperformers to ensure career development and performance management for the Art organization• Served as a Project Director in a cross-discipline project leadership group, driving process, strategy, communications, and product management across our 800 person multi-discipline development team • Led a due-diligence trip to co-development company in Russia resulting in the creation of a 100+ external team of Engineers, Artists and Designers • Sponsored Summer Apprentice program to bring young, diverse talent into the studio • Identified critical project issues and led cross-discipline teams to address them, including Xbox One performance/memory enabling us to ship on low-end SKUs and securing budget to form a new international and distributed external development team to address shortcomings in live service content plan• Oversaw discipline-wide efforts to enhance visual fidelity after disappointing E3 2020, resulting in a massive improvement in product quality and player sentiment• Approved Art Career Stage Profiles and Job Title taxonomy across Microsoft

Redmond, Wa, Us

• Built and managed Art team of 120+ staff from initial team size of 30 • Successfully transformed Art team by establishing effective creative strategy, development and production processes, resulting in successful delivery of high-quality artwork on time and within budget• Partnered with recruiting to develop hiring strategy, prioritization & attract and recruit top talent to the team• Conducted final round interviews across all disciplines as a Microsoft "As Appropriate" Interviewer, assessing cultural fit and long-term potential • Played a key role in increasing outsourcing by 5x and managing relationships with multiple co-development companies, providing training, establishing best practices, and building a dedicated Outsource Management support structure• Represented studio and product as spokesperson at industry and media events, effectively communicating the vision of the game

Twycross, Warwickshire, Gb

• Art Director on Rare's largest project, Kinect Sports• Led and motivated a team of 30 artists, managing scheduling and workflow to ensure efficient and effective delivery of high-quality artwork• Directed all Technical Art work, including the implementation of a crowd system to render 10,000 avatars• Led cross-discipline efforts to drive performance to 60fps after POR was changed• Directed engineers in the design and development of innovative engine technology• Represented Rare and Kinect Sports at various press and industry events, effectively communicating the game's features and benefits to stakeholders and consumers alike • Directed motion capture shoots, working closely with animators and actors to capture compelling character animations

Twycross, Warwickshire, Gb

• Leveraged Maya/MEL expertise to redefine content pipelines, dramatically improving efficiency and becoming Rare's first Technical Artist• Collaborated with engineers to develop new proprietary technology for LOD, water system, lighting model and world editor resulting in massive reduction to iteration time • Requested by several teams for my expertise in addressing issues and getting projects back on schedule, and to hit quality and performance targets• Promoted to manage a 20-person team in 2006, introduced a contractor business model that facilitated the hiring of exceptional new talent• Built strong cross-functional relationships across teams and disciplines, breaking down silos and fostering a culture of collaboration and teamwork• Successfully shipped many Xbox titles including Viva Pinata, Perfect Dark Zero, Conker's Bad Fur Day and Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts

Twycross, Warwickshire, Gb

Twycross, Warwickshire, Gb

• Environment Artist with a talent for technical problem-solving, quickly established myself as top producing Artist, modelling, texturing and lighting environments.

Bournemouth, Dorset, Gb