Senior II Lighting Artist (Game Development)

TL;DR

Senior II Lighting Artist (Game Development): Design and implement high-quality character and environment lighting for an unannounced game in Unreal Engine with an accent on photometric lighting, cameras, lenses, and post-processing. Focus on collaborating across disciplines to ensure lighting solutions support aesthetic goals and gameplay readability, maintaining performance targets, and contributing to lighting workflows.

Location: This role is anticipated to be a hybrid work position, with some work on-site and some work from home. The potential home studio for this role is Irvine, CA or Albany, NY. If the Company requires that you move geographic locations for the job, then you may also be eligible for relocation assistance.

Salary: $97,200.00 - $179,900.00 Annual

Company

hirify.global, a division of Activision Blizzard, is a premier developer and publisher of genre-defining games and legendary worlds for tens of millions of players worldwide.

What you will do

• Design and implement high-quality character and environment lighting in Unreal Engine.
• Collaborate across disciplines to ensure lighting solutions support aesthetic goals and gameplay readability.
• Use atmospherics, color, light, post-processing, and shadow to enhance mood and storytelling.
• Demonstrate expertise in cinematic global lighting and atmospheric looks, including creating lighting Blueprints and light functions.
• Work with Technical Art and Engineering teams to maintain performance targets and diagnose lighting-related artifacts.
• Contribute to lighting workflows, documentation, and best practices.

Requirements

• 12 years of professional experience on AAA game-development teams in a lighting or related role.
• Experience shipping at least one major title in a relevant capacity.
• Proven experience delivering high-quality lighting solutions in collaboration with art, design, and engineering partners.
• In-depth knowledge of AAA game engines and multiple approaches to lighting and look development.
• Extensive Unreal Engine experience, including lighting channels, Lumen, Virtual Shadow Maps (VSM), hardware ray tracing (HWRT), and MegaLights.
• Expert-level understanding of physically-based rendering and lighting.
• Superb grasp of color theory, composition, and visual storytelling.
• Strong ability to analyze, debug, and optimize lighting for visual quality and performance.
• English: B2 required.

Nice to have

• Experience creating and maintaining post-process materials.
• Strong illustration or photography background.
• Experience working through early-development and R&D phases of a project.
• Passion for playing a wide variety of video games.

Culture & Benefits

• Hybrid work model with some on-site and some work from home.
• Comprehensive benefits including medical, dental, vision, 401(k) with company match, and paid time off.
• Mental health & wellbeing programs, fitness programs, and free/discounted games.
• Opportunity for tuition reimbursement and charitable donation matching.
• Pet-friendly workplace culture.
• Commitment to diversity and inclusion.