Senior Technical Artist (Lighting Pipeline)

TL;DR

Senior Technical Artist (Lighting Pipeline): Owning the UE5 lighting and bake pipeline for Poppy Playtime with an accent on automation tools, distributed bake workflows, and performance optimization. Focus on building Python and Unreal Editor tooling, integrating bakes into CI/CD pipelines, and optimizing lighting costs across PC and consoles.

Location: Remote

Company

Startup multimedia studio best known for the hit indie horror game franchise "Poppy Playtime".

What you will do

• Own the UE5 lighting and bake pipeline end-to-end, including configuration, distributed workflows, and validation.
• Develop Python and Unreal Editor tooling to automate lighting tasks and integrate with Perforce and Jenkins.
• Collaborate with DevOps to wire bakes and validation into Jenkins and monitor pipeline telemetry.
• Diagnose and resolve bake failures, lightmap artifacts, and performance regressions.
• Profile and optimize lighting costs across PC and console using Unreal Insights, RenderDoc, and stat commands.
• Maintain technical documentation and debugging guides to enable environment artists to self-serve.

Requirements

• 7+ years of game industry experience with at least two shipped titles in a Technical Artist role.
• Deep working knowledge of UE5 lighting and bake pipelines, specifically for confined indoor environments.
• Strong proficiency in Python and the Unreal Python API.
• Hands-on experience with profiling tools such as Unreal Insights, RenderDoc, and GPU profilers.
• Experience working in Perforce-based UE5 projects with stream workflows.
• Experience integrating Unreal workflows with Jenkins or similar CI tools.

Nice to have

• Background in Environment Art transitioning into TA, or vice versa.
• Experience writing Unreal commandlets or custom build steps.
• Background in render programming or shader authoring (HLSL, Material Editor).
• Familiarity with the Poppy Playtime universe and its visual language.
• Knowledge of color management and LUT pipelines.

Culture & Benefits

• Remote-first studio environment.
• Opportunity to contribute to a highly popular and expanding horror franchise.
• Merit-based employment decisions in an equal opportunity environment.