Expert Lighting Artist (Game Development)

TL;DR

Expert Lighting Artist (Game Development): Creating gameplay and in-game cinematic lighting for first-person shooter environments with an accent on physically based rendering, mood, visual storytelling, and photorealistic quality. Focus on building lighting workflows, collaborating with rendering engineers, optimizing runtime performance, and mentoring artists while shaping large-scale landscapes and cinematic experiences.

Location: Hybrid position based in the Toronto studio; permanent remote work is not available. The role involves collaboration with teams in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom.

Salary: USD 99,200–183,520 annual base pay range in the United States; incentive compensation may also apply.

Company

hirify.global is a major interactive entertainment company developing and publishing global video game franchises and advanced gaming technologies.

What you will do

• Create gameplay and in-game cinematic lighting under Art Director guidance.
• Develop sky domes, cloud assets, lighting workflows, and team best practices.
• Ensure lighting assets meet runtime and disk-budget requirements while identifying production risks.
• Collaborate with Character, VFX, Environment Art, rendering engineering, leads, and directors.
• Advance the lighting pipeline and explore new industry-standard techniques.
• Mentor Lighting Artists and promote a creative, trusted, and high-quality working environment.

Requirements

• 12+ years of professional lighting experience in the gaming industry.
• Advanced knowledge of physically based lighting, lighting theory, composition, color space, exposure, reflections, color grading, and post effects.
• Strong experience with Maya and Photoshop or equivalent tools.
• Experience with Unreal, Unity, or proprietary game engines, including PBR and HDR lighting.
• Familiarity with ray tracing and path tracing systems, as well as industry-standard rendering concepts.
• Proven ability to lead and inspire teams, plus the ability to use AI as a development tool.

Nice to have

• Experience with scripting or programming languages.
• Experience with Houdini.
• Knowledge of photography principles and image correction techniques.
• Experience playing Call of Duty or similar first-person shooter games.

Culture & Benefits

• Hybrid work combining in-studio and remote workdays.
• Structured onboarding and in-depth training, with regular one-to-ones and weekly team meetings.
• Medical, dental, vision, healthcare spending, life, disability, and related insurance programs.
• 401(k) with company match, tuition reimbursement, and charitable donation matching.
• Paid holidays, vacation, sick time, floating holidays, parental leave, and wellbeing programs.
• Relocation assistance may be available when a company-required geographic move applies.