Lead Lighting Artist
About The Position
Cloud Chamber is hiring a Lead Lighting Artist to help shape the visual narrative and atmosphere of its BioShock game. The role leads a team of lighting artists, supports their performance and career growth, and establishes lighting standards and pipelines that deliver high-quality real-time environments and cinematics. The Lead Lighting Artist works closely with the Art Director, other art leads, Core Tech, Production, and other art groups to uphold the visual direction, meet technical and scheduling constraints, and resolve workflow issues. The position also involves researching lighting techniques and technologies, monitoring progress, communicating updates, and adapting priorities through an iterative development process. The team collaborates across design, art, engineering, animation, and audio to realize the project’s creative ambitions and deliver a world-class AAA experience. The role calls for an experienced, supportive leader who communicates clearly, builds trust across disciplines, welcomes feedback, and maintains quality through changing priorities.
Requirements
- At least 7 years of experience in real-time lighting and final rendering.
- A proven track record as an Art Lead on at least one shipped AAA title.
- Deep understanding of Physically Based Rendering (PBR), runtime optimization, and lighting for in-game cinematics.
- Practical expertise with Unreal Engine 5, specifically Lumen Lighting and Sequencer.
- Demonstrated success recruiting, developing, mentoring, and retaining artistic talent while managing team workload and well-being.
- Experience collaborating directly with Core Tech and Production teams to establish and optimize real-time pipelines under runtime constraints.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain complex ideas to diverse audiences and deliver difficult feedback empathetically and professionally.
- Experience working in cross-disciplinary teams.
- Proactive, persistent, and self-motivated, with the ability to maintain effectiveness and quality amid pressure, ambiguity, and changing priorities.
- Ability to build trust-based relationships, listen actively, understand differing perspectives, and navigate organizational complexity with tact and emotional intelligence.
- Openness to feedback and direction, willingness to learn new skills, and ability to produce quick, high-quality revisions.
- Strong ownership, autonomy, attention to detail, organization, and commitment to high-quality work.
- Commitment to Cloud Chamber’s core values and a positive, respectful company culture.
Responsibilities
- Lead a team of lighting artists, providing guidance, feedback, and mentorship.
- Set clear expectations and manage direct reports’ performance, career growth, well-being, and output.
- Establish team best practices and standards to promote productivity, quality, and excellence.
- Foster a positive, proactive, agile, innovative, and collaborative work environment.
- Collaborate with the Art Director and other leads to understand and uphold the visual style and lighting direction.
- Develop and maintain efficient lighting pipelines and workflows; serve as the primary contact for pipeline issues and proactively resolve problems and roadblocks.
- Research and implement lighting techniques and technologies to support continuous improvement.
- Work with Core Tech to meet technical specifications and runtime optimization requirements for real-time rendering engines.
- Coordinate with Production and scheduling teams to set realistic timelines and manage project priorities.
- Collaborate with other art department groups to achieve cohesive visual results.
- Monitor project progress, identify opportunities for improvement and optimization, update cross-functional stakeholders, and adjust priorities as needed.
- Receive and apply constructive feedback effectively throughout the iterative development process.
Benefits
- 401(k) plan eligibility
- Employee Stock Purchase Program eligibility
- Medical insurance
- Dental insurance
- Vision insurance
- Basic life insurance coverage
- 14 paid holidays per calendar year
- Paid vacation time of 15 to 25 days per calendar year or eligibility for the company’s discretionary time off program
- Up to 10 paid sick days per calendar year
- Paid parental leave
- Paid compassionate leave
- Mental health and other wellness support programs
- Family planning support through Maven
- Commuter benefits
- Reimbursements for fitness-related expenses
- Potential bonus and/or equity awards, subject to applicable considerations
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
Education Level
No Education Listed
