Lead Lighting Artist

Summary

Join Turtle Rock Studios' award-winning game development team as a Lead Lighting Artist and contribute to the creation of our next AAA title. Based in Orange County, CA, we offer flexible work arrangements, including in-studio, hybrid, and fully remote options throughout North America. In this role, you will lead the Lighting team, oversee lighting design and implementation, collaborate with various departments, and mentor team members. You will be responsible for establishing visual standards, ensuring high-quality assets, and optimizing performance. The ideal candidate possesses extensive experience in game development, strong leadership skills, and proficiency with Unreal Engine 5.

Requirements

• 7+ years of experience in game development with one or more shipped titles on multiple platforms in a senior/principal or leadership role for game environments
• A strong portfolio that demonstrates experience lighting environments and characters for AAA games
• Strong leadership, mentoring, and teaching skills
• Strong ability to interpret and adapt to general and flexible direction. Can thrive in a highly collaborative, team-oriented environment
• Must be comfortable taking on responsibility for the development of complex lighting solutions and guiding the team to consistently achieve the quality bar
• Demonstrated experience working with Unreal Engine 5 and modern art pipelines
• Demonstrated experience working with realistic art styles
• Keen production sensibilities, ability to collaborate on timelines and communicate with Production and team members on task duration and prioritization
• Ability to maintain high-quality and consistent progress
• Proficiency with PBR
• A passion for games and lighting impact in game environment

Responsibilities

• Lead the Lighting team: maintain consistency across the department providing direction and feedback, ensuring all team members understand their role in the department and know what is expected of them
• Oversee the lighting design and implementation across various environments, levels, and scenes to help enhance the visual appeal, atmosphere, mood, and gameplay of the environments and game
• Work closely with the Creative Director and Art Directors to establish visual standards and lighting style guide
• Collaborate with level designers, environment artists, and other departments to implement lighting, review scenes as a whole, and maintain a high-quality bar for all assets throughout the world
• Work with department leads to build asset viewer maps and establish standards for content creation that follow PBR standards
• Work closely with Tech Art and Engineering to set standards and ensure lighting effects are visually appealing while maintaining acceptable frame rates and performance metrics
• Work closely with department manager to provide mentorship and coaching for Lighting team members including but not limited to: 1:1s, career development, performance evaluations, and goal-setting
• Playtest with the studio and the Lighting team to review and iterate lighting aspects throughout the game

Benefits

• 100% Medical, Dental, Vision Coverage for you and your family
• 401k Matching
• Profit Sharing Plan
• Student Loan Repayment Plan / College Savings Plan
• Career Improvement Plan
• Flexible Work Arrangements - In-House, Hybrid, and Remote
• Generous Time Off Policy
• Company Events - In-Person Summer Family Bash + Halloween Party + Virtual Events
• Fully Stocked Kitchen + Sponsored Food Trucks