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Giant Skull · 2 months ago

Principal Lighting Artist

Los Angeles, CA

Full-time

Hybrid

Lead/Staff

$160K/yr - $210K/yr

8+ years exp

Giant Skull is an independent game studio on a mission to craft unforgettable single-player, gameplay-driven action-adventures in rich, immersive worlds. The Principal Lighting Artist will help define and drive the lighting vision for their game, collaborating closely across disciplines to deliver high-quality real-time lighting that enhances the gaming experience.

GamificationGamingSoftwareVideo Games

Responsibilities

You will help establish and execute the lighting quality bar and vision, creating dramatic, immersive, and intentional lighting across environments, characters, and gameplay moments

You will collaborate closely with art direction, level design, and narrative to shape mood, guide players, and support storytelling through lighting

You will contribute to the development of lighting workflows and tools, partnering with engineering and tech art to support efficiency and visual quality

You will help ensure performance targets are met while achieving high-quality real-time lighting in UE5

You will mentor and support other artists, providing constructive feedback and technical insight to elevate the overall bar for lighting

Your influence will extend across the art department, helping shape both the look of the world and the processes we use to build it

Qualification

Unreal Engine 5Lighting principlesDynamic lightingColor theoryLighting workflowsMentorshipCollaborationProblem solving

Required

You have 8+ years of experience as a lighting artist for games

You have experience lighting in Unreal 5 engine

Portfolio should showcase ability to produce compelling visuals through lighting, as well as a range of experience with lighting of environments, characters, and cinematics

You have a deep understanding of lighting principles, composition, color theory, and the emotional impact of light and shadow

You are highly skilled in lighting within game engines such as Unreal, including dynamic lighting, post-process effects, Lumen, and optimization strategies

You have experience lighting a wide variety of spaces from intimate interiors to expansive exteriors, from gameplay-driven areas to narrative moments

You can balance artistic goals with gameplay and technical constraints, ensuring lighting supports player readability, navigational flow, and real-time performance

You're highly collaborative, able to partner with design, narrative, tech art, and engineering to align lighting with gameplay and worldbuilding

You are a proactive problem solver who brings clarity to ambiguous challenges and proposes solutions grounded in both creative vision and production reality

You value feedback, mentorship, and helping others grow