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Lighting Artist Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Scattermesh

3D Lighting Artist

Herndon, VA · On-site

The role requires a skilled artist with strong understanding of lighting and rendering photorealistic images of primarily organic characters. The ideal candidate will have experience lighting scenes ...

Scattermesh

3D Lighting Artist

Herndon, VA · On-site

The role requires a skilled artist with strong understanding of lighting and rendering photorealistic images of primarily organic characters. The ideal candidate will have experience lighting scenes ...

Scattermesh

Senior Lighting Artist

Herndon, VA · On-site

$130K - $156K/yr

The role requires a skilled artist with strong understanding of lighting and rendering photorealistic images of primarily organic characters. The ideal candidate will have experience lighting scenes ...

Scattermesh

Senior Lighting Artist

Herndon, VA · On-site

$130K - $156K/yr

The role requires a skilled artist with strong understanding of lighting and rendering photorealistic images of primarily organic characters. The ideal candidate will have experience lighting scenes ...

Swaybox Studios

Senior CG Lighting Artist

New Orleans, LA · Hybrid

$122K - $146K/yr

The Senior CG Lighting Artist will focus mainly on facial performance replacement with a handoff to the compositing team. This person will play a hands-on role in bringing our characters to life ...

Swaybox Studios

Senior CG Lighting Artist

New Orleans, LA · On-site

$122K - $146K/yr

The Senior CG Lighting Artist will focus mainly on facial performance replacement with a handoff to the compositing team. This person will play a hands-on role in bringing our characters to life ...

Dance Place

Lighting Technician

Washington, DC · On-site

$25 - $35/hr

Come enjoy an exciting and inclusive team environment of movement artists who share a common goal ... Reporting to the Technical Director, the Lighting Technician works collaboratively with the ...

Dance Place

Lighting Technician

Washington, DC

$25 - $35/hr

Come enjoy an exciting and inclusive team environment of movement artists who share a common goal ... Additionally, the Lighting Technician supports all artists in the Dance Place season in realizing ...

Dance Place

Lighting Technician

Washington, DC · On-site

Come enjoy an exciting and inclusive team environment of movement artists who share a common goal ... Additionally, the Lighting Technician supports all artists in the Dance Place season in realizing ...

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Lighting Artist information

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$30.5K

$129.5K

$152.5K

How much do lighting artist jobs pay per year?

As of Jun 9, 2026, the average yearly pay for lighting artist in the United States is $129,541.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $127,000.00 and $152,000.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What are the typical daily responsibilities of a Lighting Artist in a production environment?

As a Lighting Artist, your daily responsibilities typically include setting up and adjusting lighting rigs, refining the mood and atmosphere of digital scenes, and collaborating with other departments such as modeling, texturing, and compositing to achieve the desired visual effect. You will review feedback from art directors or supervisors and update scene lighting to meet project goals and maintain visual consistency. Additionally, troubleshooting rendering issues and optimizing lighting setups for performance are common tasks. The role often involves a mix of creative and technical problem-solving, making versatility and attention to detail crucial for success.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive in the Lighting Artist position, and why are they important?

To thrive as a Lighting Artist, you need a strong understanding of light, color theory, composition, and visual storytelling, typically supported by a degree in art, animation, or a related field. Mastery of industry-standard 3D software such as Maya, Houdini, Unreal Engine, or proprietary rendering tools is essential, and certification in these tools can be advantageous. Strong collaboration, adaptability, and effective communication skills help Lighting Artists work seamlessly with artists, designers, and technical teams. These combined abilities ensure the creation of visually compelling scenes that meet both artistic vision and technical requirements in fast-paced production environments.

What is a Lighting Artist job?

A Lighting Artist is responsible for creating and implementing lighting setups that enhance the mood, atmosphere, and visual quality of scenes in films, video games, or animations. They work with 3D environments, adjusting light sources, shadows, and color tones to achieve artistic and realistic effects. Their role involves collaborating with other artists, such as modelers and texture artists, to ensure consistency in visual storytelling. Lighting Artists also optimize lighting for performance while maintaining high-quality visuals.

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Lighting Artist jobs near you

3D Lighting Artist

Scattermesh

Herndon, VA • On-site

Full-time

Medical, Dental, Vision, Retirement, PTO

Posted 20 days ago

Job description

Scattermesh is a fast-paced small company looking to disrupt, transform, and innovate on behalf of our clients. We are inventors, technologists, artisans, problem solvers, and collaborators seeking to redefine the content experience by changing how content is managed and delivered to clients. We have an amazing team and we want to add a few talented revolutionaries who want to make a difference solving hard problems. Create your story and start making an indelible impact today.
Job Summary
Scattermesh is expanding its team and we are looking to hire 3D Lighting artists to work across client projects on a full time basis on-site in Herndon, VA. The role requires a skilled artist with strong understanding of lighting and rendering photorealistic images of primarily organic characters. The ideal candidate will have experience lighting scenes from photo reference and should have a strong understanding of customizing shaders to replicate real interactions between surfaces and light.
Responsibilities and Duties
  • Realize the Vision - Elevate high quality 3D character models by optimizing textures and shaders to create realistic renders.
  • Construct Reality - Create and maintain the overall look, color, and quality across multiple sequences to create storylines.
  • Collaborate - Work alongside your fellow artists and studio managers to meet the needs of today while preparing for and solving the problems of tomorrow.

Qualifications and Skills
  • 1-9+ years' experience as a 3D artist or relevant portfolio
  • Strong artistic fundamentals - scale, composition, perspective, proportion, mass and volume, light and color, and surface properties
  • Understanding of real-world lighting and photography, exposure, color grading, lens and camera behavior and HDR workflows
  • Mastery of standard art packages such as Maya, Arnold, Substance / Adobe Painter, etc
  • Skilled in look development and lighting for photorealistic renders
  • Skilled in replicating physically accurate lighting environments in 3D
  • Understanding of PBR rendering and optimizations using Arnold or similar engines
  • Experience working within an established studio pipeline and file structure
  • Is self-motivated and self-reliant
  • Must have a learning mind-set
  • Excellent organizational, communication, and interpersonal skills
  • US citizenship required

Benefits and Perks
Scattermesh is as obsessed about our employees as our customers. We want to provide great benefits and perks so you can focus on making an impact. We recognize that industry is moving away from better benefits so we have decided to do our part to start reversing the trend. Join us in our quest to disrupt, transform and innovate.
Benefits
  • Competitive Market Leading Pay
  • 25-30 days - Paid Time Off (PTO) / Holiday
  • 100% Company paid medical/dental/vision/plans
  • Health Savings Account (HSA)
  • Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account (FSA)
  • 401(k) Matching with no cliff vest

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