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Lighting Artist Jobs (NOW HIRING)

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 ...

Livenation

Lighting Engineer

Dallas, TX

Artist Nation Management is one of the world's leading artist management companies, representing ... Focus and lighting adjustments to artist or event specifications * Spotlight Operations/Lighting ...

Livenation

Lighting Engineer - MH

New Orleans, LA · On-site

Artist Nation Management is one of the world's leading artist management companies, representing ... Experience in stage lighting, pro audio systems and basic video systems. Ability to handle multiple ...

Livenation

Lighting Engineer

Santa Ana, CA

Accommodate artist/ event A/V requirements * Responsible for safe and consistent operation of lighting * Assist with the technical advance with Artists representatives * Ensure proper care and ...

Livenation

Lighting Engineer

Los Angeles, CA · On-site

Accommodate artist/ event A/V requirements * Responsible for safe and consistent operation of lighting * Assist with the technical advance with Artists representatives * Ensure proper care and ...

World Cafe Live

Lighting Designer

Philadelphia, PA

$21 - $23/hr

... artists, creating educational programs, and welcoming audiences of all ages and abilities. In ... Lighting Designer A lighting designer at World Cafe Live offers a great opportunity for a talented ...

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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 Jul 24, 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
Infographic showing various Lighting Artist job openings in the United States as of July 2026, with employment types broken down into 78% Full Time, 18% Part Time, 1% Temporary, and 3% Contract. Highlights an 97% Physical, and 3% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $129,541 per year, or $62.3 per hour.
Lighting Artist / Technical Director - ILM San Francisco (Project Hire)

Lighting Artist / Technical Director - ILM San Francisco (Project Hire)

The Walt Disney Company

San Francisco, CA

$103K - $132K/yr

Full-time

Posted 28 days ago

Walt Disney Company rating

7.7

Company rating: 7.7 out of 10

Based on 128 frontline employees who took The Breakroom Quiz

5th of 51 rated entertainment

Job description

Job Posting Title:

Lighting Artist / Technical Director - ILM San Francisco (Project Hire)

Req ID:

10152348

Job Description:

Position Summary

ILM's Interactive team advances the studio's legacy of innovation by developing original immersive experiences across virtual reality, augmented reality and location-based platforms. Known for blending best-in-class visuals, sound and narrative, the team has delivered award-winning projects such as What If...? - An Immersive Story, Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series and the Oscar-winning CARNE y ARENA. Our work continues to push the boundaries of immersive entertainment and redefine how audiences engage with story.

We are seeking a Lighting Artist who reflects the innovative spirit, creative talent, production excellence, and passion for great storytelling that defines ILM.

The Lighting Artist is responsible for bringing the best out of our environments and to combine artistic talent and technical ability. You would be working closely with the Department Supervisor of Lighting and development/production teams on the design and implementation of lighting setups and lighting pipelines.

What You'll Do

  • Work with Art Directors, Lighting Leads and Concept Artwork to design lighting setups for environments, characters and interactive game assets.

  • Have a deep understanding of lightmap baking, dynamic lighting tools, image based specular lighting, indirect light probes, post-process volumes and real-time rendering

  • Work with environment, character and VFX artists in the lighting design to achieve the desired targets for aesthetics and performance through material shader and geometry work

  • Partner with level designers to animate via level blueprint or sequencer dynamic lighting or transitions

  • Actively participate in improving workflows, optimizations and best practices

  • Identify, triage, and fix bugs as required working with engineering and relevant departments

  • Take final project to a high degree of polish and optimization

What We're Looking For

  • 5+ years experience as a Lighting TD/Artist in AAA game development or animation/vfx/film

  • Strong aesthetic sense for lighting and color theory

  • Strong technical knowledge of current real time lighting tool sets including atmospheric effects, post processing, color grading and HDR IBL workflows

  • Able to effectively take direction and know what looks good and why

  • Experience with Unreal/Unity or equivalent game engine including dynamic and baked lighting workflows, physically-based rendering, and basic level blueprint scripting

  • Shaders: in-depth knowledge of real-time shader implementations, limitations of shaders in VR, strong knowledge of PBR pipelines, and subsurface shaders

  • Materials: experienced in the development, authoring & organization of efficient materials via the UE4 material editor

  • Fluency in working in Windows, JIRA, Perforce or equivalent OS, workload and data management tools

  • Excellent communication, organization and problem-solving skills and self-motivated

  • Bonus points for:

    • Strong traditional art, photography or film studies background

    • Proficient with profiling tools to examine & diagnosis performance issues related to lighting

    • Experience with one or more of the following: Maya, Unity, Substance Designer / Painter, Zbrush or Mudbox, Houdini, Mari, 3D StudioMax, Photoshop, Nuke

    • Interest and capacity to work with proprietary toolsets

* A portfolio / reel submission - including a detailed breakdown of your work in each section - is required with all applications.

JoinILM

The hiring range for this position in San Francisco is $103,812 to $132,930 per year. The base pay actually offered will take into account internal equity and also may vary depending on the candidate's geographic region, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience among other factors. A bonus and/or long-term incentive units may be provided as part of the compensation package, in addition to the full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits, dependent on the level and position offered.

Job Posting Segment:

ILM San Francisco

Job Posting Primary Business:

ILM San Francisco

Primary Job Posting Category:

Lighting Entertainment - Studios

Employment Type:

Full time

Primary City, State, Region, Postal Code:

San Francisco, CA, USA

Alternate City, State, Region, Postal Code:

Date Posted:

2026-05-26

What Walt Disney Company employees say

Pay

Benefits

Hours and flexibility

Workplace

Get the full story on Breakroom

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About Walt Disney

Sourced by ZipRecruiter

At Disney, we're storytellers. We make the impossible, possible. We do this through utilizing and developing cutting-edge technology and pushing the envelope to bring stories to life through our movies, products, interactive games, parks and resorts, and media networks. Now is your chance to join our talented team that delivers unparalleled creative content to audiences around the world. "We create happiness." That's our motto at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. And it permeates everything we do. At Disney, you'll help inspire that magic by enabling our teams to push the limits of entertainment and create the never-before-seen!

Industry

Amusement, gambling, and recreation

Company size

10,000+ Employees

Headquarters location

Burbank, CA, US

Social media

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