Mid-Level
Lighting Artist

About the Role

We are looking for a skilled Mid-Level Lighting Artist with strong experience in creating photorealistic, production-quality lighting for feature films, OTT projects and commercials.

The artist should be capable of independently handling CG lighting shots, matching live-action plates, creating realistic lighting environments, and delivering technically optimized renders while maintaining visual consistency across sequences.

Hands-on production experience with Houdini Solaris/USD, Karma rendering and MaterialX is mandatory.

What You'll Do

• Create photorealistic lighting for characters, creatures, environments, props, vehicles and FX elements.
• Develop lighting setups that accurately match live-action plates, HDRIs and cinematographic references.
• Independently execute lighting shots while maintaining visual consistency across sequences.
• Assemble, organize and manage USD-based scenes using Houdini Solaris.
• Create, modify and optimize lighting setups using Karma.
• Work with MaterialX shaders and physically based materials to achieve realistic lighting responses.
• Develop lighting setups using HDRIs, area lights, directional lights, practical lights and environment lighting.
• Integrate CG assets, animation caches, FX simulations and environment elements into lighting scenes.
• Generate and manage AOVs, light groups, render passes and Cryptomatte for compositing.
• Optimize render sampling, noise, texture usage, geometry and memory consumption.
• Troubleshoot rendering issues, including flickering, noise, fireflies, shader errors and USD scene problems.
• Maintain consistency in lighting, exposure, color temperature, shadows, reflections and atmospheric effects.
• Collaborate closely with Look Development, Texturing, FX, Animation, Environment and Compositing departments.
• Follow studio pipeline standards, naming conventions, versioning and publishing workflows.
• Incorporate supervisor feedback and deliver production-ready shots within deadlines.

Required Skills

• Strong practical knowledge of Houdini Solaris/USD and Karma rendering is mandatory.
• Working knowledge of MaterialX shader workflows is mandatory.
• Strong understanding of physically based lighting and rendering principles.
• Experience with USD scene assembly, references, payloads, variants and layer composition.
• Proficiency in HDRI-based lighting and matching CG elements to live-action footage.
• Understanding of cinematography, exposure, color temperature, light falloff, shadows, reflections and refractions.
• Experience with Karma render settings, sampling, optimization and troubleshooting.
• Understanding of ACES, OCIO, linear color workflows and color management.
• Knowledge of AOVs, Cryptomatte, light groups and multipass rendering.
• Ability to work with volumetric effects, atmospheric lighting and FX elements.
• Experience optimizing complex scenes for efficient render farm execution.
• Ability to independently troubleshoot lighting, shading and rendering issues.
• Understanding of production workflows and downstream compositing requirements.

Software Requirements

Candidates should have practical experience with the following software and production workflows.

Nice to Have

• Maya and Arnold lighting workflows.
• Nuke for basic compositing, render evaluation and AOV verification.
• Python or VEX scripting for workflow automation.
• Procedural lighting systems and reusable lighting templates.
• Advanced USD scene management and pipeline integration.
• Render farm management and distributed rendering.
• Experience with complex environments, crowds, creatures and large-scale FX lighting.
• Experience with deep compositing workflows and deep render passes.

Education & Experience

• 3–5 years of relevant production experience in VFX, animation or CG lighting.
• Degree or diploma in Animation, VFX, Computer Graphics or a related field preferred.
• Demonstrated experience delivering photorealistic lighting shots for professional productions.
• Experience working in a collaborative, deadline-driven VFX production environment.

What We're Looking For

• Strong artistic understanding of lighting, cinematography, composition, mood and color.
• Ability to independently complete assigned lighting shots.
• Excellent attention to detail and visual consistency.
• Strong troubleshooting and problem-solving abilities.
• Good communication and collaboration across departments.
• Ability to balance artistic quality with technical efficiency.
• Willingness to learn and adapt to evolving production workflows.
• Ability to manage multiple shots and meet production deadlines.

Portfolio Requirements

Applicants must share a lighting demo reel that shows photorealistic CG work and how the shots were lit.

Your portfolio should include:

• Lighting demo reel showcasing photorealistic CG work.
• Lighting breakdowns with reference plates and final rendered shots.
• Examples of Houdini Solaris/USD scene assembly and Karma rendering.
• Examples demonstrating realistic lighting, reflections, shadows and material response.
• Day, night, interior and exterior lighting examples, where available.
• Examples of lighting consistency across multiple shots or sequences.
• Render pass, AOV and lighting breakdowns demonstrating technical understanding.