Lighting Artist (Contract)

At ArenaNet, we’ve always believed that games are art. They have the power to communicate ideas and tell stories. They can change the way we think, reflect our cultures, and move us. As the developer of the award-winning Guild Wars game series, we’re proud to share our passion for the online worlds we’ve created with over 21 million players worldwide.

ArenaNet develops and publishes games for every kind of person, which means our games need to be built by every kind of person. We believe the best experiences come from working together, celebrating differences, and helping each of our team members shine.

We're looking for a contract UE5 Lighting Artist with a strong eye for landscape photography or painting, who can own lighting and create sky art for large open world levels.

What You’ll Do

• Light large-scale game environments in Unreal Engine 5, establishing mood, readability, and visual hierarchy across a full day/night cycle.

• Own lighting for assigned levels from initial blockout through final polish.

• Create and integrate sky art that transitions naturally and convincingly through a dynamic time-of-day system.

• Balance lighting, atmosphere, color, and exposure to create cohesive and believable outdoor environments.

• Use color, value, contrast, and composition to guide the player’s eye and reinforce the intended emotional tone of each space.

• Create and work with atmospheric effects including fog, haze, scattering, clouds, and other environmental elements.

• Create materials and light functions within Unreal Engine to support lighting and environmental goals.

• Collaborate with senior artists, art leads, and other disciplines while incorporating feedback and maintaining ownership of assigned environments.

• Optimize lighting and related systems to meet both visual quality and performance goals.

What You'll Need to be Successful

• Bachelor’s degree or an equivalent combination of education, training, and experience

• 3+ years of professional experience in real-time lighting, including hands-on experience working in Unreal Engine 5.

• An exceptional eye for outdoor lighting for landscapes and natural environments with a portfolio that demonstrates it.

• Understanding of light from a photographic standpoint - exposure, composition, and how real-world light informs believable in game lighting.

• Demonstrated ability to own and take a level from blockout to polished lighting.

• Strong grasp of PBR, color theory, value relationships, and color grading using Unreal Engine 5 toolset.

• Solid understanding of atmospherics - fog, haze, scattering, and how they read at different times of day.

• Experience creating materials & light functions in Unreal.

• Experience creating skyboxes in Unreal using a combination of 3d and 2d assets.

• Experience creating skybox assets such as clouds & celestial bodies using 3rd party DCC like Blender, Houdini, Terragen etc.

• Experience with painting, photography or cinematography (Nice to have)

This role 1+ year remote-friendly contract, but we are currently prioritizing candidates who are local to the Bellevue, WA area and open to occasional onsite collaboration.

Pay Range: $43.22 - $61.28

This is an hourly contract role with overtime pay when applicable. While we share the full range for transparency, typical offers fall between the minimum and midpoint.

The role is benefits-eligible through our third-party employer, including medical, dental, vision, 401(k), and flexible/dependent care accounts.

Applications will be accepted until October 12th at 10am PT. If the deadline is extended, the posting will be updated accordingly. If the position is filled before this date, the posting will be removed.

Don’t meet every single requirement on this job post? Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At ArenaNet, we believe diversity in culture, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and backgrounds make us a better team – we celebrate it. So, if you’re excited about this role, but your experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification listed, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.