Lead Lighting Artist / Team Lead Lighting

About the role

NBCUniversal is looking for a Lead Lighting Artist to own and drive the execution of lighting direction for an ambitious interactive project set in a contemporary real-life urban environment. Reporting to the Associate Art Director – Lighting & VFX, the role works closely with Technical Art and cross-disciplinary teams so that lighting is consistently implemented across production. It also leads and manages a team of lighting artists while making sure lighting solutions meet both artistic vision and performance constraints, from high-end to mobile pipelines.

Key responsibilities

• Translate artistic direction into lighting setups that support mood, atmosphere, realism and visual storytelling.
• Own the execution of level lighting across environments, gameplay and cinematic contexts.
• Lead and manage the lighting team, providing mentorship, feedback and direction.
• Ensure consistency and quality of lighting across large-scale worlds and varied content.
• Collaborate with World, Character, VFX, Design and Tech Art teams for proper integration.
• Optimize lighting for scalability from high-end to mobile platforms and contribute to production planning and workflow efficiency.
• Review and validate lighting implementation against visual direction and technical standards, and keep track of quality, risks and production challenges.

Required profile

• At least 7 years of experience in AAA game development focused on lighting, contributing to at least one shipped AAA title.
• Proven experience leading and managing a team of lighting artists.
• Experience on large-scale environments or open-world productions.
• Willingness to work in the Montreal office at least 4 days a week, legal authorization to work in Canada, and willingness to travel for work-related business.

Required skills

• Strong expertise in lighting for day/night cycles, atmosphere and real-time visual storytelling.
• Solid understanding of real-time rendering pipelines and lighting systems.
• Desired: experience with Unreal Engine 5 (Lumen, Megalight or similar systems) and scalable, multi-platform lighting.