Lead Lighting Artist

 

Job Title	Lead Lighting Artist
Department	Art and Animation
Location(s)	Brighton (travel as required)
Reports To	(Franchise) Art Director
Job Type (Permanent, fixed term, internship)	Permanent

Who We Are

Home to the award winning Mafia franchise, our team are united by passion for rich narrative storytelling, cinematic presentation and AAA craft. We're looking for creative minds and driven professionals who share our love of story, style, and adventure. If you're ready to help shape the next generation of narrative driven games, we'd love to hear from you.

 

Job Summary 

• We are looking for a Lead Lighting Artist to help shape and deliver world-class real-time lighting across gameplay, cinematics, and key marketing assets. 
• This role sits at the intersection of creativity and technical expertise, using Unreal Engine 5 to create lighting that enhances atmosphere, storytelling, and player experience while meeting performance goals.
• Reporting to the Art Director, the Lead Lighting Artist will work closely with Engineering, and the other Art Disciplines, playing a key role in defining lighting solutions that are both visually ambitious and technically robust.

 

Duties and Responsibilities  

• Drive Lighting Quality & Vision

  • Help define and execute the lighting vision in alignment with the game’s art direction.
  • Set and maintain lighting standards and best practices to ensure a consistent, high-quality visual bar.
  • Create lighting that supports mood, composition, readability, and emotional impact across a wide range of content.
  
  

  Gameplay, Cinematic & Marketing Lighting

  
  
  • Lead lighting for real-time gameplay and in-engine cinematics, ensuring a cohesive visual experience.
  • Collaborate with a cross-disciplinary team on the creation of high-end marketing and promotional assets, contributing ideas and helping deliver polished, visually striking results.
  • Adapt lighting solutions to work effectively across gameplay and cinematics.
  
  

  Unreal Engine 5 Leadership

  
  
  • Act as a go-to expert for UE5 lighting, with hands-on experience using systems such as Lumen, Virtual Shadow Maps, exposure, and post-processing.
  • Use UE5’s lighting capabilities to push visual quality while maintaining performance and stability.
  • Partner with Technical Art and Engineering to explore new features and improve lighting workflows.
  
  

  Technical Collaboration & Performance

  
  
  • Build strong working relationships with Engineering teams to develop and refine lighting solutions.
  • Take ownership of lighting performance, identifying potential issues early and helping guide effective solutions.
  • Contribute to the ongoing improvement of lighting pipelines, tools, and debugging processes.
  
  

  Lead, Support & Mentor

  • Provide clear artistic and technical guidance to lighting artists through reviews, feedback, and hands-on support.
  • Help plan and scope lighting work, identify dependencies, and support the team in hitting quality and p