Lighting Artist (7-month contract)

Blackbird Interactive is a creative-fueled, future-driven, independent game studio where the best talent in the industry can find long-term careers to help grow their abilities while working on a wide range of projects, which encompass world-class IPs as well as our own creations across multiple genres. Our studio operates as a remote-first workplace, offering flexible work arrangements. At this time, we are only able to hire candidates who are legally eligible to work in Canada and reside within Canada. Blackbird Interactive is looking for a passionate and experienced Lighting Artist to join our team and continue developing a AAA Sci-fi action title . In this position, you’ll be working under the supervision of an Art Director and Lead Environment Artist . You’ll collaborate closely with art, design and tech teams to craft cinematic lighting that supports gameplay, creates immersive spaces and enhances environmental storytelling while working within real-time constraints. This role focuses on real-time lighting, composition, mood, and visual consistency, helping teams achieve cinematic environments while keeping scenes performant and production-friendly. Responsibilities Work under the direction of Art Leadership to maintain artistic consistency through lighting standards and workflows as well as adhere to established IP’s aesthetic guidelines. Communicate with the Art Leadership and environment team concerning lighting needs and direction. Use proprietary engine’s built in lighting tools to produce stunning, cinematic lighting schemes for a range of environments. Optimize lighting setups, shadows, post-processing, and related systems for real-time performance. Troubleshoot and resolve lighting, rendering, and visual clarity issues while maintaining artistic intent. Create and maintain documentation for lighting workflows, standards, and best practices. Requirements Experience lighting environments and scenes within real-time game engines such as Unity or Unreal. Strong understanding of lighting theory, color space, exposure and physically based natural lighting. Insight into cinematography and dramaturgy, scene blocking and lighting to set different moods. Solid understanding of real-time rendering principles and physically based rendering (PBR) workflows. Experience working with post-processing, exposure, atmospheric effects, and lighting optimization techniques. Ability to balance artistic quality with technical and gameplay requirements Familiarity with modern game art pipelines and collaboration across multidisciplinary teams. Highly detail oriented, technically inclined with strong communication skills and a collaborative, team-oriented mindset. Pluses Passion for grounded, immersive science fiction Experience with proprietary engines Knowledge of performance profiling and optimization related to lighting and rendering Previous cinematic lighting experience