{"id":1167751,"url":"https://alion.io/job/arenanet-lighting-artist-contract","title":"Lighting Artist (Contract)","company":{"id":449661,"name":"ArenaNet","domain":"arena.net","url":"https://alion.io/company/arenanet","size_band":null,"is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":null},"role":"Games","role_family":"Games","seniority":"middle","employment_type":"contractor","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":43,"max":61,"currency":"USD","period":"hour","gross":null,"usd_annual":122000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":3,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"Blender","optional":false},{"name":"Houdini","optional":false},{"name":"Unreal Engine","optional":false}],"status":"closed","first_seen_at":"2026-09-23T22:42:31Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-09-23","last_verified_at":"2026-10-12T19:52:46Z","board_verified":false,"closed_at":"2026-10-12T19:52:46Z","days_open":18,"trust":{"level":"not_scored","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":18},"description":"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.\nArenaNet 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.\nWe'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.\nWhat You’ll Do\nLight large-scale game environments in Unreal Engine 5, establishing mood, readability, and visual hierarchy across a full day/night cycle.\n\nOwn lighting for assigned levels from initial blockout through final polish.\n\nCreate and integrate sky art that transitions naturally and convincingly through a dynamic time-of-day system.\n\nBalance lighting, atmosphere, color, and exposure to create cohesive and believable outdoor environments.\n\nUse color, value, contrast, and composition to guide the player’s eye and reinforce the intended emotional tone of each space.\n\nCreate and work with atmospheric effects including fog, haze, scattering, clouds, and other environmental elements.\n\nCreate materials and light functions within Unreal Engine to support lighting and environmental goals.\n\nCollaborate with senior artists, art leads, and other disciplines while incorporating feedback and maintaining ownership of assigned environments.\n\nOptimize lighting and related systems to meet both visual quality and performance goals.\n\nWhat You'll Need to be Successful\nBachelor’s degree or an equivalent combination of education, training, and experience\n\n3+ years of professional experience in real-time lighting, including hands-on experience working in Unreal Engine 5.\n\nAn exceptional eye for outdoor lighting for landscapes and natural environments with a portfolio that demonstrates it.\n\nUnderstanding of light from a photographic standpoint - exposure, composition, and how real-world light informs believable in game lighting.\n\nDemonstrated ability to own and take a level from blockout to polished lighting.\n\nStrong grasp of PBR, color theory, value relationships, and color grading using Unreal Engine 5 toolset.\n\nSolid understanding of atmospherics - fog, haze, scattering, and how they read at different times of day.\n\nExperience creating materials & light functions in Unreal.\n\nExperience creating skyboxes in Unreal using a combination of 3d and 2d assets.\n\nExperience creating skybox assets such as clouds & celestial bodies using 3rd party DCC like Blender, Houdini, Terragen etc.\n\nExperience with painting, photography or cinematography (Nice to have)\n\nThis 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.\nPay Range: $43.22 - $61.28\nThis 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.\nThe role is benefits-eligible through our third-party employer, including medical, dental, vision, 401(k), and flexible/dependent care accounts.\nApplications 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.\nDon’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.","description_format":"text","description_chars":4213,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":3,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":[],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-09-24T04:33:03Z"},{"event":"close","at":"2026-10-12T19:52:46Z"}],"visa":[{"country":"US","licensed_sponsor":true,"evidence":"H-1B filings in 12 months: 1","filings_12m":1,"filings_prev_12m":5,"green_card_filings_12m":0,"median_offered_wage_usd":127500,"route":null,"cap_exempt":false,"checked_at":"2026-10-15T11:24:14+00:00","sources":["US Department of Labor: LCA disclosure data (H-1B, H-1B1, E-3)"],"filings_for_role_12m":1}],"liveness":null,"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":122000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/arenanet-lighting-artist-contract","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/arenanet-lighting-artist-contract.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-26T03:39:09Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":4975,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-27T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":449661},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=449661"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Farenanet-lighting-artist-contract"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Farenanet-lighting-artist-contract"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Farenanet-lighting-artist-contract"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/arenanet-lighting-artist-contract\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Farenanet-lighting-artist-contract"}]}