Unity Lighting Artist

Job title: Unity Lighting Artist

About the Role AlterStaff is seeking a Unity Lighting Artist for a 3–6 month contract role within our Design & Development team. You’ll craft evocative, optimized lighting in Unity aligned with concept art to elevate the emotional impact of our game worlds across environments, cutscenes, and gameplay spaces.

What You'll Do

• Design and implement high-quality lighting in Unity, balancing visual style and performance.
• Work with Light Probes, Lightmaps, and Reflection Probes to ensure consistent environmental lighting.
• Translate concept art and narrative tone into dynamic in-game lighting setups.
• Utilize Shader Graph to develop lighting-related materials; HLSL experience is a plus.
• Collaborate with technical artists, concept/3D artists and designers to light environments, cutscenes, and gameplay spaces.
• Use post-processing effects to enhance visual fidelity (bloom, color grading, depth of field, etc).
• Optimize lighting for performance across platforms, ensuring fast load and runtime speeds.
• Contribute to lighting reviews and provide polish for key scenes and milestones.
• Maintain documentation for lighting workflows and best practices.

What We're Looking For

• Proficiency in Unity Engine, with a deep understanding of lighting systems and rendering workflows.
• Familiarity with Light Probe and Lightmap baking, including mixed lighting scenarios.
• Experience using Shader Graph; HLSL or shader scripting is a bonus.
• Solid understanding of lighting composition, color theory, and visual storytelling.
• Working knowledge of C# scripting within Unity.
• Ability to optimize lighting for performance while maintaining visual integrity.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills in a fast-paced development environment.
• Portfolio showcasing lighting work in Unity (stylized or cinematic preferred).

Nice to Have

• Optional/preferred qualifications (only if mentioned)

Compensation & Benefits

• Salary: $25-$50 per hour (USD).
• Benefits: Flexible working hours and remote work opportunities; a competitive salary and comprehensive benefits package; opportunities for professional growth and advancement; access to cutting-edge technology and tools; an inclusive work environment; opportunities to participate in gaming conventions and seminars.