Lighting Artist

Jagex Ltd.; Hartford; Hybrid; GBP 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading gaming company in the UK seeks a Senior Lighting Artist to define and implement high-quality lighting for a visually stunning game. You'll handle both artistic and technical challenges, collaborating closely with various teams to ensure consistency and performance. Ideal candidates will have a strong portfolio in AAA game projects, a deep understanding of real-time rendering, and proficiency in Unreal Engine. This fixed-term contract provides opportunities for innovation and creativity.

Benefits

Private Healthcare

Minimum 6% Pension contributions

Employee Assistance Programme

Life Insurance

Discretionary annual performance bonus

Enhanced family leave policies

Qualifications

• Portfolio showcasing high-quality lighting examples.
• Proven experience in AAA game projects.
• Deep understanding of physically based lighting.

Responsibilities

• Define high-quality lighting across all scenes.
• Prototype visual targets ensuring gameplay readability.
• Optimize lighting systems for performance.

Skills

Lighting AAA game projects

Real-time rendering

Artistic eye for colour and composition

Cross-disciplinary collaboration

Tools

Unreal Engine

Job description

Location: Cambridge, UK - (This position can accommodate flexible working options. However, candidates must be based (or be willing to relocate) within a comfortable commuting distance of our Cambridge office to be able to attend onsite as required) This role is a Fixed Term Contract anticipated to end mid-late 2027. Are you an experienced lighting artist in games who loves working with a versatile set of environments, moods, atmospheres and sources to enhance gameplay and visual storytelling? As a Senior Lighting Artist on RuneScape: Dragonwilds, our open-world survival crafting game developed in Unreal Engine 5, you'll take ownership of the lighting vision that defines the look, feel, and emotional tone of the world. You'll collaborate closely with the Art Director, Tech Art, Environment Art and Engineering teams to build stunning real-time lighting across environments, characters, and cinematics, ensuring a beautiful experience and artistic consistency throughout the game. This is a highly creative and technically challenging role where you'll shape tools, workflows and standards that empower the team to deliver on their vision, and provide our players with a game that looks and feels great to play.

Responsibilities

• Define and implement high-quality lighting across environments, scenes, characters, and cinematics in line with the project's art direction and visual style.
• Establish and maintain the game's lighting vision, setting artistic and technical benchmarks for the team.
• Prototype and deliver visual targets, ensuring lighting contributes to gameplay readability, emotional tone, and narrative intent.
• Identify and resolve complex visual challenges both technically and artistically, maintaining aesthetic consistency under real-time constraints.
• Balance artistic excellence with performance, optimizing lighting systems to meet platform and engine requirements.
• Serve as a bridge between art and engineering, collaborating to refine rendering features, shaders, and lighting pipelines.
• Drive the development of advanced lighting tools and workflows in partnership with Technical Art and Engineering, improving efficiency and creative flexibility.
• Ensure timely and consistent lighting delivery, aligning work with production milestones and broader visual goals.
• Contribute to lighting-related VFX development, ensuring seamless integration with the overall lighting scheme.
• Mentor and support junior artists, fostering growth and maintaining high standards across the lighting discipline.

Qualifications

• A portfolio showcasing high-quality examples of lighting a variety of indoor and outdoor environments running in-engine in real-time.
• Proven experience lighting AAA or high-quality game projects.
• Deep understanding of real-time rendering, physically based lighting, and post-processing.
• Proficiency with Unreal Engine (preferred) or similar industry-standard engines.
• Strong artistic eye for colour, contrast, tone, and composition.
• Excellent communication and cross‑disciplinary collaboration skills.
• Demonstrated ability to balance visual impact and performance across multiple platforms.

About Jagex

Jagex is a leader in developing and publishing deep, engaging online games that connect millions of players worldwide. Best known for the RuneScape franchise, which includes two of the world's longest running and most successful MMORPGs, in Old School RuneScape and RuneScape, and the open-world survival crafting game, RuneScape: Dragonwilds; we have proven success in delivering immersive Forever Games and fostering strong player communities. We strive to foster an inclusive workplace built on trust, autonomy, and a shared passion for creating forever games. Our values guide everything we do: We Embrace Fellowship by collaborating and sharing openly. We Hone our Craft by always learning and improving; We Honour our Vows by being honest and transparent; We are our Customers' Heroes by striving to understand our team & player needs, and We Seize The Day by making the most of every opportunity. With over two decades of experience, and over 400 people in our team, we continue to innovate in live game development, leveraging data‑driven insights, and a commitment to player‑first game design. We have a diverse and talented team where creativity, collaboration, and community‑driven game development drives everything we do. As part of Jagex, you'll have the opportunity to work on a globally successful franchise, contribute to exciting new projects, and be part of a company that hugely values both our employees and our players.

Benefits

• Private Healthcare, including Dental Plan
• Minimum 6% Pension contributions
• Employee Assistance Programme & onsite Counselling
• Life Insurance
• Discretionary annual performance bonus
• Enhanced family leave policies from day 1
• Flexible working hours
• 25 days annual leave + Bank holidays & the option to buy/sell holidays + so much more