UK Only | Senior 3D Lighting and Compositing Artist

Blue Zoo Production; Greater London; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 75,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working options

Job summary

Blue Zoo Production in the UK is seeking a Senior Lighting and Compositing Artist to define mood and atmosphere across episodes, balancing high quality with deadlines. You will craft lighting scenes in Maya, refine colours during compositing in Nuke, and collaborate with the team to deliver polished visuals.

The role starts mid October 2026 with flexible, hybrid and remote working options, and a commitment to mentoring junior artists and supporting team leadership.

Qualifications

• Experience with Maya and Nuke required.
• Solid understanding of lighting principles for stylised animation.
• Strong colour theory, composition and aesthetics.
• Good problem solving and collaboration skills.
• Able to self-manage time and meet deadlines.
• Willingness to mentor junior artists and support team lead.

Responsibilities

• Create lighting scenes in Maya and composite rendered shots in Nuke.
• Adjust light rigs, render setups and compositing templates to achieve the desired look.
• Optimize render settings and monitor render time budgets.
• Collaborate with Team Lead and Post Production Supervisor.
• Support and mentor junior team members; cover for Team Lead when needed.

Job description

Our Senior Lighting and Compositing Artists (“L&C”) are wonderful visual storytellers. They define the mood and atmosphere of our narratives, and highlight the charming details of our characters, props and environments. They are the savants of light, colour and creative problem solving.

Your day-to-day will focus on creating the lighting of our episodes, finessing the colours in compositing, whilst always maintaining the right balance between the highest quality and meeting deadlines.

This opportunity requires talent to be based in the UK and will require the right to work in the UK.

We are very happy to discuss flexible, hybrid and remote working options for all our vacancies.

Please note that this vacancy can close early if we receive a high number of applications.

Ths role is due to start from Mid October 2026.

Day to Day:

• Creating lighting scenes in Maya with assets from the animation and effects departments and then compositing these rendered shots in Nuke to create the final shot
• Tweaking provided light rigs, render set-ups and compositing templates to achieve the required look of your shot
• Tweaking render settings to optimise the efficiency of your renders
• Monitoring your renders to ensure they are within a given render time budget
• Working as part of a team of lighting and compositing artists, and regularly communicating with your Team Lead and the Post Production Supervisor
• Managing your time efficiently to meet the deadlines of your assigned shots
• Problem solving to fix errors and glitches and addressing notes efficiently
• Covering for the Team Lead if they are off
• Expected to take on the more challenging and technical shots
• Helping the Team Lead by providing support and mentorship to the more junior members of the team, whilst developing your management skills

Must Have:

• Ability to demonstrate experience of both Maya & Nuke software
• Knowledge of lighting principles and how light is used to meet a creative brief, especially in stylised animation
• Technical understanding of how lighting works in 3D rendering - different types of lights, render setups, physically based rendering, ray tracing and global illumination - using Maya and a render engine comparable to Redshift
• Technical understanding of biased rendering to optimise sampling, making your renders efficient and avoiding noise and artefacts
• An understanding of colour theory, aesthetics and composition
• Technical understanding of utility passes (Z, Position and Normals) and how they are used in compositing using Nuke
• Understanding of camera depth of field
• Problem solving skills to find the best approach to meeting the brief as well as troubleshooting issues and asking questions if unsure
• Having an eye for detail for scrutinising final shots for any errors or inconsistencies
• Good communication and being a team player, sharing your knowledge and skills with other team members
• Able to respond positively to feedback
• Working independently. Being diligent, taking initiative and being reliable
• Being organised and managing your time efficiently
• Previous experience as a L&C Artist on an animation production

Bonus Points:

• Knowledge of Python scripting
• Knowledge of After Effects
• Experience using FTrack
• Knowledge of shading
• Understanding of a 3D production pipeline