Lighting & Technical Artist

Overview

We are looking for a Lighting & Tech Artist to join our team in Birmingham, AL on a contract basis. As a Lighting & Tech Artist at Iron. Spark, you will play a dual role in shaping the atmosphere, mood, and visual identity of our games and films. You will combine artistic intuition with technical mastery in Unreal Engine to design dynamic lighting setups, stylized or realistic post-processing pipelines, and expressive particle effects that elevate gameplay and narrative storytelling.

Working closely with cross-disciplinary teams, you will adapt to diverse visual styles—ranging from stylized world-building to high-fidelity environments—to deliver performant, breathtaking visuals. This is an in-person contract role operating out of our Birmingham studio with a flexible work environment.

Responsibilities

Craft and implement lighting setups, volumetrics, color grading, and post-processing in Unreal Engine to establish mood, composition, and narrative clarity across diverse art styles. Design, author, and integrate real-time VFX (using Niagara, custom material shaders, and particle systems) for environment atmosphere, gameplay, and cinematic moments.

Collaborate daily with art directors, designers, and programmers to ensure lighting and visual effects enhance artistic direction, support gameplay readability, and maintain visual consistency. Prototype stylized lighting approaches, custom shader effects, and VFX concepts to solve technical and creative challenges early in development.

Profile, optimize, and debug lighting and particle systems to ensure assets run efficiently within real-time performance constraints and cinematic renders. Self-manage deliverables, estimate task timelines, and consistently meet established project milestones. Actively participate in creative reviews, integrating feedback while offering creative and technical solutions across the pipeline.

Share knowledge and foster a collaborative studio environment. Position Details Type: Contract (3-month, 6-month, or 12-month options available) Schedule: Up to 40 hours per week Working Model: In-Person at our Birmingham, AL studio with a flexible daily work environment.

Compensation

Hourly rate proportionate to individual experience.

Requirements

3–5 years of professional experience in game development, animation, or real-time virtual production specializing in lighting and/or VFX. Expert proficiency in Unreal Engine, including Niagara, material authoring, dynamic/baked lighting, Sequencer, and Movie Render Queue. Experience with complementary DCC tools such as Maya, Houdini, Photoshop, or Substance Designer for asset and particle texture creation.

Versatility across art styles, with a strong grasp of color theory, shape language, mood, composition, cinematic lighting, and shot composition (for both stylized and realistic aesthetics). Demonstrated portfolio/reel showcasing impressive real-time lighting, atmospheric design, and VFX in Unreal Engine. Solid understanding of both real-time optimization constraints and high-quality offline/cinematic rendering pipelines.

Ability to work independently, manage project priorities, and adapt quickly to shifting creative direction. Excellent communication skills, a team-first mindset, and ease with giving and receiving creative critique. High standards of professionalism, discretion, and strict confidentiality regarding unreleased client and internal projects.

Benefits

Impact and ownership Build from the ground floor: you'll shape processes, tools, and culture from day one Direct access to the founders and other Subject Matter Experts Your input shapes the product, the process, and company decisions Growth & Culture Wide exposure: you'll work across functions, not in a silo You'll learn fast by solving new problems without a playbook Low bureaucracy: decisions happen in days, not quarters Room to experiment, with a "try it, learn, adjust" mindset Flexibility Flexible hours or schedule Remote or hybrid options