Senior VFX Lighter

About Barnstorm

Barnstorm is an Emmy and VES-nominated visual effects studio based in Los Angeles, New York, Vancouver, and Montreal providing photo-realistic visual effects for a variety of television and online streaming projects. We pride ourselves in our artists’ talent and dedication to producing world-class visual effects. 

Who You Are

You are an experienced Senior VFX Lighter eager to bring your skills to a dynamic studio environment where a wide variety of creative projects await. You will be responsible for crafting high-quality lighting setups that enhance the mood, depth, and realism of visual effects shots for TV, or cinematic productions. You'll work closely with other artists in compositing, modeling, and look development to bring complex sequences to life.

What You’ll Do

• Create and implement CG assets with a focus on environment and terrain elements that align with the project’s visual style and creative direction.
• Develop, refine, and maintain materials and shader networks to achieve photoreal results as required.
• Build and manage show-wide master materials, shading templates, and look development tools to support asset and lighting teams.
• Light and render CG assets, elements, and full-CG shots, ensuring high-quality integration with live-action footage or stop-motion plates.
• Collaborate closely with compositing, environment, and lighting teams to achieve cohesive final images.
• Address supervisors' and directors’ lookdev and shading notes in a timely and creative manner.
• Optimize rendering setups for performance while maintaining visual integrity.
• Support data publishing workflows and ensure assets are efficiently handed off across departments.
• Troubleshoot common lighting, shading, and rendering issues and devise scalable solutions.
• Contribute to the development of tools, scripts, and best practices that enhance the asset and environment development pipeline.
• Mentor junior artists and assist in upholding visual and technical standards across the team.
  
  

What You Bring

• Minimum 5+ years of experience in a VFX studio environment.
• Advanced knowledge of lighting in software such as Maya, Houdini, or Katana.
• Proficiency in rendering engines such as Arnold, Redshift, RenderMan, or V-Ray.
• Strong understanding of color theory, light, shadow, and composition.
• Familiarity with Nuke or other compositing tools for slap comps and look development.
• Excellent problem-solving skills and attention to detail.
• Strong communication and team collaboration abilities.
• Ability to take direction and iterate based on creative feedback.
• Experience with scripting or pipeline tools (e.g., Python, MEL) is a plus.
• Background in photography or cinematography is a strong advantage.

About This Role

This is a remote based role. Project and staff positions available with extended health benefits and opportunity to participate in RRSP programs. Note: At this time we are only accepting applications from those artists legally eligible to work in Canada. (Eg. Canadian or PR and are residents of Montreal or BC)

The posted pay range is aligned with what we believe is fair pay at the time of posting this role. An applicant’s relevant education, experience, skills and qualifications, location and currency may all be considered when deciding pay position within the range. Pay ranges may change.Benefit plans are dependent on the local plan offering and employment status but all US and Canada plans include a comprehensive health insurance plan, retirement savings, and paid time off.Barnstorm VFX is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive team that provides a meaningful work environment free of discrimination and harassment. We seek to recruit, develop and retain the most talented people from a diverse candidate pool. Indigenous people, people of color, people of all genders or non-genders, and people with disabilities of all types are encouraged to apply. We thank everyone for their interest and application, however only those selected for an interview will be contacted.