Lead Lighting Artist - Raven - Middleton, WI

Job Title: Lead Lighting Artist - Raven - Middleton, WI Requisition ID: R028052 Job Description: Your Mission Raven Software is seeking a highly capable, motivated Lead Lighting Artist to play a key role on our team, partner across disciplines, and shape compelling lighting for real-time gameplay and cinematics. We are looking for a driven, trusted, and autonomous leader to own lighting initiatives, guiding a world‑class team of Lighting Artists to solve technical and creative challenges and deliver industry‑leading lighting for the blockbuster Call of Duty franchise. Qualified candidates will be adaptable to evolving development needs, possess excellent communication skills, navigate the technical and creative challenges of real‑time lighting development, and deliver environment and cinematic lighting at the scale, quality, and complexity expected of a AAA blockbuster franchise. They will partner with some of the most talented and passionate developers in the industry to mentor artists, lead the team, and drive excellence. Above all, we are looking for an innovative and dedicated teammate to help tell our story. This role is based in our Middleton, WI office and follows an onsite work schedule of four days per week. Work arrangements may change at the company's discretion to meet business needs. What you bring to the table The video game industry and therefore our business is fast‑paced and will continue to evolve. As such, the duties and responsibilities of this role may be changed as directed by the Company at any time to promote and support our business and relationships with industry partners. Therefore, this role includes, but is not limited to, the following responsibilities: Work closely with the Art Director to bring life, mood, and visual clarity to gameplay and cinematics. Lead a team to craft and implement compelling real‑time lighting that supports gameplay needs and artistic goals with strong composition, tone, and color. Drive visual and technical quality to deliver cutting‑edge, AAA‑worthy lighting. Direct and employ volumetrics, color grading, and image effects to achieve desired visual and narrative objectives. Prototype lighting approaches, post‑processing setups, and improve workflows to achieve the desired tone and gameplay needs. Spearhead lighting R&D efforts, partnering with experts within and across disciplines to streamline tools and processes while championing best practices and strong visual quality. Take high‑level direction and guide your team through day‑to‑day execution, iteration, and feedback on lighting tasks and initiatives. Partner with artists, designers, and programmers to be a trusted champion of performance, efficiency, and quality. Inspire and mentor others as a role model of initiative, accountability, and attitude. Foster a thriving team with open communication, constructive feedback, and development opportunities. Hold a high bar for quality, execution, and accountability while fostering artist growth. Collaborate with Production to plan team goals, forecast milestone deliveries, and identify resource needs. Clearly communicate risks, mitigations, and updates while maintaining effective working relationships across the studio. Player Profile 8+ total years of Lighting experience, with 2+ years in a Lead role, in real‑time game development or equivalent experience in film/television. Lead by example with a passionate and egoless attitude that welcomes feedback and enjoys a collaborative, iterative, fast‑moving and adaptive workflow. Ability to quickly learn new software and adapt to proprietary tools. Excellent communication, collaboration, and problem‑solving skills. Expert experience with game development engines and lighting tools (Unreal, Unity, or equivalent proprietary engines). Strong experience with baked lighting, dynamic lighting, light probes, reflection probes, post‑processing, color grading and image adjustment tools. Strong understanding and application of PBR workflows, physically correct lighting solutions, color theory, post‑processing techniques and industry lighting trends. An inspiring reel demonstrating strong, realistic lighting, modern development workflows, and creative solutions to development challenges. Extra Points Experience working with the Call of Duty tools or other proprietary engines. Experience in a secondary area such as environments, animation or VFX. Experience with basic scripting. Experience with procedural workflows and tools. Experience with compositing. Strong traditional art foundation. Your Platform Founded in 1990 by brothers Brian and Steve Raffel in Middleton, Wisconsin, Raven Software began as a small studio focused on crafting fantasy and role‑playing games. Since then, our award‑winning portfolio has grown to include beloved titles such as Hexen, Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, Marvel: Ultimate Al #J-18808-Ljbffr