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.
What you’ll be doing:
* 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 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.
What we’re looking for:
* 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.
What we offer:
* 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!
About Jagex
We are Jagex: The RuneScape Company- home to one of gaming’s most enduring success stories. We create deep, community‑powered games with worlds that evolve, inspire, and endure. Our flagship MMORPG franchise, RuneScape has welcomed over 300 million player accounts, inspiring generations of players across PC and mobile for 25 years.
As we begin our 26th year, we are accelerating our strategy to expand RuneScape into a broader ecosystem of forever games and connected experiences, grounded in a renewed commitment to integrity and fair play. This includes the reduction of monetisation mechanics, as well as the launch of RuneScape: DragonWilds into Steam Early Access in 2025 representing a major step in building a multi‑genre future for the RuneScape universe. We remain focused on building enduring worlds, empowering player‑led innovation, and laying the foundations for the boldest era in RuneScape’s history. For more information, visit www.jagex.com.
Headquartered in Cambridge, United Kingdom, We are home to passionate creators, storytellers, engineers, and even a few dreamers, all united by a single mission- to shape the future of online worlds and empower players to make them their own. We’re looking for people to join us who share our ambitions & values - We foster an inclusive workplace built on trust, autonomy, and a shared passion for creating experiences which inspire our communities. 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.
Join us. The next era of RuneScape - and the next chapter of Jagex: The RuneScape Company - starts now.
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