EA SPORTS is one of the world's leading sports entertainment brands, known for top-selling video game franchises, award-winning interactive technology, and cross-platform digital experiences. EA SPORTS creates connected gaming experiences that bring the emotion of sports to life through industry-leading titles, including Madden NFL, EA SPORTS FC, NHL, NBA LIVE, and UFC.
As one of the largest sports entertainment platforms in the world, EA SPORTS FC is redefining football with genre-leading interactive experiences, connecting a global community of fans to The World's Game through innovation and unrivaled authenticity. With more opportunity than ever to design, innovate and create new, immersive experiences that bring joy, inclusivity, and connection to fans everywhere, we invite you to join our passionate and dynamic team as we pioneer the future of football fandom.
The EA SPORTS FC Art team is a global community of content creators, fueled by imagination and a unified passion to grow the love of sports for players worldwide through inspiring visuals and immersive experiences. We push visual boundaries and create leading edge content across multiple disciplines.
This team works onsite in our Burnaby office 3 days/week.
Job Summary:
Reporting to the Group Art and Animation Director for EA SPORTS FC, we are seeking an experienced, innovative and visionary Senior Lighting Director to lead and unify our lighting teams across multiple game modes, in the realms of gameplay, cinematics, user generated content, and sandbox gaming. This role involves collaborating with our Group Art and Animation Director, and Senior Art Directors to create a cohesive lighting vision that leverages cutting-edge technologies, including machine learning and dynamic lighting, to enhance our gaming experiences, and to ensure our characters, environments, animation and visual effects shine. In this role you will be responsible for the visual storytelling and atmosphere of our game through lighting, and for creating and implementing lighting setups, defining the overall visual tone, and collaborating with various teams to ensure the lighting enhances gameplay and narrative.
You will be responsible for the holistic lighting vision for FC across multiple game modes and experiences. You will also be responsible for the long term roadmap for lighting, with a focus on dynamic lighting solutions for user generated content, sandbox gaming, “beyond play” initiatives, and console transitions. You will also take on direct reports, managing, guiding and mentoring our senior lighting artists, contributing to the lighting pipeline, shaders, and to optimizing performance.
Key Responsibilities:
- Unified Vision: Develop and implement a cohesive lighting strategy across all FC departments
- Technological Innovation: Integrate advanced lighting technologies, focusing on interactive and dynamic solutions for future projects, including user-generated content and sandbox gaming.
- Leadership: Manage, guide, and mentor lighting teams, fostering a collaborative and inclusive culture.
- Collaboration: Work closely with Rendering and other departments to ensure consistent visual targets and methodologies.
- Culture Building: Promote a positive team environment that encourages learning, growth, and open communication.
- Project Oversight: Oversee lighting projects to ensure they meet quality standards and align with the overall creative vision
Qualifications:
- Experience: 10+ years experience in lighting direction in the gaming industry
- Lighting Expertise: Expert understanding of lighting aesthetics and principles. Strong artistic eye for composition, mood, and atmosphere, with the ability to support both gameplay and cinematic needs. Deep understanding of color theory, exposure, and contrast, including color grading and post-process tuning for both SDR and HDR pipelines.
- Technical Expertise: Strong knowledge of advanced lighting technologies, including machine learning applications.
- Leadership Skills: Proven ability to lead and inspire diverse teams.
- Communication: Excellent communication and collaboration skills.
- Innovation: A forward-thinking approach with a passion for exploring new technologies and methodologies
- Engine: Extensive experience with game engines, including both baked and fully dynamic lighting workflows. Ability to troubleshoot complex lighting and rendering issues, working closely with TAs/engineers to resolve pipeline and runtime problems.
- Pipeline, Tools & Documentation: Comfort working with in-house tools and partnering with tech art/engineering to request, validate, and iterate on new lighting features. Ability to document lighting processes and guidelines clearly so the wider art team can achieve consistent results.
Software Skills:
- Expert understanding of shaders and how they relate to lighting.
- Solid understanding of scripting lighting interactions.
- Expert understanding of Maya, Photoshop and Compositing Software
- Expert knowledge of modern lighting techniques.
- Understanding of source control (Perforce or equivalent)
- Familiarity with project management software (Jira, Shotgun)
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