Senior Lighting TD – VFX — Artiste d’éclairage 3D senior – VFX

Job Position(s): Senior Lighting TD - VFX -- Artiste d'éclairage 3D senior - VFX

Cinesite Montreal is hiring a Senior Lighting TD for its VFX department, based in Montreal, Quebec. This role sits within the lighting department and is responsible for lighting and rendering shots across multiple feature film and television productions using Gaffer and Arnold within Cinesite’s established VFX pipeline. It suits an experienced CG lighting artist who has worked across full productions in live-action environments and is comfortable owning shots from initial setup through to final render.

About the Role

The Senior Lighting TD reports to the Head of Lighting and works closely with texture, lookdev, and compositing artists to deliver fully lit, render-ready shots. Day-to-day work involves applying lighting rigs and HDRI setups, matching CG elements to live-action plates, and troubleshooting render issues across sequences. This is a production-facing role, with daily check-ins with the lighting lead and production team to track shot progress and manage workload against the schedule.

Key Responsibilities

• Apply lighting rigs and HDRI configurations to scenes in line with direction from the Head of Lighting, maintaining consistency across shots within a sequence.
• Adjust shaders and lighting levels to integrate CG elements convincingly with live-action plates, ensuring photoreal results at the shot and sequence level.
• Coordinate with texture and lookdev artists to resolve technical issues and optimize scenes for efficient rendering within the VFX pipeline.
• Provide compositors with all required render passes and layers, reviewing outputs and flagging or resolving render problems before they reach downstream.
• Track your own shot load accurately and communicate to production when tasks are running over estimate so schedules can be adjusted before deadlines are affected.
• Apply notes from the lighting lead, Head of Lighting, or CG Supervisor directly to scenes, turning around corrections within agreed timelines.

What You Bring

• Solid production experience lighting photoreal CG in live-action VFX environments, ideally across feature film or high-end episodic television credits.
• Strong working knowledge of Katana or Gaffer, with proven experience rendering in Arnold at a production level.
• A thorough understanding of the full VFX pipeline, from modeling and animation through to compositing and final delivery.
• Familiarity with Nuke for compositing review is an asset, as is basic shader writing and experience working in a Linux environment.

Why This Role

Cinesite is an international VFX and animation studio with over 30 years of feature film and television production experience, and its Montreal studio operates as part of that same global collective. The studio offers hybrid work flexibility, mentorship, and genuine room to grow within a team that values craft and technical depth. For a Senior Lighting TD looking to work across varied, high-profile projects in a structured and supportive pipeline environment, this is a substantive role.

Apply now for the Senior Lighting TD position at Cinesite Montreal and bring your lighting credits to a studio where the work speaks for itself.