Keywords Studios is a global provider of creative and technical services to the video games industry, with over 13,000 professionals across 70+ studios in 25+ countries. We support clients across the entire game lifecycle through four core Service Lines:
Create — Game development, art production, and audio
Globalize — Localization, localization QA, functional testing
Engage — Marketing, LiveOps, community, and player support
Media & Entertainment
In Japan, Keywords Studios delivers its full range of services across Create, Globalize, and Engage, supporting leading publishers, developers, agencies, and IP owners through both local and global teams.
Applicants must be currently residing in Japan and possess valid authorization to work in Japan.
Lighting Creation
Create high-quality, visually compelling lighting for environments and cinematics.
Produce lighting that aligns with the project’s artistic direction and storytelling, through mood, tone and atmosphere.
Develop lighting optimized for real-time game engines.
Collaboration & Production
Work closely with the Art Director to maintain the overall art direction.
Collaborate with cross-functional teams throughout the production pipeline to ensure artistic consistency and quality.
Participate in reviews, feedback sessions, and iterative development processes.
Technical Art & Optimisation
Ensure lighting meets performance, memory, and platform-specific requirements across a variety of platforms.
Collaborate closely with environment, VFX and technical art teams to integrate lighting with assets and pipelines
Apply strong understanding of lighting for real-time performance.
Maintain consistency in quality while adhering to technical constraints and engine limitations.
Troubleshoot and resolve creative and technical lighting challenges.
Innovation & Continuous Improvement
Stay current with industry trends, emerging technologies, tools, and workflows.
Contribute ideas and improvements to pipelines and production processes.
Continuously push the visual quality and innovation of game art production.
Qualifications
Required Skills and Experience:
Extensive experience as a Lighting Artist within the video game industry, with a strong portfolio showcasing high-quality real-time game assets.
Strong understanding of lighting, composition, colour theory, and visual storytelling.
Experience creating optimized assets for modern real-time game engines such as Unreal Engine or Unity.
Strong understanding of lighting tools (Lumen, light baking and post‑processing), performance optimization, and technical limitations across multiple gaming platforms.
Ability to work collaboratively within multidisciplinary teams, communicate ideas effectively, and incorporate feedback throughout production.
Knowledge of game development pipelines and the ability to adapt artistic styles to suit various game genres and target platforms.
Desirable skills and experience:
Passion for gaming and a strong understanding of market trends, player expectations, and gaming cultures across PC, Console, and Nintendo platforms.
Experience successfully guiding and communicating with other art teams to ensure artistic vision and asset quality are maintained from concept through to final in-game implementation.
Employment Type: 1-Year Contract
If you'd like to know more about Keywords Studios we recommend visiting our corporate site HERE
Role Information: EN
Studio: Keywords Studios
Location: Asia Pacific, Japan, Tokyo
Area of Work: Art Services
Service: Create
Employment Type: Full Time, Contract
Working Pattern: Remote
PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION POLICY
Keywords Studios is strongly committed to protecting your personal information. By sending your CV/Resume, you are agreeing to our terms and conditions and consent to your data being managed and retained in accordance with our data privacy and retention policy https://www.keywordsstudios.com/en/applicant-privacy-notice/.

🎮🎬 We help make video games, films, and fan favourites you’ve probably played, watched, or heard.
We work behind the scenes with game developers, publishers, and entertainment companies to bring their ideas to life and keep them running smoothly. From game development and art production to audio services, localization, game testing, community support, and marketing, we’re the partner you call when you need extra hands (or brains).
We are 13,000 people worldwide. Tech-savvy, AI-aware, and deeply invested in R&D. We’re adaptable, collaborative, and used to plugging into diverse teams and pipelines. Many of us grew up with games, animation, and film. We’re fans first, and that shows in how we work: with care, respect, accessibility, and safety in mind.
Whether it’s building innovative experiences, meeting tight deadlines, or preserving creative vision across every language and culture, our services and proprietary tools integrate seamlessly with your team at any stage of the product life cycle.
We don’t always make the headlines, but we help others get there.
Among our clients: Tencent Games, Microsoft, Ubisoft, Supercell, Bandai Namco, Netflix, Amazon... #ImagineMore