3D Lighting/Rendering Artist – Permanent Remote

3D Lighting/Rendering artist – Permanent Remote

Note: Please note the geographic restrictions for this remote job at the bottom of the posting. If you live in a state we cannot hire from but are willing and able to relocate, please note this in your cover letter.

WebstaurantStore is looking for self-motivated and detail-oriented candidates to join our rapidly growing company as full-time, fully-remote 3D lighting/rendering artists. Successful candidates will demonstrate strong skills in photo-realistic lighting and rendering for our virtual photography pipeline, where we create renderings and AR experiences to showcase our products to customers.

Based in Lancaster, PA. WebstaurantStore is the largest online restaurant supply store servicing professionals and individual customers worldwide. With hundreds of thousands of products available and millions of orders shipped, we have everything hospitality businesses need to function at their best. Over the years we have expanded our selection of commercial equipment and wholesale supplies to include healthcare, educational, food, beverage, office, parts and hotel supplies.

As part of our open, respectful, collaborative, and rapidly-growing 3D team, your primary responsibility will be to create photorealistic renders of product models generated by the modeling team, both in isolation (“basic”) and in virtual environments (“staged”). As a secondary responsibility, you will also work with the modelers to develop and light new virtual sets for staged images. You will be expected to stay on task and show initiative while following our workflows and brand standards. 

A link to an online portfolio showcasing your lighting and rendering skills should accompany your application.

As a Lighting/Rendering artist you will:

• Light and render photorealistic basic and staged product images in Maya/Redshift from assets developed by the modeling team
• Perform minor model and material edits to renderable assets as needed
• Perform basic post corrections on completed renders
• Precomposite beauty and AOV renders into well-organized Photoshop files for handoff to photo editors
• Develop and light interior and exterior virtual sets for staged images.
• Plate-match renders to location photography backplates and HDRI lightprobe captures
• Work with the rest of the 3D team to constantly improve and streamline our workflows.
• Provide accurate time estimates for tasks, including iteration and review time
• Collaborate with the Photography, 3D Modeling, and Development teams to solve creative and technical problems and meet deadlines collaboratively.
• Organize and upload files according to department standards

 Desired Traits:

• Hungry: Passionate for their work and self-motivated, with a process improvement focus.
• Humble: Has the grounded confidence to share their ideas, recognize the contributions of others, and admit mistakes.
• People Smart: Effective communicator and attentive listener, with excellent interpersonal skills. 

 Minimum qualifications:

• Demonstrated proficiency (via online portfolio) in realistic lighting and rendering
• 2+ years professional experience with 3D lighting and rendering using a modern raytracer (such as Arnold, V-Ray, Redshift, Corona, etc.)
• Proficiency in Maya and Photoshop
• Experience with AOV compositing

Preferred qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in 3D Animation, Fine Art, or related field
• Experience using Redshift Render and AWS Thinkbox Deadline
• Real-world studio photography experience a plus
• MEL/ Python a plus

What's in it For You:

WebstaurantStore is deeply committed to being a great place to work, with a culture of continuous improvement backed up by the resources of an established, profitable company. Some of the benefits of joining our 3D team include:

• A real 40-hour week. In the past year our entire team has booked zero hours of overtime.
• Remote work with a flexible schedule.
• A friendly, collaborative, large, and growing team of nearly 20 3D artists plus support staff. You'll be working remotely but you won't be alone.
• A steady rhythm of projects. The nature of our studio's workstream is to have very few surprises. No crunch time or dry spells, and no scrambling to chase the client's latest whim.
• Creative autonomy. We're our own client, so designing great-looking spaces is part of the gig. 
• Institutional support. We can leverage the developer and sysadmin resources of the large ecommerce company we are in support of the team.
• A high-end workstation and all software is provided, with a dedicated IT helpdesk for issues.

As for compensation, this is a full-time position with a competitive benefits package, including:

• Paid time off for holidays plus 3 weeks per year
• Healthcare, dental, and vision coverage
• 401k with company match and profit-sharing contributions
• Student loan payments matched as if they were contributions into 401k 
• Pre-tax Health Savings Account
• Pre-tax Dependent Care Account
• Life Insurance
• Employee discount at our website and The Restaurant Store

• Access to a reliable and secure high-speed internet connection. Cable or fiber internet connections (at least 75mbps download/10mbps upload) are preferred, as satellite connections often cannot support the technologies used to perform day-to-day tasks.
• Access to a home router and modem.
• A dedicated home office space that is noise- and distraction-free. The space should have strong wireless connection or a wired Ethernet connection (wired connection is preferred, if possible).
• A valid, physical address (apartment, suite, etc.). PO Boxes are not supported, as a physical address is required for you to receive your computer equipment.
• The desire and ability to work and communicate with other team members via chat, webcam, etc.
• Legal residents of one of the following states: (AK, AL, AR, AZ, DE, FL, GA, IA, ID, IN, KS, KY, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, NH, NM, NV, OH, OK, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, VT, WI, WV, and WY). H-1B Visa Sponsorship Not Available, W2 only.