How To Become A Lighting Engineer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a lighting engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted Expert

Fred Garber Ph.D.

Lighting engineers work in the entertainment industry, contributing to creating the visuals for theatre, television, or film performances by lighting the scenes. They create lighting effects to change the mood of the set by operating lighting boards.

You will be an important member of the crew, responsible not only for controlling lights, but hanging and rigging them as well, moving them to the appropriate position. You will select the right temperature and intensity of the light necessary to create the desired effects. You will have to know how to apply shades and covers to spread or direct light in any way the director wishes. Your creative input will be necessary as well, and you will be there to give advice on best practices and solutions.

People in this profession typically learn their craft working the job. Working as an apprentice in a theatre or a local arena is a great way to start. Passion is the most important asset you can have here on a personal level, as is often the case with careers of a creative nature. Once you find your way into the industry, you will be able to make $84,000 on average per year.

What general advice would you give to a Lighting Engineer?

Fred Garber Ph.D.

Professor, Electrical Engineering, Wright State University

I think the primary question, in the minds of those who are yet to graduate or are still searching, is in regard to the strength of the technical job market, especially the local job market. But you are in a position to definitively answer that question.

In you article, I would ask that you address the following:
Number of employers looking to fill and number of job offerings in the region (by engineering and computer science major) compared to last year and to the previous five years.

Any noticeable differences in job descriptions Zippia is receiving relative to work environment, benefits, starting salaries, etc.

Many of our soon-to-graduate students would be very interested in these quantitative and qualitative comparisons. Additionally, vast numbers of potential students would benefit from such information to guide their career choices.

ScoreLighting EngineerUS Average

Salary

6.7

Avg. Salary $85,362

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

5.7

Growth Rate 3%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.2

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.18%

Asian 14.33%

Black or African American 4.91%

Hispanic or Latino 11.46%

Unknown 4.72%

White 64.40%

Gender

female 6.45%

male 93.55%

Age - 44

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 44

Stress Level

5.7

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

8.3

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

6.2

Work Life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

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Key steps to become a lighting engineer

Explore lighting engineer education requirements

Most common lighting engineer degrees

Bachelor's

60.0 %

Associate

20.0 %

High School Diploma

9.3 %

Start to develop specific lighting engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
A/V	29.21%
Technical Aspects	19.82%
STARS	10.62%
Autocad	9.42%
Live Events	8.05%

Complete relevant lighting engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New lighting engineers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a lighting engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real lighting engineer resumes.

Research lighting engineer duties and responsibilities

Perform subsequent energy analysis and modeling, and design retrofit solutions to achieve energy savings while meeting and exceeding customer requirements.
Source product & work with IES codes and files in AGi32 and various other software & develop construction documents in AutoCAD.
Delegate jobs to necessary crew members and make sure that all rehearsals and performances run smoothly, efficiently and trouble free.
Perform multiple augments installing and adding new devices/servers along with adding configurations for video streaming using Unix and checking router configurations.

Prepare your lighting engineer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your lighting engineer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a lighting engineer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Lighting Engineer Resume templates

Build a professional Lighting Engineer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Lighting Engineer resume.

Apply for lighting engineer jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a lighting engineer job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams