Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Timeline
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Frank Sabia Jr

Nashville,TN

Summary

Principal Creative Technologist / Senior Technical Artist Real-Time Visualization • Lighting & Rendering Systems • AI-Enabled Pipelines Former Associate Director (Wayfair) | Senior IC (Meta)

Senior principal-level creative technologist specializing in real-time visualization, lighting systems, and scalable 3D pipelines. Operates as a hands-on senior IC with platform-level ownership, bridging art and engineering to deliver high-fidelity visuals, efficient workflows, and AI-enabled creative systems at scale.

Overview

22
22
years of professional experience

Work History

Strategic Art Lead & Lighting Manager

Meta
03.2023 - Current
  • Operated as a senior IC with organization-level ownership, founding Meta’s first dedicated Lighting discipline spanning real-time and offline rendering pipelines.
  • Defined lighting standards and workflows adopted across multiple product and platform teams.
  • Designed and integrated AI-enabled lighting workflows, including the Virtual Lighting Assistant (VLA), reducing iteration time and improving approval convergence.
  • Owned lighting and look development for Meta Connect and the 2025 Keynote, delivering high-fidelity environment and avatar lighting at global scale.
  • Built reusable lighting rigs and validation workflows, driving ~50% improvement in rendering efficiency across real-time and offline imagery.
  • Partnered closely with engineering on rendering architecture, tooling, and performance trade-offs.
  • • Authored self-service tools and documentation that scaled lighting and rendering expertise across Art and Engineering organizations.

Associate Director / Art Manager

Wayfair
01.2020 - 01.2023
  • Led technical direction for large-scale 3D visualization platforms supporting high-volume ecommerce imagery.
  • Designed and scaled end-to-end visualization pipelines integrating DCC and real-time rendering workflows.
  • Improved visual quality standards by ~30% while enabling predictable delivery of thousands of production-ready assets per month.
  • Partnered with engineering and TPM teams on forecasting, capacity planning, and platform roadmap alignment.

Lead Lighting - Lookdev - Textures

Sony Pictures Imageworks
01.2015 - 01.2020
  • Led lighting and look development for principal characters on The Mitchells vs. the Machines and Smallfoot.
  • Managed and mentored lighting teams of up to 15 artists under aggressive production schedules.

Look Development Supervisor

Iloura
01.2014 - 01.2015
  • Directed Look Development and Texture teams for Gods of Egypt.
  • Enabled a 200% increase in full-CG character production by establishing early, high-fidelity character standards that improved scalability and pipeline efficiency.

Senior Lighting Artist

Walt Disney Feature Animation
01.2013 - 01.2014
  • Senior lighter for Academy Award–winning Frozen and Big Hero 6.

Lighting Supervisor

Rising Sun Pictures
01.2010 - 01.2012
  • Served as Lighting Supervisor on the live-action feature Journey 2: The Mysterious Island.
  • Served as Lead Lighting TD on Green Lantern and Academy Award–nominated Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1.

Lead Lighting TD

Weta Digital
01.2009 - 01.2010
  • Served as Lead Lighting TD on James Cameron’s Academy Award–winning Avatar, owning lighting setup, compositing, and shot finaling to help define the visual look of key sequences on a landmark VFX production.

Lead Lighting

DreamWorks Animation SKG
01.2004 - 01.2009
  • Served as Lead Lighter on animated feature films including Flushed Away, Madagascar 2, Bee Movie, Monsters vs. Aliens, and Turbo.

Education

Associate of Arts - Computer Animation And Technology

The Art Institute of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA
01.1998

Skills

    AI, Automation and Workflow Optimization

  • Applied AI for Creative Workflows
  • Process optimization
  • Template and asset management
  • 3D visualization acceleration through automation
  • Creative and Technical Capabilities

  • 3D visual effects creation
  • Compositing for visual effects
  • Color correction proficiency
  • 3D visualization skills
  • Character development
  • Collaboration in motion graphics development
  • Leadership and Collaboration

  • Cross-functional team leadership
  • Strategic leadership
  • Team building
  • Software and Tools

  • Adobe Creative Suite
  • Nuke
  • Maya
  • Unreal Engine
  • 3ds Max
  • Katana
  • Mari
  • Substance
  • V-Ray
  • Arnold
  • NVIDIA Omniverse

Timeline

Strategic Art Lead & Lighting Manager

Meta
03.2023 - Current

Associate Director / Art Manager

Wayfair
01.2020 - 01.2023

Lead Lighting - Lookdev - Textures

Sony Pictures Imageworks
01.2015 - 01.2020

Look Development Supervisor

Iloura
01.2014 - 01.2015

Senior Lighting Artist

Walt Disney Feature Animation
01.2013 - 01.2014

Lighting Supervisor

Rising Sun Pictures
01.2010 - 01.2012

Lead Lighting TD

Weta Digital
01.2009 - 01.2010

Lead Lighting

DreamWorks Animation SKG
01.2004 - 01.2009

Associate of Arts - Computer Animation And Technology

The Art Institute of Pittsburgh
Frank Sabia Jr