Lead Pipeline Technical Director

Description:

Job Summary:

The Lead Pipeline Technical Director is responsible for taking a lead role in developing and maintaining the VFX production pipeline for ILM, and ensuring it is running smoothly and efficiently for all shows. The Lead Pipeline Technical Director will be active in both development projects and show support and will mentor and advise the Pipeline Technical Director team in their local Studio.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Responsible for the development of workflow and tools on show-specific projects locally and across all studios.

• Ensures Pipeline TD team is adhering to ILM standards when building new tools and workflows

• Approves methods and procedures on new projects and in conjunction with assigned Pipeline TD

• Serves as key knowledge resource for workflow and tools used in production at ILM

• Runs code reviews for Pipeline TD team both locally and globally

• Advises other engineers with maintenance and bug fixing of existing tools

• Provides support to productions to keep the pipeline running smoothly for projects globally

• Collaborates with show supervisors to develop per-show tool customizations, ensuring we are not duplicating work across shows

• Updates and creates new features additions to existing tools

• Provide training and assistance to both Pipeline TDs, production and artists on toolsets and workflows

• Collaborates with artists and production to develop efficient workflows and supporting tools across projects

• Leads discussions surrounding future workflow and tool development

• Joins show and development meetings to ensure tools and best practices are known across projects

• Always aware of commonality across shows, key point person for development of tools across shows

• Key point person in local studio for production workflow and tools for Global teams

• Works with show hub CG Supe to ensure hub and spoke technology needs are understood and prioritized

• Participate in the activities of the globally distributed production engineering team, including:

• development and support activities

• regular status and planning meetings as time zones permit

• adhere to development best practices and standards defined by the Supervisor

Job Requirements:

Education / Experience:

• Bachelor's degree in Computing Science or Graphics discipline, or equivalent professional experience

• Proven experience in the visual effects or computer animation industries

Required Skills / Competencies:

• A positive, "can-do" attitude with balance: must not be afraid to ask for help when getting outside experience base or comfort zone

• A clear and concise communicator: ability to keep end users informed of progress and managers informed of requests

• An effective listener: able to engage with and understand artists to discover what their requirements are

• An effective time manager: must be able to prioritize a multitude of requests and not be afraid to ask for help if the path isn't clear

• Passionate about delivering rigorous follow-through on assigned tasks

• An agile, flexible and quick thinker: this is an energetic, dynamic environment requiring an ability to adapt to rapidly changing requirements

• A creative thinker and innovator: able to devise and employ ingenious solutions to difficult problems

Technical Skills:

• Expert knowledge of python programming and the Linux environment

• World-class troubleshooting skills

• Experience working with revision control systems and defined coding standards

• Experience developing tools and/or plugins within industry software packages such as Maya, Nuke, Houdini or Katana

• Experience with Renderman, vray or Arnold

Preferred Skills / Competencies:

• Excellent people person

• Experience with database technologies such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB or Redis

• Experience writing RESTful APIs

• Knowledge of the standard python packaging and installation tool-chain

• VFX, Feature Animation or Episodic production experience

• Experience with Maya, Katana and Nuke

• Experience with Renderman, vray or Arnold

• Experience developing on Windows

JoinILM

This position is with Lucasfilm Entertainment Company Ltd. LLC, which is part of a business segment we call Industrial Light & Magic.