Lead Pipeline Technical Director

Job Description

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 ILM (Australia) Pty. Ltd., which is part of a business we call Industrial Light & Magic.

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-rn1njo-18-217-182-45-42 in your application.