The Sr Visualization Pipeline Engineer develops and maintains the technical infrastructure and workflows that support LAIKA’s previsualization process.
Job Functions:
- Build and maintain a robust software pipeline to support visualization workflows using Unreal Engine, Maya, and other DCC tools.
- Develop tools, scripts, and plugins that seamlessly integrate with existing studio infrastructure and 3rd party applications connecting production design, camera, stage, and VFX workflows.
- Develop new visualization and virtual production systems and tools for artists in a stop motion animation studio.
- Monitor and optimize performance and identify and resolve bottlenecks across the virtual production and previs pipeline.
- Contribute to research and development, implement 3rd party solutions when available, and design and build prototypes in collaboration with other technology teams for next generation systems.
- Follow the processes and procedures of the software development life cycle, build and release system, and documentation and testing standards used at LAIKA.
- Collaborate on the design and development of foundational systems used across the digital pipeline including developer-facing APIs and services, as well as user-facing UIs for asset, farm, process, disk, and configuration management.
- Work closely with artists, technical directors, and production teams to gather requirements, troubleshoot issues, and implement new features and updates.
- Provide day-to-day support to artists and production teams, assisting with pipeline-related issues and delivering timely solutions.
- Document workflows, processes, and best practices appropriate for users of varying technical backgrounds.
Qualifications:
- 5+ years of experience as a software engineer for large scale productions in the VFX, feature animation, or games industries.
- Proficient with Unreal Engine for visualization or similar real-time engines.
- Expert level ability in Python including the standard library, the Qt Toolkit (PySide, PyQt), and common 3rd party libraries and frameworks, preferred.
- Experience with the Perforce/Helix revision control system in either a user or administrative capacity.
- Experience with virtual production pipelines and hardware (e.g., motion capture, LED walls, camera tracking, etc.).
- Experience with at least one other language beyond Python such as C++, Rust or Go, a plus.
- Experience with multi-platform development (Linux/MacOS/Windows).
- Experience with common industry platforms including USD, Maya, and/or Houdini, preferred.
