Production EngineeR

Job Description

Description

Position at Industrial Light & Magic

The Production Engineer II – Media Engineering Team – is responsible for developing and maintaining the editorial, element ingest, media generation and delivery pipeline for VFX production, and ensuring it is running smoothly and efficiently. The Production Engineer II will be active in both development projects and artist support.

As part of the Media Engineering Team, the Production Engineer is responsible for creating tools and defining the workflows for our media management pipeline. This includes the tools used to ingest and track plates and reference materials from on set, the generation and management of media used for both internal and client reviews, as well as the tools to process and track the delivery of final frames and associated media to our clients. In addition, the integration of client editorial with ILM’s editorial, and the tools to support the flow of data between editorial and CG production are the responsibility of the Media Engineering Team.

Primary Responsibilities and Accountabilities
• Responsible for the development of workflow and tools, under the guidance of a project lead
• Creates new tools and workflows
• Suggests methods and procedures on new assignments
• May have singular responsibility for a project
• Advises/assists other engineers with maintenance and bug fixing of existing tools
• Serves as knowledge resource for workflow and tools used in production at ILM
• Updates and features additions to existing tools
• Provide support to local productions to keep the pipeline running smoothly
• Troubleshoot pipeline issues
• Install and configure software
• Assist with show work area creation and configuration
• Configure the pipeline to meet shows’ needs
• Develop per-show tool customizations as determined by show supervisors
• Provide training and assistance to artists on toolsets and workflows
• Participates in discussions surrounding future workflow and tool development
• Collaborates with artists and productions to develop efficient workflows and supporting tools
• 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 Production Engineering Supervisor

Education / Experience
• Bachelor’s degree in Computing Science or Graphics discipline, or equivalent professional experience
• 4-8 years of 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

Required Technical Skills
• Expert knowledge of python programming and the Linux environment
• Experience working with revision control systems and defined coding standards
• Experience developing tools and/or plugins within industry software packages such as RV and Nuke

Preferred Skills / Competencies
• Experience with OpenColorIO and OpenImageIO APIs
• Experience developing in C++ or other compiled languages
• Experience with database technologies such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB or Redis
• Knowledge of encoding technologies, video codecs and file formats used in VFX production
• Experience writing RESTful APIs and web applications
• VFX, Feature Animation or Episodic production experience
• Color theory and/or practical experience with VFX color pipelines

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-dyjn00-3-149-233-72-42 in your application.