Associate Software Engineer - Animation Pipeline Infrastructure

Job Description

At Walt Disney Animation Studios we have a deep commitment to the philosophy that creativity inspires technology, and technology inspires creativity. Engineers in our Production Technology department are charged with developing and implementing new algorithms to solve unique and challenging problems for all of our animated content. We do this working alongside a user base that shares a collaborative environment with us, and uses the code we develop to make our feature films.

We are looking for an engineer to join our Production Technology team, for development of our animation pipeline infrastructure. The ideal candidate will enjoy a diverse set of challenges in building up and operating solutions which span the full software stack, from backend services and infrastructure to developing APIs and artist-facing tooling.

Rotational Onboarding Program:

As a part of Production Technology's onboarding, this role will participate in a special rotational program to gain visibility into multiple team workflows. The opportunity includes temporarily joining teams in build engineering and core software, which will educate and empower the engineer, allowing them to contribute on multiple levels.

Projects Include:
• Building frameworks to enable rapid development and modification of production software for a service-oriented infrastructure
• Identifying common patterns which could benefit from centralized APIs
• Developing and integrating newly built backend services with existing and future production pipelines
• Helping to design, refine, and implement the asset model for current and future
production pipelines around USD
• Contributing to the realization of a studio's vision of a collaborative, media-centric artist experience

What does it mean to be a developer here at WDAS?
• Our engineers get the opportunity to work on the full stack of our tools, from developing the underlying algorithms through building intuitive artist-friendly interfaces.
• Work hand in hand with artists and a team of cross-site developers to make the tools we need for the incredibly complex characters/environments featured in our content.
• Develop on top of a highly performant, extendable in-house application framework.
• Develop new artist-centric interaction models using the latest hardware and technologies.

You will succeed in this role if you have:
• Strong software design, engineering, and prioritization skills
• Exemplary communication, team working and problem-solving skills, balancing the timeliness of solutions with their sustainability
• Effective listening skills: the ability to engage with engineers and artists to understand their requirements and infer practical solutions
• The ability to identify, research, integrate, and adapt new technologies quickly as business needs evolve

Key Qualifications
• 0-1 years experience designing and developing service-oriented infrastructure
• Strong experience with Python
• Familiarity with Maya, Houdini, Nuke, and USD
• Familiarity with DevOps practices, principles, and tools

Bonus Qualifications
• Production experience working as an Artist or Technical Director (in VFX, animation)
• Experience developing in C++ (up to x14/x17)
• Experience designing and building VFX/animation production pipelines
• Exposure to Relational, Graph, and NoSQL DBs (e.g. PostgreSQL, Cassandra, Couchbase, Redis, Elasticsearch)
• Experience with Linux and macOS system administration

Required Education:
• BS in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering or equivalent experience.

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category: 'Technology',

location: 'Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada',

req: '10013838',

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WDAS continues to build on its rich legacy of innovation and creativity, from the first fully-animated feature film, 1937's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, to 2019's Frozen 2, the biggest animated film of all time, to our 60th animated feature, Encanto, releasing November 2021. Among the studio's timeless creations are Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty, The Jungle Book, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Frozen, Big Hero 6 and Zootopia.

This position is with Walt Disney Animation Studios Vancouver Inc., which is part of a business we call Walt Disney Animation Studios.

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-d92v54-3-144-154-208-42 in your application.