Pipeline Technical Director

Position Summary :

Founded by award-winning, record-breaking directors Anthony and Joe Russo, AGBO is an artist-led entertainment company focused on creating content born of innovative story universes across film, television, and digital platforms.

This position is working for a prestigious and prolific production company run by directorial talent. This is an amazing opportunity for the right candidate to work in the heart of a fast-paced, well-connected, highly creative environment with competitive compensation commensurate with experience.

As a Pipeline Technical Director you will be supporting the studio's Pipeline Engineering team through scripting and tool development which will assist Visual Effects, Visualization, and Production teams.

You will be working with department supervisors and creative teams to ensure shots can be delivered with the highest fidelity and in the most efficient workflow.

In addition, you will be working closely with Production to ensure smooth ingest, tracking, and delivery of assets and frames to teams, vendors, and clients.

Responsibilities :

• Create, develop, deploy, and maintain custom tools / templates / scripts, for both creative tasks and pipeline infrastructure, supporting the VFX, Visualization, and Production teams under the direction of the Pipeline Supervisor.
• Work in conjunction with project teams to effectively problem-solve, acting as a first line of support for all workflow & productivity issues.
• Work closely with Technical Supervisors to design, develop, evolve, and maintain department pipelines, including :
• Shot ingest and delivery
• Production automation and tracking
• Web and desktop based automations for all creative and production tasks
• CG asset creation, metadata databases, and libraries
• Animation, rigging, cloth, and creature techniques
• Shading, lighting, and rendering techniques
• Virtual production, motion capture, realtime, and ICVFX workflows
• Motion graphics and cel animation integration
• Compositing, color, conform, and finishing workflows
• Create, develop, deploy, and maintain Python or C++ plugins and extensions for 3rd party packages and platforms, including :
• Maya, Blender
• Houdini
• Nuke, Fusion
• Adobe CC
• Baselight, Resolve
• Unreal Engine
• VRay, Redshift, Octane, Arnold
• Shotgrid Toolkit
• Extend and integrate the use of Shotgrid and other database systems to meet production needs, including both desktop-native and browser-hosted applications and plugins.
• Design User Interfaces for automation tools for VFX, Visualization, and Production.
• Work with non-technical end users to help define requirements for new tools and pipeline processes to solve production problems.
• Develop test plans and roll out new Shotgrid based workflows and tools, and work with end users to improve the usability of these tools.
• Work with a sprint team : scope and bid tickets, participate in launch and review meetings, collaborate with product owners and production customers to prioritize work, communicate progress, and support team members with technical guidance.
• Follow the processes and procedures of the software development life cycle, build and release system, documentation and testing standards.
• Support users on Windows, MacOS, and Linux.
• Write the necessary end-user and developer documentation for developed tools.
• Train and support artists to use the developed tools.

Required Qualifications :

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent in Computer Science, Engineering, Visualization, or VFX required.
• 4+ years of experience developing custom tools and workflows with ShotGrid in an animation, gaming, or VFX studio environment.
• Deep understanding of the VFX pipeline from shooting to modeling to texturing, animation, lighting and rendering, compositing, technical editorial, and DI.
• Proven technical experience in VFX, Virtual Production, or AAA Gaming productions.
• Ability to design user interfaces, gizmos, and interfaces for VFX tools.
• Experience with desktop and / or web application development / deployment.
• Experience with shader development, GLSL, and real-time rendering technologies.
• Experience with Unreal Engine Blueprints, and C++ development.
• Experience with software development life cycle concepts, including build / release via CI / CD, version control with Git / GitLab / BitBucket.
• Knowledge of Production Technology / IT / IS methods, practices, and trends.
• Experience with Agile development methodologies such as Scrum and Kanban.
• Strong problem solving skills.
• Highly organized and detail oriented.
• Patient and thorough with technical details.
• Ability to work in a collaborative environment, offer mentorship, and take direction from department and show leadership.
• Calm demeanor with technical support and troubleshooting.
• Excellent technical communication skills, both verbal and written.
• Desire for creative innovation, excellence in visual media, and creating toolsets to empower artists and creators.
• Familiarity building, running, managing and monitoring services on a Linux container platform such as Docker / Kubernetes.
• Experience with ShotGrid Toolkit.
• Experience with Python, C++, PySide / PyQt / Qt.
• Experience with LLMs or Generative AI - a plus.

The job description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed by the employee(s) incumbent to this position.

This is an LA based role.