Pixar Canada needs Production Software Lead

[CG Scout]

About Pixar Canada

Pixar Canada is looking for a Production Software Lead for its new studio in Vancouver. Pixar Canada is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pixar Animation Studios, the world leader in animated films. The Vancouver studio will produce short-form animation focusing on legacy Pixar characters from films such as Toy Story and Cars. This is an opportunity to be part of a new, diverse and talented team producing world-class digital character animation.



Summary of Position

The Production Software Lead will be the senior programmer responsible for developing, supporting and extending production-specific software at the Vancouver studio. Pixar Canada’s animation production pipeline is based on the suite of proprietary software developed at Pixar to make its feature films. The Production Software Lead will report to the CTO.



Responsibilities

1. •Is a hands-on senior software engineer who directly does design, programming, testing, debugging, documentation, and customer support of production software tools.
   
2. •Provides leadership and mentoring to other Production Software programmers.
   
3. •Supports our proprietary animation system in conjunction with California-based Pixar software engineers. Support includes analyzing and resolving bug reports, and advising other production crew members on how best to use the system.
   
4. •Proposes, designs, implements, tests and supports extensions to the animation system.
   
5. •Writes and maintains plug-ins for licensed 3rd-party tools such as Maya, 3D Studio Max, Massive, and Photoshop.
   
6. •Writes, maintains and supports project-specific programs to aid in the development and deployment of digital models, shaders, effects, and imagery.
   
7. •Writes and maintains documentation for local software and local software changes.
   
8. •Functions as a very technical Technical Artist (“TD”), providing programming and technical support to other TDs who may not be programmers. Uses programming skills and extensive knowledge of software internals to assist in modeling, shading, rendering and effects.
   
9. •Troubleshoots technical problems that arise in the production process.
   

Qualifications

1. •Bachelor’s degree in computer science, mathematics, physics, or engineering.
   
2. •Must have strong programming skills (C/C++, Python, Perl) and substantial experience developing software and scripting in a UNIX/Linux environment.
   
3. •Must have an excellent understanding of 3D computer graphics theory and practice.
   
4. •Must have strong problem-solving skills and attention to detail and quality.
   
5. •Must have good written and verbal communication skills, and be able to communicate clearly and effectively with both technical and non-technical users of the software.
   
6. •Must be able to work alone and collaboratively, often with multiple tasks and under deadline pressure.
   
7. •Must have strong leadership skills and the ability to direct and mentor other software developers.
   
8. •Must be open to direction and able to embrace change.
   

In addition to these required qualifications, any of the following attributes will be considered a plus:

1. •Experience in CG animation production for television, film, games or visual effects.
   
2. •Experience with a high-end 3D modeling and animation system (such as Maya, Modo, XSI, Houdini or 3D Studio Max).
   
3. •Experience with a rendering program such as Pixar’s RenderMan™.
   
4. •A good understanding of composition, physical motion, weight, balance, texture and form.
   
5. •Skill in drawing, sketching, or sculpting.
   

Submission Process

If you are interested in and qualified for this position, please submit a cover letter and resume to recruiting@pixarcanada.com with the subject line “Production Software Lead”.