Pipeline Technical Director

Location

Santa Monica, Los Angeles

Skydance Animation

Skydance offers a dynamic, inclusive, and ever‑evolving culture where innovative ideas are welcomed, and growth is fostered. The partnership between unique creativity and technological advancements is demonstrated within each pillar of the company. At the heart of it all is a commitment to boldly entertaining and relevant storytelling.

While all animation studios look to hire people who are creative and hard‑working, Skydance Animation is specifically looking for pioneers who seek to push the limits of what the world’s most collaborative art form can achieve, and to give those pioneers the space and the resources to build a new studio that’s doing something different.

If you’ve ever dreamt of what the early days of Hollywood must have been like, of what it takes to roll up your sleeves and break new ground, figure out a new process, and to one day say, “I was there when it all began,” then welcome aboard…

Pipeline Technical Director

• Embedded within the productions to closely collaborate and support the artists and production management.
• Report to the Production Technology Supervisor on the status of technical development projects, tool performance, production operations and support.
• Develop and maintain the required tools following the requirements supplied by the production departments and following the Production Engineering Team guides.
• Partner with artists and other engineers to iterate, debug, document, and refine tools and processes for feature film production.
• Act as the first line of support to solve day‑to‑day problems artists may encounter.
• Work on short‑term needs, originated by shot challenges.

• Undergraduate degree in Computer Science, Computer Graphics, or a comparable discipline and/or technical and creative knowledge gained through equivalent experience.
• 3+ years of experience; preferably within computer animation, visual effects, or the game industry.
• Experience supporting animation pre‑production departments such as Story, Editorial, and Previs (a plus).
• Expert in Python.
• Experience programming with one or more of the following software:
  Maya, Houdini, and Nuke.
• Experience with post and pre‑production workflows.
• Experience with one or more non‑linear editing suites: e.g., Avid Media Composer, Premiere, Resolve.
• Familiar with common media encodings and transcoding software: e.g., ffmpeg.
• Experience in Linux, macOS, and Windows operating systems.
• Experience working with a source version control system (git).
• Experience with agile development and scrum methodology.
• Experience with user interaction design and a working knowledge of standard UI toolkits (e.g., Qt/PySide).
• Experience with pipeline and plugin development in third‑party DCC tools preferred.
• Experience with other toolkits and systems such as Docker, Git, and AWS preferred.

The compensation range for this non‑exempt position in Los Angeles, CA is $53.00–62.50/hour. The rate offered may vary based on the candidate’s location, qualifications, experience and relevant expertise, among other factors. The range indicated is for base salary only and does not reflect the total compensation package, including bonus, benefits, etc.