Studio: Industrial Brothers
Job Opening: Head of Pipeline
Location: Toronto, ON, Canada
Type: Full-Time
Responsibilities:
- Manage, direct, and lead a “Pipeline Team” of software developer (Pipeline TD) direct reports, in their tasks of building and maintaining custom software tools for the studio.
- Encourage and maintain a software development culture of best practices (including conforming to studio coding style guidelines) and collaboration (within the team and with other teams).
- Continue to refine and improve software development workflows for the Pipeline Team by refining their software tooling where needed (including the integration of new software tools, open source or purchased, and the creation or enhancement of software development workflow script tools). This would include DCC application and tools environment mechanisms, as well as pipeline tools deployment scripts.
- Oversee any code development by Show TDs in support of their shows, to ensure most effective code reuse (can their code be integrated into the pipeline for broader use?) and to avoid code redundancy (is there code in the pipeline they can already use?). This oversight will also ensure that code written by Show TDs conforms to studio coding style guidelines.
- Provide guidance for any software architecture design for the pipeline and be the final decision on overarching software architecture design choices where multiple approaches are being highly considered.
- The Head of Pipeline will work closely with the Head of IT, the Head of CG, and show based CG Supervisors to triage major issues in order to establish highly effective solutions, where implementation tasks are delegated to appropriate teams/team members. As well, this close collaboration will provide direction and design of pipeline changes and additions of major new components of the pipeline.
- Clear and on-going communication with various departments and partners, with “clients” of the Pipeline Team being: CG (including all artists for their custom tools needs), Production Management, Creative Development, outsource vendors (if any custom tools for I/O between studios are needed), technology business partners (if any tools prototypes need to be developed for any proof-of-concept use of vendor products), and IT (if any coding support is needed by the IT team).
- Work closely with the executive management team to regularly update them on overall progress of the Pipeline Team, and discuss with them any needs for the growth of the team and any software or special hardware purchase needs for the team.
- Keep current with evolution of current technologies, as well as the emergence of new technologies, that could possibly be leveraged in the studio’s software pipeline to improve production efficiency or effectiveness. This would include taking time to develop prototypes using these technologies to assess their viability and value for integration into the pipeline.
- Provide guidance and recommendations for integration with outsource vendor studios on any custom software development needs that will facilitate or greatly improve communication and data transfer between studios.
- Key stake-holder, along with Head of CG and CG Supervisors, in the assessment and vetting of any third-party software (purchased or open source) being considered for use in animation production for upcoming shows.
Qualifications & Skills:
- Excellent communication skills (both verbal and written).
- Strong ability to manage and lead a team of software developers, and ability to effectively contribute to the overall technology leadership of a studio.
- Very savvy, analytical, pragmatic, and resourceful problem-solving skills.
- Amiable, approachable, and an exceptional, proactive team player.
- Calm, steady, and level-headed through the assessment and resolution of urgent and critical technical issues.
- Experience in using and developing tools for the following software: Maya, Houdini, Nuke, Substance, Shotgrid (previously Shotgun), Deadline.
- A very strong skill level in Python and PySide (or PyQt) is required.
- Extensive experience working with Git-based version control systems (e.g., GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket) is required.
- Some experience developing web services using Django and the Django REST framework (or similar) is required.
- Experience with SQL databases (ideally PostgreSQL) is required.
- A strong skill level in C++ (and C++ build scripts and environments) is ideal.
- Experience working with Universal Scene Description (USD) open-source library is ideal.
- Experience working with real-time engines (e.g., Unreal, Unity) for animation or visual effects production is a plus.
- A BSc degree in Computer Science or equivalent industry work experience is required.
- Minimum 7 years working in animation or visual effects production pipeline software development.
- Minimum 3 years working in a lead or supervisory position in animation or visual effects production pipeline software development that includes the management of a pipeline software development team (ideally managing a staff of 4 or more Pipeline TDs).
- Experience in a “Head of Pipeline” or “Pipeline Supervisor” role is ideal.
- Experience in specifically animation series production pipelines is ideal.
Note: Ontario residency and Canadian Citizenship are required.
