Founded in 1975 by George Lucas, ILM is the leading effects facility in the world, serving the motion picture, commercial production, and attraction industries.

Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), a pioneering visual effects company founded by George Lucas, is seeking an Effects Technical Director to join their team in San Francisco. This role combines technical expertise with creative artistry, focusing on generating FX animation, simulations, and particle systems for feature films. The position offers a competitive salary range of $67,000-$169,300 and requires 3-5+ years of production experience.

The ideal candidate will work on creating complex visual effects for major film productions, utilizing advanced technical skills in C++, Python, and various 3D animation software. They will be responsible for designing and implementing particle effects, fluid simulations, and shader development, while working collaboratively with a team of industry professionals.

ILM has an impressive track record, having contributed to seven of the top 10 worldwide box-office hits and created visual effects for over 325 feature films. The company continues to push boundaries in visual effects, VR, AR, and Immersive Cinema, making it an exciting opportunity for someone passionate about combining technology with creative storytelling.

The role offers comprehensive benefits including medical coverage, financial benefits, and potential bonus opportunities. Working at ILM means being part of The Walt Disney Company's legacy of creating world-class entertainment experiences, with access to cutting-edge technology and the chance to work on groundbreaking projects that define the future of visual effects.

Effects Technical Director position at ILM, creating visual effects and simulations for feature films, requiring 3-5+ years experience and strong technical skills.

Effects Technical Director (All Levels)

Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), founded by George Lucas in 1975, is seeking a Junior Lighting Technical Director for their Mumbai studio. This role combines creative and technical skills in visual effects for major motion pictures. The position involves designing and implementing lighting and shadows for assigned shots, ensuring continuity across sequences, and developing technical solutions that meet artistic direction. The Mumbai studio leverages 40+ years of ILM expertise while collaborating seamlessly with five other global studios. This is an excellent opportunity to join a world-leading visual effects company known for creating stunning images in film history. The role requires strong technical skills in industry-standard software, good communication abilities, and problem-solving capabilities. ILM has contributed to 25 of the top 50 box-office hits and continues to break new ground in visual effects, VR, AR, and Immersive Cinema. As part of The Walt Disney Company, employees benefit from working in an environment that values creativity, innovation, and world-class storytelling.

Junior Lighting Technical Director position at Industrial Light & Magic Mumbai, focusing on creating visual effects for major motion pictures using advanced lighting and rendering techniques.

Lighting Technical Director(Junior Level)

Founded in 1975 by George Lucas, ILM is the leading visual effects facility creating groundbreaking technology for motion pictures and entertainment.

Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), founded by George Lucas in 1975, is seeking Production Engineering interns for Summer 2025. This 16-week paid internship offers a unique opportunity to work with the company that has created visual effects for iconic films like Star Wars, Jurassic Park, and The Avengers. 

The Production Engineering group at ILM develops cutting-edge technology that enables artists to create stunning visuals. With over 70 software engineers working alongside thousands of digital artists across studios in San Francisco, Vancouver, London, Sydney, and Mumbai, interns will be immersed in a fast-paced, collaborative environment.

As an intern, you'll contribute to real projects, developing tools and production techniques across various areas of visual effects and animation production. This includes work in image processing, simulation, lighting, modeling, and pipeline systems. The role offers hands-on experience with industry-standard tools and technologies while receiving mentorship from leaders in the VFX industry.

The ideal candidate should be pursuing a Computer Science degree, demonstrate strong programming skills in Python or C++, and have a passion for applying technology to film and visual effects. Experience with 3D software like Maya or Houdini, machine learning, or GUI development is a plus. The position offers competitive compensation at C$25/hour with select benefits.

This opportunity is perfect for students who thrive in creative environments, enjoy knowledge sharing, and have a deep interest in the intersection of technology and entertainment. ILM's commitment to innovation, demonstrated by their 34 Scientific and Technical Academy Awards®, makes this an exceptional opportunity for aspiring software engineers to launch their careers in the visual effects industry.

Summer 2025 Production Engineering internship at ILM, developing software tools for visual effects and animation production in Vancouver.

Production Engineering Intern (Summer 2025)

Founded in 1975 by George Lucas, ILM is the leading effects facility in the world, creating visual effects for over 325 feature films.

Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), founded by George Lucas in 1975, is seeking Lighting Technical Directors for their London office. This role is crucial in producing high-quality CG lighting and rendering for complex shots in high-end photo-realistic visual effects. The position offers an opportunity to work at the world's leading visual effects facility, which has contributed to many of the highest-grossing films of all time. The role requires a blend of technical expertise in VFX pipelines, lighting, and rendering, along with creative skills in photography and aesthetics. Working in a hybrid model, team members will collaborate with Lighting Supervisors and CG Supervisors while having the autonomy to solve complex technical challenges. ILM's continued innovation in visual effects, VR, AR, and Immersive Cinema makes this an exciting opportunity for those passionate about pushing the boundaries of visual storytelling. The position requires minimum 2 days per week in the London office, offering a balance between collaborative in-person work and remote flexibility.

Lighting Technical Director position at ILM London focusing on high-end visual effects, requiring expertise in CG lighting, rendering, and VFX pipeline.

Lighting Technical Director (All levels) - ILM London

Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), founded by George Lucas in 1975, is seeking a Senior Creature Technical Director for their Sydney office. This role combines technical expertise with creative artistry in the field of visual effects. As a Senior Creature TD, you'll be responsible for creating outstanding character and creature simulations using various software technologies. The position requires deep understanding of creature TD work in a production pipeline and the ability to handle complex rigging and creature pipeline challenges.

The ideal candidate will have 5+ years of professional experience and strong proficiency in body/facial rigging, anatomy, and various simulation types (cloth, hair, flesh, rigid body). You'll work on groundbreaking visual effects projects while mentoring junior team members and collaborating with supervisors to achieve high-quality results.

ILM has contributed to 25 of the top 50 worldwide box-office hits and continues to break new ground in visual effects, VR, AR, and Immersive Cinema. As part of The Walt Disney Company, you'll join a diverse, international family entertainment enterprise that values creativity, innovation, and excellence. The company offers competitive benefits and the opportunity to work on some of the most prestigious projects in the entertainment industry.

The role offers the chance to work with cutting-edge technology while being part of a team that has created some of the most stunning images in film history. You'll be expected to maintain high productivity standards while meeting deadlines and producing exceptional work. This is an excellent opportunity for someone passionate about combining technical expertise with creative vision in the visual effects industry.

Senior Creature Technical Director position at ILM Sydney, focusing on character simulation and rigging for visual effects in major film projects.

Senior Creature Technical Director

Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), founded by George Lucas in 1975, is seeking a Senior Effects Technical Director to join their team in Sydney, Australia. As a world-leading visual effects facility that has contributed to over 325 feature films, including seven of the top 10 worldwide box-office hits, ILM continues to push boundaries in visual effects, VR, AR, and Immersive Cinema.

The role involves creating sophisticated FX animation, procedural simulation, and particle systems for feature film visual effects. You'll work independently while collaborating with supervisors and various departments, making this an ideal position for someone who combines technical expertise with creative vision.

Key responsibilities include designing complex simulations, lighting elements, managing shot data, and mentoring junior artists. The ideal candidate will have at least 5 years of professional VFX experience, strong technical skills including Python and Linux, and expertise with industry-standard software like Maya, Houdini, or 3DS Max.

At ILM, we value diversity and inclusion, believing that our best work comes when our teams reflect the vast experiences of our audiences. The company offers the opportunity to work on groundbreaking projects while being part of The Walt Disney Company's larger entertainment ecosystem.

This role offers the chance to contribute to some of the most stunning visual effects in film history while working with industry-leading professionals in a collaborative environment. If you're passionate about combining technical expertise with creative excellence in visual effects, this position offers an exceptional opportunity to shape the future of entertainment.

Senior Effects Technical Director position at ILM Sydney, creating visual effects for feature films using advanced simulation and animation techniques.

Senior Effects Technical Director

Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), founded by George Lucas in 1975, is seeking an Effects Technical Director for their Mumbai studio. As the youngest of all ILM studios, the Mumbai location combines 40+ years of ILM expertise with top regional talent. The role involves creating visual effects for feature films, focusing on FX animation, simulation, and particle systems.

The ideal candidate will join a global team that shares tools and workflows across six studios, enabling seamless collaboration on all projects. You'll be responsible for generating FX animation, procedural simulation, dynamic simulation, particle and fluid systems for feature film visual effects. Additionally, you'll handle lighting, rendering and moderate-level compositing of complex shots under supervisor guidance.

This position offers the opportunity to work on groundbreaking visual effects at a company that has contributed to 25 of the top 50 worldwide box-office hits and continues to push boundaries in VR, AR, and Immersive Cinema. You'll be part of The Walt Disney Company's larger entertainment ecosystem, working with one of the most prestigious visual effects studios in the industry.

The role requires strong technical skills combined with artistic vision, including experience with industry-standard software like Maya, Houdini, or 3DS Max. You'll need to demonstrate excellent communication skills, strong teamwork, and the ability to work under pressure while maintaining high-quality output. This is an excellent opportunity for experienced professionals looking to contribute to world-class visual effects projects while working with cutting-edge technology and creative teams.

Senior Effects Technical Director position at ILM Mumbai, creating visual effects for feature films with focus on FX animation and simulation systems.

Effects Technical Director -Evergreen

Founded in 1975 by George Lucas, ILM is the leading effects facility in the world, creating visual effects for over 325 feature films and pioneering digital revolution in VFX, VR, AR, and Immersive Cinema.

Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), founded by George Lucas in 1975, is seeking a Pipeline Technical Director to join their Mumbai team. This role is crucial in developing and maintaining software tools while providing front-line support to artists in a fast-paced, feature film visual effects production environment. The successful candidate will work on complex pipeline tools, collaborate with global teams across San Francisco, Vancouver, Singapore, and London studios, and contribute to ILM's continued innovation in visual effects.

The position offers an opportunity to work with the world's leading visual effects facility, which has contributed to seven of the top 10 worldwide box-office hits and 25 of the top 50. You'll be part of a team that continues to break new ground in visual effects, VR, AR, and Immersive Cinema. The role requires strong technical skills, including advanced Python scripting and Linux proficiency, combined with a deep understanding of the visual effects process.

As a Pipeline TD, you'll be responsible for ensuring artist efficiency, developing tools for immediate production demands, and maintaining workflow consistency across the facility. You'll work closely with show supervisors, engineering teams, and artists, providing critical support and innovative solutions to pipeline challenges. This is an excellent opportunity for experienced professionals who want to contribute to groundbreaking visual effects work at a company known for creating some of the most stunning images in film history.

Senior Pipeline Technical Director position at ILM Mumbai, developing tools and supporting visual effects production pipeline.

Pipeline Technical Director

We are looking for an extraordinary teammate to join our Creature team. As a Creature TD Lead, you will be responsible for the creation of outstanding character and creature rigs and simulations, using various software technologies. Our Leads are experienced in leading/mentoring teams, and they understand all aspects of Creature TD work in a production pipeline. They are able to wrangle rigging and creature pipeline issues proficiently under the direction and support of their supervisors.

At ILM, a good idea is a good idea, regardless of where it comes from! Do you thrive in a creative environment? Do you enjoy sharing knowledge and learning from others? If you love art, technology, and movies, then this might be the role you're looking for!

ILM strives to be an inclusive environment, and the Creature team embraces promising individuals with a variety backgrounds and experiences.

What You'll Do:
- Advanced hero-creature rigging and enveloping in Maya
- Set up and run cloth, hair, rigid body, crowd, muscle simulations
- Comprehend and implement direction from Creature Supervisor
- Oversee the work of entry, mid and senior level Creature TDs and provide day-to-day assistance and guidance
- Participate as a team member in achieving various aesthetic solutions
- Train and mentor new artists and provide technical assistance to show supervisors
- Maintain or exceed a consistent level of productivity while meeting deadlines and producing high quality work

What We're Looking For:
- 5+ years relevant professional experience and a BA in computer graphics, fine arts, design, or photography, or related field
- High proficiency in body/facial rigging and cloth/hair/flesh/rigid body simulations
- Deep understanding of anatomy and muscle dynamics
- Experience with proprietary simulation engines and off the shelf software packages (Maya/Houdini)
- Proficiency with Linux, Python, Maya
- Positive demeanor and excellent teamwork and communication skills
- Ability to learn quickly and assimilate new information

The hiring range for this position in Vancouver is C$122,400 to C$156,800 per year based on a 40-hour work week. A full range of medical, financial, and/or other variable pay or benefits may be offered dependent on the level and position offered.

Lead Creature Technical Director at Industrial Light & Magic, creating outstanding character and creature rigs and simulations for visual effects in movies.

Lead Creature Technical Director

We are looking for a Senior Creature Technical Director who reflects the innovative spirit, creative talent, production excellence, collaborative mindset, and passion for great filmmaking that define ILM.

The Senior Creature Technical Director is responsible for rigging and skinning hero to background creatures, vehicles, and props in Maya as well as setting up and running muscle, hair, rigid, and cloth simulations. The Senior Creature Technical Director is able to wrangle rigging and creature pipeline issues proficiently under the direction and support of their supervisors.

What You'll Do:
- Advanced Hero-creature rigging and skinning in Maya
- Set up and run cloth, hair, rigid body, muscle simulations
- Troubleshoot creature rigging and pipeline issues for artists in other disciplines
- Mentor entry level artists
- Script utilities/tools/plug-ins in Maya
- Sufficient knowledge of Maya rigging techniques to optimize the performance of rigs
- Participate in reviews, dailies, and department meetings as required
- Special projects as necessary

What We're Looking For:
- 5+ years relevant professional experience and at least college level diploma in computer graphics, fine arts, design, or photography, or related field; OR, at least 7 years relevant professional VFX experience in lieu of education
- Experience with advanced hero asset rigging and skinning in Maya
- Experience setting up and running simulation shotwork
- Experience in corrective sculpting; knowledge of anatomy and skinning
- Positive attitude and team player
- Passion for the work
- Good communication skills
- Proficiency with Linux
- Expertise with Maya
- Knowledge of creature simulation in Houdini
- Experience with python scripting

Nice to have:
- Experience with Massive or Houdini crowd software
- C++
- Basic proficiency in another discipline - modeling, texture, TD, animation
- Experience with crowd simulations

The hiring range for this position in San Francisco, CA is $113,300 to $148,700 per year. The base pay actually offered will take into account internal equity and also may vary depending on the candidate's geographic region, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience among other factors. A bonus and/or long-term incentive units may be provided as part of the compensation package, in addition to the full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits, dependent on the level and position offered.

Senior Creature Technical Director for rigging, skinning, and simulations at Industrial Light & Magic in San Francisco.

Senior Creature Technical Director - Expression of Interest

Founded in 1975 by George Lucas, ILM is the leading effects facility in the world, serving the motion picture, commercial production, and attraction industries. ILM has created visual effects for over 325 feature films and has played a key role in seven of the top 10 worldwide box-office hits of all time and has contributed to 25 of the top 50.

The Pipeline TD II develops and maintains software tools, providing front-line assistance to artists, and general troubleshooting of the CG pipeline in a fast-paced, feature film visual effects production environment. The primary focus is ensuring artist efficiency.

We are currently hiring for our downstream team, which supports Compositing, DMP, Editorial, Media Creation, Show Media Setup and Production tools.

What You'll Do:
- Provide front-line production assistance across a wide range of disciplines, troubleshoot assets and shots, and help artists with general problem-solving
- Develop pipeline and asset management tools to meet immediate, show-directed production demands, ensuring facility-wide consistency as directed by show and technical supervisors
- Work on tools of high complexity and sophistication
- Guide and mentor fellow Pipeline TDs by offering initial support, establishing coding standards, and sharing advancements in the specific domains of the pipeline
- Collaborate directly with engineering teams on technical projects; driving the development and evolution of standards and conventions used in production
- Test and validate tools and techniques in production, working closely with engineering teams in testing, and releasing new and modified software systems
- Collaborate effectively with artists, production supervisors, and technical staff across ILM's studios globally
- Identify day-to-day priorities in conjunction with show supervisors and team leadership; acting autonomously
- Update documentation for the pipeline and tools to reflect any changes that are made

What We're Looking For:
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent in Computer Science or a related technical field
- Demonstrated experience developing and maintaining tools for use in computer graphics
- At least 5 years production experience in visual effects for film, commercials or television
- Proficiency in Linux
- Advanced Python scripting required
- Experience in one or more of Maya, Nuke, Houdini, Mari, Katana, RenderMan or similar
- Ability to communicate cross-discipline and provide innovative solutions to pipeline issues
- Detail oriented and strong self-sufficient troubleshooter
- Thorough knowledge of the entire visual effects process, from shooting to modeling and texturing, animation, rendering and compositing

Nice to have:
- Experience with production database systems
- Experience with C, C++
- Experience with Windows development and applications such as 3ds max

The hiring range for this position in Vancouver is C$108,400 to C$138,800 per year based on a 40-hour work week. The amount of hours scheduled per week may vary based on business needs. The base pay actually offered will take into account internal equity and also may vary depending on the candidate's geographic region, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience among other factors. A full range of medical, financial, and/or other variable pay or benefits, may be offered dependent on the level and position offered.

Pipeline Technical Director II at Industrial Light & Magic develops and maintains software tools for visual effects production, focusing on artist efficiency and pipeline troubleshooting.

Pipeline Technical Director, Level II

Core Pipeline is a globally distributed team that develops tools and workflows that act as the foundational infrastructure for ILM's creative departments at all of our locations around the world. We work closely with CG Production to create innovative tooling for media management, publishing and asset management, developer platforms, and other core services. We work with all levels of artists and supervisors to create efficient, resilient, and artist-friendly software.

Within Core Pipeline, the Platform team provides the services, tools and applications that underpin the VFX pipeline. The Staff Production Engineer for Platform is engaged in architecting, developing, and maintaining the environment for the application developers to operate in. They will be a strong individual contributor and teammate, with an eye towards security, scalability, and reliability.

As a Staff Production Engineer, you may be required to:
• Work closely with development teams to ensure applications are designed for scalability, reliability, and performance.
• Design, deploy, and maintain distributed, multi-region, highly scalable, and reliable services to improve developer productivity and experience.
• Build and maintain effective monitoring, logging, and alerting systems.
• Implement Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) best practices.
• Continuously improve our application infrastructure and processes.
• Drive discussions around the future of the developer platform at ILM.
• Provide support in the event of critical service downtime.

Required skills:
• Expert knowledge of Python and the Linux environment.
• Experience working with network and application protocols like NFS, TCP, gRPC, HTTP, etc.
• Experience with several relational or NoSQL technologies such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis, Cassandra, ElasticSearch.
• Experience building and managing Kubernetes clusters in production.
• Experience with infrastructure as code such as Terraform, Ansible.
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines.
• Experience with monitoring and logging tools such as ELK stack, Prometheus, Grafana, and Datadog.
• Knowledge of or expertise with SRE practices.
• Experience designing and implementing distributed systems in multi-region and hybrid environments.
• Strong problem-solving and troubleshooting skills.
• Bachelor's degree, M.Sc, or Ph.D in Computing Science, or equivalent professional experience.

Additional qualifications (a plus):
• Experience developing with C, C++, Rust
• Experience with message queuing systems such as RabbitMQ or Kafka
• Experience with cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Platform
• VFX, Feature Animation or Episodic production experience
• Experience developing on Windows

We're looking for someone who:
1. Has a passion for technology, systems design, and solving puzzles
2. Can drive projects through to completion, juggle competing priorities, and think on their feet
3. Delights in creating ingenious solutions, brainstorming with a global team, and bringing fresh ideas to the table
4. Is an empathetic listener, a concise technical communicator, and loves keeping stakeholders up to date

If you are a Staff Platform Engineer with a strong background in data-intensive systems and are looking for an exciting opportunity to make movie magic, we encourage you to apply.

Staff Production Engineer - Platform at Industrial Light & Magic in Sydney, Australia. Develop and maintain foundational infrastructure for ILM's creative departments worldwide.

Industrial Light & Magic Engineering Jobs

Founded in 1975 by George Lucas, ILM is the leading effects facility in the world, serving the motion picture, commercial production, and attraction industries.