Find Industrial Light & Magic Staff Software Engineer software 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.

We are looking for an ambitious and kind leader who reflects the innovative spirit, collaborative mindset and passion for great filmmaking that define ILM. The Production Engineering Supervisor will manage teams building the new systems and maintaining current systems, with an end goal of streamlining the CG pipeline for artist efficiency. Adhering closely to the technology roadmap for global ILM, this person will use hands-on visual effects production experience to maximize our internal pipeline development by supporting teams, as well as by selecting tools and workflows that combine the best of off-the-shelf options with our internally developed systems. This position will be based in Vancouver as a hybrid role.

**What You'll Do**
- Directly manage Production Engineers including regular individualized check-ins and is responsible for personnel management, performance reviews, merit and promotion
- Develops team members through sharing of knowledge and expertise, and providing constructive feedback
- Collaborate with and report to the Senior Manager, Studio Technology to foster an inclusive, ambitious and respectful culture
- Provide direction and expertise on software development within the frameworks provided by the Directors of Core Pipeline and R&D Engineering
- Maintain highest software development standards across all project and initiatives
- Working towards designing a system that is easily maintainable, agile and efficient
- Maintain a high level of proficiency in current tools and methodologies, both proprietary and 3rd party applications, available on the market
- Collaborate with CG Leads, ILM show leadership and key production and technology stakeholders to ensure the production engineering group focuses on the highest priority projects
- Strives to find appropriate solutions to issues that meet both business and production needs
- Have a strong point of view and a proven ability to diplomatically and successfully influence others
- Proactively tries new ways of working to improve outcomes for the teams

**What We're Looking For**
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering or equivalent work experience
- 10+ years demonstrated experience in software or systems development for computer graphics, including one or more of the following areas: animation, modeling, compositing and rendering.
- Significant experience and working knowledge of software development methodologies and programming using Python or C/C++. Shell (bash/tcsh) scripting experience desired
- Experience using and developing software under Linux and/or Microsoft Windows 
- Maya, Katana, Nuke and Houdini experience preferred
- Proven leadership of small software development projects and teams preferred

**Required Skills:**
- Be a demonstrated creative thinker and innovator 
- Have strong understanding of technology available for use throughout industry at large, and experience using tools outside ILM's pipeline
- Have extensive experience interfacing directly with production to build effective workflows with hands-on shot experience
- Be a compelling communicator with a strong point of view and a proven ability to influence others through diplomacy
- Have strong communication, listening and people skills and be an outstanding people manager/supervisor, mentor and collaborator
- Be a decisive person who will use strong follow through to support projects we've committed to
- Be detail oriented, have strong organizational skills with the ability to prioritize and multitask

This role is considered Hybrid, which means the employee will work 2-3 days onsite at a Company designated location and occasionally from home.

Production Engineering Supervisor at Industrial Light & Magic, managing teams to streamline CG pipeline for artist efficiency in Vancouver.

Production Engineering Supervisor

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.

Staff Production Engineer - Platform

Industrial Light & Magic, founded in 1975 by George Lucas, has created some of the most iconic moments in motion picture history. From Star Wars to Jurassic Park, Pirates of the Caribbean, Transformers, The Avengers, theme park rides and interactive experiences, ILM continues to expand the possibilities of what visual entertainment can be.

Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), founded in 1975 by George Lucas, is a leading visual effects company known for creating iconic moments in motion picture history. The Research and Development (R&D) group at ILM develops groundbreaking technology that empowers artists to create dazzling visuals. With over 70 visually-minded software engineers working alongside more than a thousand digital artists, ILM operates in a fast-paced, collaborative environment across studios in San Francisco, Vancouver, London, Sydney, and Mumbai.

As a Senior Staff R&D Engineer, you'll work on developing tools and production techniques across all areas of visual effects and feature animation production. This includes image processing, compositing, rotoscoping, simulating natural phenomena, lighting, texturing, modeling, rigging, and animation. You'll also work on tools and pipeline systems for managing complex 3D scenes and user interfaces for data management.

Key Responsibilities:
- Develop innovative algorithms, artist-friendly user interfaces, and optimize data management processes
- Work on long-term software development projects and provide day-to-day artist support
- Collaborate with commercial software vendors to develop and deploy machine-learning-based tools
- Lead teams and projects, influencing development direction

Required Skills and Experience:
- Proficiency in C++ and Python on Linux
- Knowledge of visual effects principles
- Experience with machine learning techniques and toolsets
- Familiarity with standard data formats (OpenEXR, OpenVDB, Alembic, USD)
- Ability to design artist-friendly interfaces using GUI toolkits
- Strong software development principles
- 15+ years of professional software development and/or VFX production experience
- BS and/or advanced degree in computer science or related field

This hybrid role requires working 2-3 days onsite at the Vancouver location. The position offers a competitive salary range of C$153,600 to C$196,700 per year, along with comprehensive benefits including health insurance, childcare options, paid time off, retirement programs, and tuition assistance.

Join ILM and be part of a team that continues to push the boundaries of visual effects and technology in the entertainment industry.

Senior Staff R&D Engineer position at Industrial Light & Magic, developing cutting-edge visual effects technology in Vancouver.

Senior Staff R&D Engineer - All Disciplines

Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) is seeking talented R&D engineers at all levels to join their innovative and collaborative R&D team. ILM's Research and Development (R&D) group develops ground-breaking technology that empowers artists to create dazzling visuals. The role involves developing tools and production techniques across all areas of visual effects and feature animation production, working with engineers across all ILM's studios, and collaborating with commercial software vendors.

Responsibilities include:
- Developing innovative algorithms, crafting artist-friendly user interfaces, optimizing data management processes, and building special purpose content creation tools.
- Working on long-term software development projects and providing day-to-day artist support, consultation, and problem-solving.
- Occasional shot work alongside artists in areas such as image processing, compositing, rotoscoping, simulating natural phenomena, lighting, texturing, and more.
- Senior level roles will have people and/or project leadership responsibilities.

Required skills and experience:
- Proficiency in C++ and Python on Linux
- Knowledge of visual effects principles
- Experience with Maya, Houdini, Katana, Mari or other commercial software applications
- Working knowledge of standard data formats: OpenEXR, OpenVDB, Alembic, USD, etc.
- Understanding of software development principles
- BS and/or advanced degree in computer science or related field, or equivalent level of experience

The role is Hybrid, requiring a minimum of 2 days on-site per week at a Company designated location.

R&D Engineers - All Levels ILM London

Industrial Light & Magic's Research and Development (R&D) group develops ground-breaking technology that empowers artists to create dazzling visuals. We are seeking engineers to join our R&D team and help us develop tools and production techniques across all areas of visual effects and feature animation production. This role is considered Hybrid, which means the employee will work 2-3 days onsite at a Company designated location and occasionally from home.

Key responsibilities include:
- Develop innovative algorithms, craft artist-friendly user interfaces, optimize data management processes, and build special purpose content creation tools for large-scale photo-realistic visual effects production.
- Work with engineers across all ILM's studios, splitting time between long-term software development projects and day-to-day artist support, consultation, and problem-solving.
- Collaborate with commercial software vendors in developing and deploying the next generation of machine-learning-based tools.

Required skills and experience:
- Proficiency in C++ and Python on Linux.
- Knowledge of visual effects principles, potentially with a specialty such as modeling, animation, lighting, rendering, image processing, etc.
- Experience with machine learning techniques, processes, and toolsets.
- Working knowledge of standard data formats: OpenEXR, OpenVDB, Alembic, USD, etc.
- Enthusiasm for designing artist-friendly interfaces using GUI toolkits: Qt, PySide, QML, etc.
- Appreciation of software development principles: object-oriented design, test-driven development, source code management, build and release processes.
- Extensive experience developing in at least one of the listed niches.
- Experience leading and mentoring the team and others.
- BS and/or advanced degree in computer science or related field, or similar experience.
- Typically 10+ years or demonstrated experience with professional software development and/or VFX production.

The hiring range for this position in Vancouver is C$137,300 to C$175,800 per year. A full range of medical, financial, and/or other variable pay or benefits may be offered dependent on the level and position offered.

Industrial Light & Magic Staff Software Engineer Software Engineering Jobs

Find Industrial Light & Magic Staff Software Engineer software engineering jobs