Senior Engineer - Pipelines

Wētā FX is one of the entertainment industry’s leading visual effects companies. Founded in 1993 to create the effects for Peter Jackson’s film Heavenly Creatures, Wētā FX has gone on to cement its reputation for cutting edge visual effects with work on blockbusters like the Lord of the Rings trilogy, King Kong, Avatar and the Planet of the Apes films.

Are you a forward-thinking software engineer that is enthusiastic about collaborating with and helping artists create visually stunning films? Wētā FX is actively seeking a Senior Software Engineer to join our Core Pipeline team. In this opportunity you will be developing and maintaining our machine learning pipeline, crafting a scalable system for responsible AI use in VFX. If you want to help bring into existence a cutting-edge pipeline that complements and respects the creative workflows of our artists, we want to talk to you!

What You'll Be Doing:

  • Working as part of the team developing, maintaining and integrating our new responsible AI pipeline into existing workflows.
  • Collaborating with departments and artists to design, implement, and optimize scalable frameworks, APIs and workflows.
  • Contributing to the Academy Software Foundation (ASWF) RMTC AI provenance project.
  • Writing high-quality, performant software to meet the demands of our dynamic environment.
  • Contributing to the continuous evolution of our production processes by staying at the forefront of technological advancements.

What We're Looking For:

  • Proficiency in C/C++ and Python programming languages
  • Experience with VFX frameworks and tools such as Qt, USD, Digital Content Creation (DCC) applications - Houdini, Maya, Nuke, or Katana, and their respective SDK’s
  • Experience working with modern machine‑learning frameworks (e.g. PyTorch, ONNX or TensorFlow) and related development workflows.
  • 4+ years of professional experience and a degree in Computer Science (or equivalent education/experience)
  • Strong written and verbal communication skills
  • Strong ability to prioritise and has a pragmatic approach to problem solving

Additional Skills and Experience that would be beneficial

  • Experience in the VFX/film industry in a delivery-focused production environment
  • Familiarity with ASWF software, including OpenColorIO, OpenExr, OpenTimelineIO
  • Proven experience in utilizing Open-Source libraries and APIs
  • Understanding of the role of data in ML especially regarding quality, compliance and scaling
  • Experience in the creation of rich browser-based GUIs (JS) running against a database backend using distributed frameworks (Flask)
  • Experience creating real-time systems in image processing, 3D geometry or rendering

This opportunity extends to NZ/AU residents and citizens living in Wellington, New Zealand or Melbourne, Australia.

At Wētā FX, we celebrate diversity and strive to create an environment where all our team members feel welcomed, respected, supported, and appreciated. We define ourselves by the quality of our work and are committed to building an unmatched workplace experience.

We aim to provide a discrimination-free experience, beginning from the moment you apply for a role with us. If there is anything we can do to make the recruitment process easier, please let us know at recruitment@wetafx.co.nz.

Location: Wellington, NZ - Melbourne, Aus

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