FX Lead - Expression of interest

Rodeo FX; Montreal; On-site; CAD 80,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading visual effects company in Montreal is seeking an FX Lead responsible for supervising a team of FX artists and ensuring the creative and technical quality of simulations. The ideal candidate will have a minimum of 3-5 years of experience in a VFX environment, advanced skills in Houdini, and a natural leadership ability to foster a supportive team culture. Candidates must be based in Montreal and available to work on-site three days a week.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 3 to 5 years of experience in an FX Lead role.
• Ability to deliver complex simulations while technically supporting a team.
• Knowledge of Flow Production Tracking for task management.

Responsibilities

• Supervise FX artists, ensuring creative and technical quality of work.
• Produce and supervise advanced FX simulations in Houdini.
• Collaborate with production to ensure balanced workload planning.

Skills

Advanced proficiency in Houdini

Good proficiency in USD and Solaris

Functional knowledge of Nuke

Python scripting

Natural leadership

Calm under pressure

Job description

Company Description

Repeatedly voted one of Montreal’s Top Employers and Employer of the Year for the 2022 Mercuriades Awards, Rodeo FX is a high-end creative company offering services in visual effects, advertising, animation, and experiential.

Nominated for multiple Emmy® Awards for its work on the series Stranger Things season 4, The Witcher season 2, and The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power season 1, the independent, Oscar®-winning company boasts close to 900 artists crafting from studios in Montreal, Québec City, Toronto, Los Angeles and Paris.

Rodeo FX is a creative partner to the world’s best storytellers including Netflix, HBO, Disney, Marvel, Amazon Studios, Warner Bros., and Sony, and has collaborated on ads for YouTube, NBC, and Apple. Current projects include Blue Beetle, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, and Zack Snyder's Rebel Moon. Recently released projects include John Wick: Chapter 4, Black Adam, Disney's The Little Mermaid, and Love, Death and Robots Volume 3, for which the company won a 2023 VES award.

Work Arrangements

As a company founded and led by an artist, creativity above all guides us. Our mission is to provide our talents with the freedom and resources they need to deliver quality work and thrive in a stimulating, caring environment. While we require employees to be present in the studio at least three days a week, we maintain flexible work arrangements for the remaining days. This balance ensures that we foster collaboration, maintain our vibrant culture, and encourage in-person interaction and teamwork.

Job Description

Please note: We do not have an open position at the moment, but this posting allows you, if you wish, to express your interest in future opportunities.

The FX Lead plays a key role in the execution and supervision of visual effects for the project. They create dynamic and photorealistic simulations (smoke, fire, fluids, particles, abstract effects) while supporting the team’s FX artists with leadership, rigor, and kindness. A true artistic and technical anchor point, they ensure the visual consistency of deliverables, support the vision of the FX Supervisor, and collaborate closely with the CG, compositing, and production teams. While mentoring colleagues, they remain an expert practitioner, capable of producing exemplary work and directly intervening on complex shots.

Key Responsibilities

Creative Quality

• Actively participate in dailies and internal reviews, proposing effective and creative solutions consistent with the project's vision.
• Help FX artists translate visual concepts into clear, dynamic, and expressive simulations.
• Collaborate with FX, CG, and compositing supervisors to ensure fluid visual continuity across departments.
• Support supervision in the artistic development of the show, while ensuring the creative quality of the team's deliverables.

Technical Quality

• In collaboration with the project's FX supervisor, produce and supervise advanced FX simulations in Houdini (Pyro, Flip, RBD, Vellum, SOPs), optimized and adapted to project constraints.
• Verify the technical continuity of effects, ensure compliance with standards, and document the methods used.
• Quickly identify and resolve technical problems encountered by artists.
• Participate in tool development tests and provide constructive feedback to the pipeline team.

Leadership & Communication

• Supervise FX artists calmly and clearly, fostering a team culture based on listening, mutual support, and rigor.
• Collaborate with the project's FX supervisor to conduct turnovers, briefings, task follow-ups, and other key FX team meetings.
• Collaborate with production and the FX supervisor to ensure realistic and balanced workload planning.
• Communicate any issues, risks, or support needs at the right time and to the right people.

Department Support

• Train FX artists on the methods, tools, or workflows used in the show.
• Provide constructive feedback and participate in performance evaluations, sharing their perspective on the team members’ progress.
• Identify specific training or support needs and report them to the Head of Department.
• Contribute to the creation of reference documents or internal technical training sessions.

Optimization

• Ensure that delivered simulations are efficient, stable, and easy to reuse by other FX artists and other departments.
• Propose improvements to existing workflows to gain performance or quality.
• Participate in the development or updating of FX templates used in the studio.
• Identify recurring bottlenecks and propose concrete optimization solutions.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 3 to 5 years of experience in an FX Lead role in a VFX environment.
• Advanced proficiency in Houdini (Pyro, Flip, RBD, Vellum, SOPs).
• Good proficiency in USD and Solaris.
• Functional knowledge of Nuke, Arnold, Karma, and Python scripting.
• Knowledge of Flow Production Tracking for task management.
• Ability to deliver complex simulations while technically supporting a team.
• Natural leadership, rigor, proactive attitude, and calm under pressure.
• Assets: creation of templates, technical documentation writing, participation in artist training, contribution to internal tool development.

Additional Information

• Proven experience as a FX Lead.
• Must be based in Montreal.
• Canadian citizenship, permanent residency or open work permit is required.
• Availability to work on‑site at the studio 3 days a week.

Diversity

At Rodeo FX, diversity is a core value. We’re committed to creating an inclusive, equitable workplace where different perspectives are embraced. Every team member brings unique insight that strengthens our creativity, challenges our thinking, and helps us deliver better work.
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