Senior Groom Artist

The Walt Disney Company; Vancouver; Hybrid; CAD 110,000 - 142,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading entertainment company is seeking a Senior Groom Artist in Vancouver. This hybrid role involves creating hair, fur, and feather grooms for VFX projects. The ideal candidate has over 5 years of experience in a VFX environment and strong skills in Houdini. A creative mindset and excellent collaboration abilities are essential, as well as time management skills to work on multiple shows. Submit a demo reel and resume for application.

Qualifications

• 5+ years experience in a VFX studio environment crafting digital creatures.
• Portfolio demonstrating strong understanding of groom techniques.
• Ability to collaborate with team members from various departments.

Responsibilities

• Build assets covered in hair, fur, or feathers using Houdini.
• Collaborate to develop the look for assets.
• Present work in dailies and discuss aspects of the asset.

Skills

Groom skills

Creative skills

Interpersonal skills

Time management

Houdini knowledge

Linux navigation

Tools

Houdini

VEX

Job description

Senior Groom Artist

Job ID 10138113

Location Vancouver, Canada

Business Industrial Light & Magic

Date posted Dec. 05, 2025

Job Summary

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

Position Summary

ILM Vancouver is growing, and we are looking for an outstanding artist to join our Groom team! ILM’s Groom team works alongside our Digital Model Shop (DMS) and Creature teams to create hair, fur and feather grooms for characters, creatures, costume and props as part of the Creature/Character pipeline for high-end VFX projects.

At ILM, we believe 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 Groom team embraces promising individuals with a variety backgrounds and experiences.

What You’ll Do

• Build assets either fully or partially covered in hair, fur or feathers using Houdini
• Collaborate with the Groom leadership, Modeling, Texture, Look Development and VFX Supervisor to identify and build the “look” for an asset
• Work with production and show leadership to deliver high quality assets on time that meet all departments needs
• Present you work in dailies and discuss all aspects of your asset as needed
• Use your groom abilities for other non-character assets such as props or costumes

What We’re Looking For

• Portfolio demonstrating great groom skills, displaying a strong understanding of hair, fur and feather types and character design
• 5+ years proven experience crafting digital creatures and characters in a VFX studio environment. Additional animation experience is a plus
• Phenomenal creative and interpersonal skills to work with team members from other departments, assist asset development, and displaying the ability to interpret others vision while also showcase their own ideas
• Excellent time management skills with the capability of sharing your time between multiple shows when needed
• Strong ability to self assess if you are taking the right approach, while also understanding when you should be contacting supervision or other departments for help or to discuss approach
• A deep knowledge of film and video post production techniques and a good understanding of the full VFX pipeline
• Strong knowledge of Houdini, ability to trouble shoot complex issues and help drive development. Vex knowledge a plus
• Knowledge of LINUX is a necessity to navigate through ILM’s production pipeline

As part of your application please submit a demo reel, shot breakdown, or equivalent showcasing your work. A current resume is required.

JoinILM

The hiring range for this position in Vancouver is C$110,600 to C$141,500 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.