Staff Software Engineer - USD Authoring

Walt Disney Animation Studios; Vancouver; On-site; CAD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Walt Disney Animation Studios in Vancouver is seeking an experienced software engineer for Production Technology, focusing on multi-domain software development from core libraries to user interfaces.

You will join a cross-site team collaborating with artists, production leadership, and technologists to design and implement innovative workflows and state-of-the-art solutions that support our long-term vision.

Qualifications

• Strong experience with C++ (including x11/x14) or equivalent
• Strong experience with Python or equivalent
• Strong experience with USD (Universal Scene Description)
• Strong experience with Qt (for desktop development) or equivalent
• 7+ years experience designing and developing interactive tools, with 3+ years in senior technical roles designing core infrastructure
• Partner with Technology leadership to establish architectural vision for key new frameworks including data models, GUI toolkits, and underlying core libraries and evaluation engines.
• Extensive experience designing APIs from scratch as well as designing APIs that extend existing frameworks.
• Ability to collaborate with team members across different disciplines including directly interfacing with stakeholders to understand requirements
• Experience guiding cross disciplinary teams of engineers over open ended technical problem domains.
• Demonstrated ability to lead development from architectural design to implementation, and through adoption, helping build adoptions plans and strategies with incremental integration milestones through a collaboration with key stakeholders.
• Exemplary communication, teamwork and problem solving skills, balancing the timeliness of solutions with their sustainability. Able to collaborate with team and leadership to prioritize competing demands based on business value.
• BS in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related field Bonus Qualifications:
• Understanding of computer graphics foundational concepts, and algorithms
• Knowledge of animation, graphics techniques and algorithms
• Experience building clean interfaces using modern UI development toolkits such as Qt
• Experience leading cross-functional technical initiatives, aligning engineering efforts with broader organizational, production, or business priorities.
• Ability to mentor and develop engineers through technical guidance, knowledge sharing, career coaching, and fostering a collaborative team environment.
• Strong mathematical fundamentals, including linear algebra and numerical methods
• Strong understanding of coding process, standards, continuous integration and testing principles
• Masters in Computer Science

Responsibilities

• Lead efforts designing and implementing innovative workflows and state of the art solutions.
• Collaborate with artists, production and technology leadership, technical directors, cross-team software engineers, and other technologists across Walt Disney Studios.
• Develop on top of a highly performant, extendable in-house application framework.
• Develop new artist-centric interaction models using the latest hardware and technologies.

Skills

C++

Python

USD

Qt

7+ years experience

API design

Architectural vision

Leadership

Education

BS in Computer Science / Computer Engineering / Electrical Engineering

Masters in Computer Science

Tools

Qt

USD

Job description

Job Summary

At Walt Disney Animation Studios we have a deep commitment to the philosophy that creativity inspires technology, and technology inspires creativity. Engineers in our Production Technology department are charged with developing and implementing new algorithms to solve unique and challenging problems for all of our animated content. We do this working alongside a user base that shares a collaborative environment with us, and uses the code we develop to make our feature films.

We are looking for an engineer to join our Production Technology team, targeting software development in multiple domains, from core libraries to user interfaces.

In this role, you will be a part of a team of cross-site developers who partner closely with artists, production and technology leadership, technical directors, cross-team software engineers, and other technologists and researchers across Walt Disney Studios.

You will be leading efforts related to designing and implementing innovative workflows and state of the art solutions motivated by our new long-term vision for Walt Disney Animation Studios.

Projects Include

• Designing and implementing core infrastructure to manage our shot, environment, and asset definitions and structures
• Building new APIs to allow for artist-facing and data management tools to more readily access shot content
• Supporting our productions by identifying and solving technical obstacles encountered by our artists
• Extending and improving the core libraries used for end-user tool creation
• Creating new user interfaces and tools for artists and technical directors to author, edit, access, and inspect shot and asset content
• Adopting new external DCC’s and integrating them into our pipeline
• Writing new tools and plugins into 3rd party apps for rough to fine story development
• Devising artist dashboards for consolidating and managing tasks, encouraging collaboration and visibility into the characters, environments, story and the overall film making process What does it mean to be a developer here at WDAS?
• Our engineers get the opportunity to work on the full stack of our tools, from developing the underlying algorithms through building intuitive artist-friendly interfaces.
• Work hand in hand with artists to make the tools we need for the incredibly complex and rich characters and environments featured in our movies.
• Develop on top of a highly performant, extendable in-house application framework.
• Develop new artist-centric interaction models using the latest hardware and technologies.

Key Qualifications

• Strong experience with C++ (including x11/x14) or equivalent experience
• Strong experience with Python or equivalent experience
• Strong experience with USD (Universal Scene Description)
• Strong experience with Qt (for desktop development) or equivalent experience
• 7+ years experience designing and developing interactive tools, with 3+ years in senior technical roles designing core infrastructure
• Partner with Technology leadership to establish architectural vision for key new frameworks including data models, GUI toolkits, and underlying core libraries and evaluation engines.
• Extensive experience designing APIs from scratch as well as designing APIs that extend existing frameworks.
• Ability to collaborate with team members across different disciplines including directly interfacing with stakeholders to understand requirements
• Experience guiding cross disciplinary teams of engineers over open ended technical problem domains.
• Demonstrated ability to lead development from architectural design to implementation, and through adoption, helping build adoptions plans and strategies with incremental integration milestones through a collaboration with key stakeholders.
• Exemplary communication, teamwork and problem solving skills, balancing the timeliness of solutions with their sustainability. Able to collaborate with team and leadership to prioritize competing demands based on business value.
• BS in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related field Bonus Qualifications:
• Understanding of computer graphics foundational concepts, and algorithms
• Knowledge of animation, graphics techniques and algorithms
• Experience building clean interfaces using modern UI development toolkits such as Qt
• Experience leading cross-functional technical initiatives, aligning engineering efforts with broader organizational, production, or business priorities.
• Ability to mentor and develop engineers through technical guidance, knowledge sharing, career coaching, and fostering a collaborative team environment.
• Strong mathematical fundamentals, including linear algebra and numerical methods
• Strong understanding of coding process, standards, continuous integration and testing principles
• Masters in Computer Science

About Walt Disney Animation Studios

Combining masterful artistry and storytelling with groundbreaking technology, Walt Disney Animation Studios is a filmmaker-driven animation studio responsible for creating some of the most beloved films ever made. Disney Animation continues to build on its rich legacy of innovation and creativity, from the first fully-animated feature film, 1937's “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” to 2025’s “Zootopia 2.” Among the studio's timeless creations are “Pinocchio,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “The Jungle Book,” “The Little Mermaid,” “The Lion King,” “Frozen,” “Moana” and “Encanto.”

About The Walt Disney Company

The Walt Disney Company, together with its subsidiaries and affiliates, is a leading diversified international family entertainment and media enterprise that includes three core business segments: Disney Entertainment, ESPN, and Disney Experiences.

From humble beginnings as a cartoon studio in the 1920s to its preeminent name in the entertainment industry today, Disney proudly continues its legacy of creating world-class stories and experiences for every member of the family. Disney’s stories, characters and experiences reach consumers and guests from every corner of the globe.

With operations in more than 40 countries, our employees and cast members work together to create entertainment experiences that are both universally and locally cherished.

This position is with Walt Disney Animation Studios Vancouver Inc., which is part of a business we call Walt Disney Animation Studios.

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