VFX Consultant-(Feature Films)

Art Technology and Software; India; Hybrid; INR 400,000 - 900,000; Full time

Job summary

Art Technology and Software seeks an experienced VFX Consultant to vet bids, own client relationships through production, and ensure turnover standards from external studios for feature films. The role requires independent judgment on scope, rates, schedule, and the ability to hold vendors accountable while maintaining no commercial ties.

You will run weekly vendor calls, review SOWs, manage cross‑vendor pipelines, and drive on‑time delivery.

Qualifications

• Feature films, mandatory — credits on 3–4+ released features, turnover through to final delivery.
• 8–12+ years in VFX with direct ownership of bidding and budgeting: VFX Producer, Line Producer, Head of Production, or VFX Supervisor with commercial exposure.
• Proven multi‑vendor delivery — 8+ vendors and 3000+ shots concurrently on a single feature at ₹15-50 Cr scale, delivered on schedule.
• Command of feature turnover mechanics: colour pipeline and ACES, conform, EDL/XML, deliverable specs, DI handover.
• Working knowledge of Nuke, Houdini, Maya, Flame/Resolve, and fluent daily use of ShotGrid/Flow or ftrack as the delivery backbone.
• Strong Excel/Sheets modelling — auditable cost models and schedules.
• Firm but constructive with vendors; exceptional written communication; assumes nothing is understood until it is confirmed in writing.
• Preferred: experience on both vendor and client side; familiarity with RFP and tender processes; vendors across India, SEA, EU and multiple time zones.

Responsibilities

• Review quotes at shot, sequence and asset level to assess man-days, rates, and schedules.
• Identify padding, missing scope, and unpriced dependencies.
• Maintain rate cards and cost-per-shot benchmarks; flag deviations.
• Test vendor capability and avoid under-priced bids.
• Produce comparison matrices and award recommendations; assist negotiations.
• Review SOWs, change orders, and overage terms with legal.
• Set hand-off standards for plates, resolutions, LUTs, and turnover packages.
• Own cross-vendor asset/version control to prevent duplication.
• Manage VFX-to-DI interface: conform, final pulls, handover schedule.
• Single point of contact between production and vendors; run weekly vendor calls and reviews; track notes.
• Maintain master cross-vendor shot schedule and status tracker; drive recovery, not post-mortems.
• Enforce delivery: QC on receipt, retake tracking, source-file turnover.
• Track actuals against bids; validate every change order and overage claim.
• Post-show cost debrief and vendor performance review.

Skills

Vendor management

VFX budgeting

Bid vetting

Multi-vendor delivery

Excel modelling

Vendor communication

Tools

Nuke

Houdini

Maya

Flame/Resolve

ShotGrid/Flow

ftrack

Job description

VFX Consultant-Vendor Management & Delivery (Feature Films)

Vendor Costing, Pipeline & Delivery

Location – Kochi / remote, with vendor-site and review attendance as required

Duration – 3-6 months, renewable

The role

We commission feature VFX from external studios. This role independently vets what those studios quote — scope, effort, rates, schedule — and then owns the client-side relationship through production: pipeline and turnover standards, day-to-day vendor communication, and holding vendors to schedule, spec and quality until final delivery. Costing and delivery sit with one person deliberately: whoever challenges a bid should be accountable for whether it was achievable. The consultant advises us as a client and must hold no commercial ties to bidding vendors.

Responsibilities

Bid vetting and award

• Review quotes at shot, sequence and asset level: man-days by discipline, seniority mix, iteration allowance, supervision overheads, render and licence costs.
• Identify padding, missing scope, unrealistic schedules and unpriced dependencies — plates, on-set data, delivery specs.
• Maintain internal rate cards and cost-per-shot benchmarks; flag deviation in both directions.
• Test vendor capability against claims — headcount, render capacity, security readiness, subcontracting — and treat an under‑priced bid as a risk, not a win.
• Produce comparison matrices and a written award recommendation; support negotiation with technical arguments and viable de‑scopes.
• Review SOWs, assumptions and exclusions, change‑order and overage terms with legal and procurement.

Pipeline and turnover

• Set hand‑off standards in both directions: plates, resolutions, colour space and LUTs, naming conventions, EDL/XML turnover packages, camera and on‑set data.
• Ensure vendor pipelines interoperate — essential where sequences split across studios or assets are reused between them.
• Own cross‑vendor asset and version control, so nothing is built, or paid for, twice.
• Manage the VFX-to‑DI interface: conform, final pulls, deliverable formats, handover schedule.

Vendor communication and delivery

• Single point of contact between production, the VFX Supervisor, editorial, DI and every vendor.
• Run weekly vendor calls, shot reviews and note transmission — most overage traces back to late or ambiguous notes.
• Own the master cross‑vendor shot schedule and status tracker; catch slippage early and drive recovery rather than post‑mortems.
• Manage cross‑vendor dependencies so no studio idles waiting on another.
• Enforce delivery: technical QC on receipt, retake tracking, final sign‑off, source‑file turnover.

Cost control

• Track actuals against approved bids; validate every change order and overage claim.
• Escalate variance early, with a recommended course of action.
• Post‑show cost debrief and vendor performance review, feeding back into benchmarks.

Requirements

• Feature films, mandatory — credits on 3–4+ released features, turnover through to final delivery. Episodic and advertising credits are welcome additions but not substitutes.
• 8–12+ years in VFX with direct ownership of bidding and budgeting: VFX Producer, Line Producer, Head of Production, or VFX Supervisor with commercial exposure.
• Proven multi‑vendor delivery — 8+ vendors and 3000+ shots concurrently on a single feature at ₹15-50 Cr scale, delivered on schedule.
• Command of feature turnover mechanics: colour pipeline and ACES, conform, EDL/XML, deliverable specs, DI handover.
• Working knowledge of Nuke, Houdini, Maya, Flame/Resolve, and fluent daily use of ShotGrid/Flow or ftrack as the delivery backbone.
• Strong Excel/Sheets modelling — auditable cost models and schedules.
• Firm but constructive with vendors; exceptional written communication; assumes nothing is understood until it is confirmed in writing.
• Preferred: experience on both vendor and client side; familiarity with RFP and tender processes; vendors across [India, SEA, EU] and multiple time zones.

Deliverables

Cost vetting report and comparison matrix per bid

• rate-card and cost-per-shot benchmark database
• turnover specification issued to all vendors
• master shot schedule and weekly status report
• QC and retake log with delivery sign‑off
• post‑show cost and vendor review.

Success measures

Validated savings against original quotes

• reduced change orders and budget variance
• on‑time final delivery
• first‑pass technical QC acceptance rate
• fewer avoidable retakes traceable to notes or turnover errors
• no delivery‑blocking surprise reaching leadership unwarned.

Terms

Signed NDA before access to bid data. Written declaration of interests — no financial or employment relationship with bidding vendors during the engagement or for 3 months either side, and no commissions or referral fees. All benchmarks, templates and reports created remain our intellectual property.

Skills: vendor coordination,pipeline,feature films,vfx,bid vetting