Director, AI VFX Engineering

Adobe; Los Angeles (CA); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Adobe is seeking a leader for the Firefly Foundry's GenAI Field Architecture practice focused on VFX. This role involves building and managing a team of VFX engineers, driving engagement with industry leaders, and supporting workflow integrations across various Adobe apps.

The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in VFX development, strong leadership skills, and a deep understanding of both entertainment production and Generative AI solutions.

Qualifications

• 12 years of experience in developing and shipping VFX solutions.
• 2 years developing Generative AI solutions for VFX.
• 5 years in people leadership roles managing VFX teams.

Responsibilities

• Build and lead a team of VFX engineers.
• Engage with media and entertainment leaders.
• Establish coding best practices for workflows.

Skills

VFX solutions development

Generative AI expertise

Team leadership

Communication skills

Job description

Role Summary

Lead Firefly Foundry's GenAI Field Architecture practice, focusing on VFX. Build and manage a team of senior VFX engineers and architects proficient in Generative AI. Drive executive engagement with studio, streaming, sports, and gaming leaders while scaling Firefly adoption through people leadership, multi‑functional alignment, and repeatable execution models.

Responsibilities

• Build & lead a team: hire, develop, and mentor a high‑performing group of VFX engineers and workflow experts.
• Executive engagement: represent Firefly Foundry with media and entertainment leaders; guide the team to deliver executive design reviews, workshops, and thought leadership.
• Codify best practices: establish and evolve reference patterns for creative workflow blueprints, prompt/evaluation pipelines, campaign scalability, and governance guardrails.
• Support complex problem‑solving: provide leadership and escalation frameworks as the team tackles fidelity, throughput, quality, and authenticity of new VFX workflows with Generative AI.
• Integration strategy: oversee enterprise integration across Adobe Surface apps (Firefly, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Substance 3D, Frame.io) and DAM/MAM systems; empower the team to lead implementations.
• Ecosystem leadership: direct partners and customers’ blueprint creation in terms of how to work with new workflows and technologies, validate delivery against our standards, and scale.
• Drive measurable value: ensure the team translates creative and business priorities into ROI/TCO metrics that influence customer expansions.

Must‑have Qualifications

• 12years of developing and shipping VFX solutions in film and other M&E industries (e.g., gaming).
• 2years developing and working with Generative AI solutions (e.g., ComfyUI) for VFX, production, and post‑production (in animation or live action).
• 5years in people leadership roles, managing VFX engineering teams (direct reports, hiring, coaching, career development).
• Deep understanding of M&E production, post‑production, and VFX workflows.
• Familiarity with Generative AI solution patterns: prompt design & evaluation, guardrails, observability/measurement, vectorized retrieval, style constraints, and cost governance.
• Strong technical depth across software and tooling for VFX; ability to evaluate trade‑offs without being the primary implementer.
• Executive presence with studio leadership; exceptional written communication (1‑pagers, decision records, reference designs).

Nice‑to‑have Qualifications

• Portfolio of contributions to A‑list movies or other productions.

Collaboration

• Partner daily with Firefly Foundry Applied Scientists, Foundry VFX and M&E solutions engineers, Adobe product groups (Firefly/Express/Photoshop/Premiere/After Effects/Frame.io), Customer Success, Security/Privacy/Legal, and Partner/Alliances teams.

Work Setup

• Travel: 10% for workshops, studio/post visits, and key industry events.
• Hybrid/Remote: flexible.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Adobe is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based on gender, race or color, ethnicity or national origin, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic. Learn more on our EEO statement.