Senior Pipeline Engineer

Vfxwire; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

DNEG is seeking a Senior Pipeline Engineer to advance AI-driven content creation and maintain scalable production pipelines for the VFX team in Los Angeles.

You will design, implement, and optimize pipelines and tools across Nuke, Houdini, Maya, and Unreal, mentoring peers and ensuring robust CI/CD and Linux-based workflows.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent in Computer Science, Computer Visualization, or VFX.
• 5+ years as Senior Pipeline Engineer, Software Engineer, or similar in VFX/animation.
• Expert proficiency in Python; strong experience with C++, JavaScript.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain platforms, plugins and extensions for 3rd party packages used in the pipeline.
• Collaborate with supervisors and production teams to improve productivity and scalability.
• Automate data flow between departments to streamline workflows.

Skills

Python

C++

JavaScript

Git

CI/CD

Docker/Podman

Linux

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science/Visualization/VFX

Tools

Nuke

Houdini

Maya

Unreal

Job description

Senior Pipeline Engineer

We are seeking a dynamic and visionary Senior Pipeline Engineer to join our VFX technology team. As a Senior Pipeline Engineer, you will be instrumental in advancing the boundaries of AI-driven content creation, while upholding our unwavering commitment to ethical AI practices, particularly in the domain of hyper-realistic content generation. As a member of our pipeline engineering team, you'll shape our core infrastructure set best practices, communicate with stakeholders and mentor your peers. This position is perfect for someone with strong software engineering skills and a passion for media production technologies. You'll work at the intersection of creativity and engineering to design and maintain scalable production pipelines to streamline workflows, and enable world-class storytelling.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain the required platforms, plugins and extensions for 3rd party packages used in the pipeline.
• Collaborate with supervisors, technical directors, and production teams to identify new features and/or bottlenecks, and develop solutions that improve productivity and scalability.
• Automate processes and data flow between departments to streamline production workflows.
• Assist in the packaging and deployment of pipeline tools.
• Write the necessary end-user and developer documentation for developed tools.
• Train and support end users on how to use the developed tools.

Must Haves

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent in Computer Science, Computer Visualization, or VFX required.
• 5+ years experience as a Senior Pipeline Engineer, Software Engineer, or similar role in a VFX, animation, or relevant development environment.
• Expert proficiency in Python; strong experience with other languages (e.g., C++, JavaScript) is a plus.
• Deep understanding of software development best practices: version control (Git), testing, CI/CD, containerization (Docker/Podman), and scalable system design.
• Hands-on experience with DCC applications; such as Nuke, Houdini, Maya, Unreal, and their respective scripting or expression languages (e.g. VEX, TCL) is a strong asset.
• Familiarity with production tracking tools like FPT (Autodesk Flow Production Tracking), ftrack, or similar.
• Experience with asset management systems, render farm management, industry standard review tools and automation scripting.
• Experience with standard UI/UX toolkits.
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to debug complex technical issues.
• Comfortable working in a Linux-based environment.

Nice to Have

• Experience with Rez (or similar) for environment and package management.
• Knowledge of Alembic, OpenColorIO, USD (Universal Scene Description) and other open standards from the ASWF.
• Experience with web frameworks (e.g., Flask, FastAPI, Django) and database systems (PostgreSQL, Neo4j, Redis).
• Experience with performance profiling, system monitoring, and observability tools.
• Understanding of network protocols, security best practices, and compliance requirements.
• Open-source contributions or technical writing experience.
• Entrepreneurial mindset or experience working with startups or fast-paced teams.

About Us

We are DNEG, one of the world's leading visual effects and animation companies for the creation of award-winning feature film, television, and multiplatform content. We employ more than 9,000 people with worldwide offices and studios across North America (Los Angeles, Montréal, Toronto, Vancouver), Europe (London), Asia (Bangalore, Mohali, Chennai, Mumbai) and Australia (Sydney). At DNEG, we fundamentally believe that embracing our differences is a vital component of our collective success. We are committed to creating an equitable, diverse and inclusive work environment for our global teams, where everyone feels they matter and belong. We welcome and encourage applications from all, regardless of background, experience or disability. Please let us know if you need any adjustments or support during the application process, we will do our best to accommodate your needs. We look forward to meeting you!