Image Engine Design Hiring for Software Engineer – Rendering (US/Canada Remote work option) at Vancouver, BC Full Time

Your position as a Software Engineer is vital to Image Engine. Through your expertise in Rendering, you will serve as the primary developer of our proprietary Look Development and Lighting tools, many of which are built on top of Gaffer, an open source Look Dev & Lighting application framework.

Reporting to the Software Engineering Supervisor, you will become the primary liaison between Software, Look Dev, and Lighting, but you will also work closely with all VFX departments who rely on 3D rendering, be it offline ray-tracing with Arnold, interactively via Arnold GPU, or real-time rendering in any of several DCC viewports.

Projects may include engineering Gaffer/Arnold-native building blocks into intuitive artist tools, optimizing a proprietary post-process denoiser for real-time rendering, implementing novel procedural scene generation algorithms, or writing bespoke shaders to solve challenges on specific films.

This position is open for full time remote work from all regions of Canada or the United States. Full time remote workers from outside BC will be required to travel to Vancouver from time to time.

Your passion, talent, and ideas will help us bring VFX at Image Engine to the next level of efficiency and performance.

DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Design, implement, and support a mixture of proprietary, open-source, and third-party software for Lighting, LookDev, and other rendering workflows

Collaborate with artists, technical directors, and supervisors to determine the LookDev and Lighting needs for current and future productions

Identify and optimize bottlenecks in shading, lighting, and rendering algorithms and workflows

Contribute to Image Engine’s open source initiatives: Cortex and Gaffer

Communicate with third-party software vendors to prioritize Image Engine’s feature requests and bug fixes

Design and implement solutions targeting current production workflows, while ensuring they can be generalized for all productions when possible

Document, test, and debug tools to ensure they meet production requirements

Write clear documentation for tools, scripts, and plug-ins

Provide secondary technical support, training, and tutorials to Artists, TDs, and Production Staff

Stay up-to-date with industry trends for Look Development, Lighting, and Rendering, both on the CPU and GPU

Full time remote workers from outside BC will be required to travel to Vancouver from time to time

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

A university degree in Computer Science, Math, Physics, Engineering, or a related field

3 or more years experience developing software in a VFX, Animation, or Games production environment, or a postgraduate degree (MSc, PhD) with a strong focus on Computer Graphics.

Master’s or PhD in Computer Science or a related field an asset

SKILLS AND ABILITIES

Technical skills

Solid grasp of the fundamentals of rendering, from the mathematics of the rendering equation to an efficient implementation in code

Experience developing tools for a production-ready path tracer (preferably Arnold)

Experience with OSL and GLSL

Experience writing software in C++ and Python

Demonstrable knowledge of high-end DCC applications and APIs (eg Maya, Katana, Nuke)

Experience with modern VFX data formats and APIs like Alembic, USD, or VDB

Familiarity with our open source efforts (Cortex or Gaffer) an asset

Familiarity with modern GPU architecture an asset

Experience developing in a Linux environment

Core skills

Team oriented with good communication skills, able to work closely with artists

Preference for a structured work environment, with clearly outlined priorities

Expectation of upfront planning before proceeding with final implementation

Proactive with proven ability to work both independently and in a team

Ability to take direction and feedback from a supervisor or a peer

Excellent time management and communication skills

Ability to monitor and identify potential inefficiencies with production workflows

Excellent troubleshooting and debugging skills

Ability to adapt quickly to new technologies and applications

Willingness to extend beyond your current specializations to help a larger engineering effort when required