Sr. Software Engineer – Interactive Visualization

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 daily.

We are looking for a Sr. Software Engineer to join our Production Technology team, as a member of the team responsible for interactive visualization and real-time renderers at our studio. In this role, you will partner with artists, studio leadership, technical directors, cross-team software engineers, Disney Research Studios, and other stakeholders across the Walt Disney family. Your work will focus on the design and implementation of innovative workflows, as well as state-of-the-art solutions motivated by our long-term vision for Walt Disney Animation Studios.

The Interactive Visualization team is focused on providing real-time responsive viewports for our artists that are capable of handling feature-film level complexity with a highly representative visual quality. Our team tackles challenges ranging from GPU optimization, to streamlining the render pipeline, to crafting novel and unique workflows for our artists. We accomplish this using a variety of tools from both from the open-source community and those developed internally.

Projects Include:

• Developing real-time interactive GPU-accelerated viewport renderers for use in our film making process supporting a spectrum of solutions, ranging from high-performance virtual production (VR) all the way through to cinematic visual quality.
• Working closely with artists and technical directors to solve complex problems and support artist workflows.
• Contributing to development and extension of an open-source graphics engine and associated render pipelines.
• Integration of our real-time rendering solutions into various digital content creation applications.

What does it mean to be a developer at Walt Disney Animation Studios?

• 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 and a team of cross-site developers to make the tools we need for the incredibly complex characters/environments featured in our content.
• Develop on top of a highly performant, extendable in-house application framework.
• Develop new artist-centric interaction models using the latest hardware and technologies.

You will succeed in this role if you have:

• The ability to quickly produce clear, testable code.
• Excellent problem solving, troubleshooting and debugging skills
• Strong ability to collaborate with team members across different disciplines including directly interfacing with production stakeholders to understand requirements.
• Exemplary communication, teamwork and problem-solving skills, balancing the timeliness of solutions with their sustainability. Able to prioritize competing demands based on business value.
• Understanding of the importance of runtime performant solutions for user interaction.
• Comfortable working in large software environments and pipelines as part of a team.

Key Qualifications:

• 5+ years designing and developing complex user facing software, ideally in a studio or game production environment.
• Proficiency in Modern C++, with the ability to quickly produce clear, testable code.
• Experience writing and debugging multithreaded applications including an understanding of asynchronous processing and vectorized execution. 
• Knowledge of modern GPU programming APIs such as Vulkan, DirectX, Metal, or OpenGL and graphics/compute languages, such as GLSL, HLSL, or Cuda.
• Experience with performance measurement, profiling and analysis tools, and code optimization techniques.

Bonus Qualifications:

• Familiarity with real-time rendering engines and modern graphics pipelines, including CPU and GPU hardware, as applied to real-time graphics techniques and algorithms.
• Familiarity with the OpenUSD (Universal Scene Description) framework.
• Familiarity developing in content creation applications such as Maya, Houdini, Blender, or game engines.
• Strong mathematical fundamentals, including linear algebra, statistics, and numerical methods.
• Experience contributing to and utilizing open-source software projects.

Required Education:

• BS in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering or equivalent experience.

 
The hiring range for this position in California is $136,100-$182,400 per year based on a 40 hour work week. The amount of hours scheduled per week may vary based on business needs. The base pay actually offered will take into account internal equity and also may vary depending on the candidate’s geographic region, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience among other factors. A bonus and/or long-term incentive units may be provided as part of the compensation package, in addition to the full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits, dependent on the level and position offered.