Compositing Software Developer (Future opportunity)

Company Profile

For over thirty years, SideFX has been providing artists with procedural 3D animation and visual effects tools designed to produce the highest-quality cinematic results. We are passionate about what our customers do because our roots are in production, both as artists and as pioneering technical innovators.

SideFX has been recognized by the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Science multiple times - including with an Oscar® - for the development of our Houdini software, and its breakthrough procedural-based technology.

Houdini is used by the world’s top film, TV, and game studios to create blockbuster movies such as Black Panther and Moana, captivating TV shows like  Spider-Man, The Lion King and Godzilla vs. Kong, TV shows like The Crown, Game of Thrones and S.W.A.T., and video games like Ghost Recon, Far Cry and Age of Empires. Our customers include Disney Feature Animation, Pixar, Sony Pictures, Imageworks, Weta Digital, Electronic Arts, Microsoft Game Studios, and many more.

What We Value Most:

• Decency: We treat everyone with honesty, kindness and empathy. We give generously of our time and knowledge
• Relationships: We build collaborative bonds—with our co-workers and clients—based on trust and respect. Our diverse team gives us broader perspectives
• Dedication: We take pride and ownership in our work, always trying to do our best. We are devoted to the well-being and success of each other and our clients
• Excellence: We continually improve ourselves, our work and our company, striving towards excellence in all that we do

Our employees receive:

• Hybrid Work option - A great office in Downtown Toronto (right across from Union Station) with the flexibility for most roles to work from home. You can help us test out our Hybrid Pilot Project
• Generous paid time off, including vacation and floater days to relax and re-energize (starting at 4 weeks)
• Year-End Company Shutdown and Long Weekend Early departures to add to the excitement
• Health insurance coverage (including a Health Service Spending Account for Canadian employees), for you and your dependents
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP); because sometimes we need a bit of extra support
• Retirement Plan with company matched contributions
• Comprehensive Long Service Award program, providing both a monetary reward and additional days off
• A highly competitive bonus structure
• A generous sick time entitlement to care for yourself and your loved ones

Why join SideFX?

• Because you want to be part of a unique experience and winning team that has won an Oscar and an Emmy (Cool, right?)
• Because you want to be part of an industry-leading company that is constantly mindfully growing
• Because you want to work with some of the most talented people in the industry on a ground-breaking product
• Because you want to work with people from all around the world
• Because you want to be part of an exciting and fun industry
• Because you want to join and add to a positive, supportive and respected company culture
• Because you want your job to be GREAT!

Position Overview

SideFX is seeking an exceptional software developer to join its Toronto-based compositing R&D team.

We are developing a next generation, procedural image processing system to provide the backbone for traditional compositing, texture synthesis, realtime 3D preview, and motion tracking. You will be working to integrate these capabilities within Houdini, our flagships software, which has proceduralism, openness, and flexibility as its core philosophies. The new compositing system will embody these ideals, scaling to massive task graphs, supporting both out-of-the-box operations and user-generated algorithms. It will work seamlessly with other parts of Houdini, including the 3D viewer, the Solaris/USD environment, our Karma renderers, physical simulations, and geometry processing.

As a member of the compositing group, you will be working with some of the brightest minds in the industry, and interacting with an outstanding artist community. Our R&D and compositing team members have received prestigious industry awards, including several Academy Awards and Emmy’s from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Everyone here shares a drive for excellence and a passion for innovation in image processing and compositing technology. Providing digital artists with the most advanced tools for their craft is, and has always been, our single focus.

What you will be working on

• Develop, maintain and provide support our new, next generation compositing engine
• Implement compositing algorithms such as keying, motion tracking, feature detection and removal, and color correction
• Optimize image algorithms to work equally on both CPU and GPU devices
• Optimize procedural networks of image operations to run efficiently within memory limits
• Collaborate with other R&D staff, technical directors and artists to ensure the technology will provide the best solutions for the demands of production compositing, texture synthesis, and image processing.
• Other duties as assigned

What you need to be successful

• Computer Science degree or equivalent
• Strong knowledge of C++ programming in a multi-threaded environment
• Industry experience with OpenCL, CUDA, SyCl, Vulkan, or similar compute-based API
• Solid experience with image processing and compositing techniques
• History of delivering innovative, robust and scalable code
• Ability to learn independently, use solid judgment and develop at a fast pace
• Extensive experience in algorithm optimization for memory and performance
• Uncanny ability to uncover and remove bugs in a large software base
• Excellent verbal and written communication
  

Not required but great to have

• Knowledge of other GPU compute and rendering APIs
• Knowledge of OpenFX, OpenImageIO, OpenTimelineIO, and OpenColorIO
• Knowledge of Qt and Python
• Knowledge of texture synthesis techniques
• Experience with Machine Learning applications to image processing

Sample R&D Projects

• Implement image motion analysis for feature tracking
• Integrate robust OpenColorIO support for image file I/O
• Create node operators for a wide range of compositing tasks
• Research techniques for simplifying a task graph
• Optimize traversal of a task graph to efficiently make use of limited GPU memory
• Interface with other parts of Houdini, such as the 3D viewer, for image sources
• Design workflows for complex operations, such as feature tracking or keying
• Integrate the compositing module seamlessly with the rest of Houdini
• Design interactive 2D and 3D handles for convenient image processing workflows

Not the right role for you at this time? Take a look at all of our job postings on our Careers page or join our SideFX Talent Community for future career opportunities!  

Location 

This position is available for our Toronto office; Other locations will be considered within our company’s possibilities.

SideFX is committed to inclusion and diversity. We encourage all qualified applicants to apply. Accommodation will be provided to candidates with disabilities, upon request.