Senior Research Engineer - Research Lab

The Wētā FX Research department builds sophisticated production technology and we're looking for a new Senior Research Engineer to help define and deliver a research roadmap that drives and champions novel advancements in computer vision, computer graphics and machine learning.

Reporting to the Head of Research Lab, the Senior Research Engineer will bring their deep knowledge of machine learning, research and VFX experience to evolve our technology across scene/asset capture and reconstruction, motion generation and synthesis and computer vision problems.

In this position you will work in a team of highly skilled researchers and your output will directly impact how artists will transform their creativity to cinematic movie production in our studio.

What you’ll be doing

• Conduct research in computer graphics and machine learning with a focus on scene & character capture and reconstruction and motion generation/synthesis
• Rapidly prototyping and validating new VFX research ideas, translating research papers into functional proof of concept tools for evaluation
• Helping guide our research programme by suggesting opportunities for research, defining them for our roadmap, then working with our research team to explore, test and implement
• Liaise with artists to understand their specific requirements and support them in using new features
• Design, implement and maintain flexible, robust software components that scales to complex and heterogeneous production demands
• Evolve the measurement, visualization and monitoring of complex dependencies and performance bottlenecks in the system
• Improve and maintain existing code to improve quality, reliability, and maintainability
• Find and fix bugs. Proactively test new and existing features to ensure the highest levels of quality and robustness
• Mentor crew within the Research Lab department

What we’re looking for

• A master’s degree or PhD in Computer Science, Engineering or similar discipline
• 5 years of programming experience in C++ or related language
• Experience with Gaussian Splatting, 3d reconstruction techniques, image segmentation and motion generation
• Very good understanding of different hardware architectures and their performance characteristics
• Strong knowledge of core algorithms and numerical computation
• A team-oriented, customer-focused mindset
• Experience in movie or video game production

You might also have

• Experience in API design
• Experience with elastic simulation
• Knowledge of current GPU and CPU profiling and debugging tools
• Experience in Linux development environment

At Wētā FX we celebrate our diversity and believe in creating an environment where all our crew feel welcomed, respected, supported and appreciated. We define ourselves by the quality of our work, and we’re striving to build a workplace experience that’s second to none. Here at Wētā FX we value open minds and encourage our crew to be themselves.

We aim to provide a discrimination-free experience, beginning from the moment you apply for a role with us. If there is anything we can do to make the recruitment process easier, please let us know at recruitment@wetafx.co.nz.