Senior Software Engineer

2 Months ago • 5-8 Years • Animation

Job Summary

Job Description

As a Senior Software Engineer at Skydance Animation, you'll collaborate with artists and engineers to design and implement innovative workflows and cutting-edge solutions for the in-house character tool suite. Responsibilities include architecting and implementing a robust Python toolset for character assembly, collaborating on new workflows, evaluating code quality, developing scalable solutions integrating with DCC applications (Maya, Houdini), and mentoring team members. You'll need proficiency in Python, Qt, software architecture, and strong communication skills. The role demands a passion for collaborating with artists and engineers to solve filmmaking challenges and a strong understanding of character workflows, real-time animation, and geometry processing.
Must have:
  • 5+ years VFX/animation experience
  • Proficiency in Python & Qt
  • Strong software architecture skills
  • Experience with Maya/Houdini
  • Excellent communication & teamwork
Good to have:
  • C/C++ proficiency
  • Knowledge of character rigging, animation, and CFX
  • Understanding of real-time animation techniques

Job Details

Skydance offers a dynamic, inclusive, and ever-evolving culture where innovative ideas are welcomed, and growth fostered. The partnership between unique creativity and technological advancements are demonstrated within each pillar of the company. At the heart of it all is a commitment to boldly entertaining and relevant storytelling.
 
While all Animation studios look to hire people who are creative and hard-working, Skydance Animation is specifically looking for pioneers who seek to push the limits of what the world’s most collaborative art form can achieve, and to give those pioneers the space and the resources to build a new studio that’s doing something different.
 

For information on Skydance’s privacy practices, see the Skydance U.S. Personnel Privacy Notice located at  https://skydance.com/privacy-personnel/.

--- 


As a Senior Software engineer, you will partner with artists from modeling, rigging, animation, character effects (CFX) crowds, also engineers, and other stakeholders to design and implement innovative workflows and cutting-edge solutions, enhancing our in-house suite of character tools. 

Responsibilities

    • Architects and implements a robust Python toolset to streamline the character assembly pipeline, ensuring modularity, scalability, and maintainability. 
    • Collaborates with artists and technical teams to gather requirements and design new workflows and tools that enhance character-creation processes. 
    • Evaluates code quality and performance while contributing to the overall architectural design of the Python codebase within the Characters team. 
    • Develops scalable solutions that integrate into various Digital Content Creation (DCC) applications, such as Autodesk Maya and SideFX Houdini. 
    • Fosters a collaborative team environment, supporting technical guidelines and methodologies such as Agile and Scrum. 
    • Mentors team members by providing technical guidance and best practices. 
    • Demonstrates technical leadership through innovation and problem-solving. 
    • Builds strong relationships with peers, supervisors, stakeholders, and other teams across the studio. 
    • Keeps up on current artistic methodologies and on technology trends and tools that best suit the production and the company in the development of a stronger creative and technical environment.
    • Works together with the team providing them with support, guidance and instruction in areas that contribute towards their artistic and professional growth. (mandatory)
    • Follows the Supervisor’s and Lead's guidance. 

Requirements

    • 5+ years in VFX or animation industries.
    • 3+ years in the animation industry.
    • Experience designing and developing complex user-facing software, preferably in a studio environment. 
    • Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related field—or equivalent industry experience. 
    • Proficiency in Python, with the ability to write clear, testable, and maintainable code. 
    • Experience developing user-facing interfaces with Qt (PyQt/PySide), designing intuitive, responsive, and production-ready tools for artists and technical users. 
    • Strong understanding of software architecture and design patterns to create scalable, maintainable, and efficient tools. 
    • Experience with performance measurement, profiling, and analysis tools. 
    • Strong communication, teamwork, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to balance speed and sustainability in solutions. 
    • Ability to prioritize competing demands based on business value. 
    • Passion for collaborating with in-house artists and engineers to prototype, develop, and support solutions to our filmmaking challenges. 
    • Knowledge of character workflows, particularly in rigging, animation and CFX. 
    • Strong understanding of real-time animation, graphics techniques, and geometry processing algorithms. 
    • Strong mathematical fundamentals, including linear algebra, statistics, and numerical methods.  
    • Proficiency in C/C++, ideally C++11/14. 
    • High English level.
    • Spanish desirable.
#Animation #LI-Hybrid

Skydance is a diversified media company founded by David Ellison in 2010 to create high quality, event-level entertainment for global audiences. The Company brings to life stories of immersive worlds across its feature film, television, interactive, and animation divisions.
 
Skydance is proud to be an equal opportunity employer committed to building and fostering a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workforce. We welcome and consider applicants for employment regardless of race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, citizenship, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, pregnancy status, military/veteran status, disability, or any other protected category. Diversity in the workplace is not just a commitment, it is who we are and a reflection of what makes our world special.  

Recruitment Fraud Alert
It has come to our attention that there may be fraudulent activity by individuals impersonating our Talent Acquisition team. Skydance will only contact you from an official “@skydance.com” email address. If you suspect that you are being contacted by an unauthorized person or believe that the correspondence you have received is suspicious, please do not click on any links or attachments in such emails and submit any questions or concerns to our information security team at information.security@skydance.com

Similar Jobs

Meta - Production Engineer

Meta

Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland (On-Site)
6 Months ago
Nagarro - Associate Principal Engineer, Python

Nagarro

(On-Site)
7 Months ago
Animoca Brands - Backend Developer

Animoca Brands

China (Remote)
7 Months ago
Morning Star - Assistant Vice President, Credit Ratings, US RMBS

Morning Star

New York, New York, United States (Hybrid)
8 Months ago
Wargaming - Backend Developer, Server Core Team (World of Warships)

Wargaming

Belgrade, Serbia (Hybrid)
2 Months ago
DNEG - FX Lead (DNEG Animation)

DNEG

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India (On-Site)
7 Months ago
Warner Bros Games - Technical Animator

Warner Bros Games

London, England, United Kingdom (Hybrid)
2 Months ago
Room 8 Studio - 3D Animator, Senior

Room 8 Studio

Bulgaria (Remote)
4 Months ago
Phantom FX - VFX Supervisor (Onset)

Phantom FX

Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India (On-Site)
4 Months ago
Qingci Games - Animator

Qingci Games

Xiamen, Fujian, China (On-Site)
1 Month ago

Get notifed when new similar jobs are uploaded

Similar Skill Jobs

Framestore - Technical Artist - Immersive

Framestore

England, United Kingdom (On-Site)
3 Months ago
Riot Games - Technical Game Designer II - Riftbound: The League of Legends Trading Card Game

Riot Games

Los Angeles, California, United States (On-Site)
1 Month ago
NVIDIA - Senior Developer Relations Manager - Robotics

NVIDIA

Tokyo, Japan (On-Site)
4 Months ago
ByteDance - Senior Backend Software Engineer, Global E-commerce Seller Platform

ByteDance

Seattle, Washington, United States (On-Site)
6 Months ago
Activision - Data Analyst, Analytics Insights

Activision

Santa Monica, California, United States (On-Site)
2 Months ago
Sphere Entertainment Co - Senior Manager Data Science

Sphere Entertainment Co

Las Vegas, Nevada, United States (On-Site)
2 Months ago
The Walt Disney Company - Senior Systems Administrator

The Walt Disney Company

Charlotte, North Carolina, United States (On-Site)
1 Month ago
Canva - Lead Machine Learning Engineer - Content Group

Canva

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (Remote)
6 Months ago
ByteDance - Software Engineer Intern (CDN/Edge/Traffic Platform)

ByteDance

San Jose, California, United States (On-Site)
2 Months ago
Krafton  - Publishing Tech PM

Krafton

Seoul, South Korea (On-Site)
4 Months ago

Get notifed when new similar jobs are uploaded

Jobs in New York, New York, United States

Nintendo - Contract UI Artist II

Nintendo

Redmond, Washington, United States (Hybrid)
1 Month ago
Probably Monsters - Producer

Probably Monsters

Washington, United States (On-Site)
3 Months ago
Morning Star - Assistant Vice President, Credit Ratings, US RMBS

Morning Star

New York, New York, United States (Hybrid)
8 Months ago
The Walt Disney Company - Sr. Game Designer

The Walt Disney Company

San Francisco, California, United States (On-Site)
1 Month ago
Meta - Software Engineer, Infrastructure

Meta

Redmond, Washington, United States (Remote)
6 Months ago
ByteDance - Site Reliability Engineer, Edge Services

ByteDance

Seattle, Washington, United States (On-Site)
3 Months ago
The Walt Disney Company - Senior Product Manager II

The Walt Disney Company

California, United States (On-Site)
4 Months ago
Riot Games - Associate Art Director - VALORANT, Core Game

Riot Games

Los Angeles, California, United States (On-Site)
9 Months ago
Glean - Product Management Lead, Enterprise

Glean

Palo Alto, California, United States (On-Site)
6 Months ago
CloudHire - Pathology Assistant Reallocation Opportunity, New York

CloudHire

Durham, North Carolina, United States (On-Site)
2 Months ago

Get notifed when new similar jobs are uploaded

Animation Jobs

Blue Zoo Animation Studio - Junior 3D Layout Artist

Blue Zoo Animation Studio

London, England, United Kingdom (On-Site)
1 Month ago
Ubisoft - Technical Animation Director

Ubisoft

Annecy, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France (On-Site)
2 Months ago
GameDuell - Senior 2D Animator (Unity) - Character & Asset Specialist

GameDuell

Berlin, Berlin, Germany (Hybrid)
1 Month ago
Survios - Gameplay Animator

Survios

California, United States (Remote)
3 Months ago
Coatsink - Freelance Animator (1-2 Month Contract)

Coatsink

Gateshead, England, United Kingdom (Remote)
1 Month ago
Lighthouse Studios - Mid-Senior Toon Boom Polish Retakes Animator

Lighthouse Studios

Kilkenny, County Kilkenny, Ireland (On-Site)
2 Months ago
Tencent - Animator Intern

Tencent

Quebec, Canada (On-Site)
2 Months ago
Rockstar Games - Senior Animation R&D Programmer

Rockstar Games

Carlsbad, California, United States (On-Site)
6 Months ago
Flying Bark Productions - Rigging Artist

Flying Bark Productions

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (Hybrid)
2 Months ago
Cloud Imperium Games - Lead Gameplay Animation Programmer

Cloud Imperium Games

Manchester, England, United Kingdom (On-Site)
5 Months ago

Get notifed when new similar jobs are uploaded

About The Company

Austin, Texas, United States (Hybrid)

Santa Monica, California, United States (On-Site)

Madrid, Community Of Madrid, Spain (Hybrid)

Santa Monica, California, United States (On-Site)

Madrid, Community Of Madrid, Spain (Hybrid)

Madrid, Community Of Madrid, Spain (Hybrid)

Madrid, Community Of Madrid, Spain (Hybrid)

Madrid, Community Of Madrid, Spain (Hybrid)

Los Angeles, California, United States (Hybrid)

Santa Monica, California, United States (Hybrid)

View All Jobs

Get notified when new jobs are added by Skydance

Level Up Your Career in Game Development!

Transform Your Passion into Profession with Our Comprehensive Courses for Aspiring Game Developers.

Job Common Plug