Systems Engineer

Black Kite is an independent creative studio offering world-class visual effects and design. We are a talent-first, technology-inspired studio.

Our community is home to a collective of top-tier talent. A group of artists, creators, designers, producers and technologists that have come together to make exceptional artistic visual content.

THE ROLE

We are looking for a highly motivated Engineer to be a key part of our Technology team.  This role would suit a candidate with a some prior experience within Technology /VFX however you do not need to have significant levels of experience behind you.  We want to develop you and your career.

You will be responsible for implementing and maintaining core studio wide systems and infrastructure that contribute to the smooth running of all Technology at Black Kite Studios. You will be part of a small, agile team responsible for defining, implementing and supporting our current and next-generation infrastructure.

Responsibilities:

• Deploy, manage and support high-performance workstations and servers, large storage systems, complex network infrastructures, and services.
• Provide support for all desktop & technology related queries and issues.
• Deploy and test standard artist workstation/render builds (PXE, kickstart, ansible)
• Deploy resources in public clouds as and when required (Sherpa, AWS, Google, Azure)
• Assist Technical Operations with Storage and Archive requirements
• Maintain Production laptops
• Assist with Production Cloud Services such as Microsoft Office
• Maintain AD services
• Maintain the Asset Management database
• Document all changes and procedures in
• Develop and maintain digital and physical technology security policies and systems. 
• Support the technology purchasing process.
• Co-ordinate and maintain annual software license agreements and support contracts. 
• Contribute to and support our cloud computing strategy.
• Develop our core services allowing for improved efficiency in licencing, software deployment, security, machine identification and user login.
• Keep up on the latest technical innovations. 
• Liaise with outside technical service providers and vendors. 
• 
  Why YOU?

• You have some previous experience working within Technology or Engineering within the VFX / Post Production environment.
• You have developing knowledge of VFX or Post-Production pipelines, systems, and tools, such as Nuke, Flame, Baselight, Houdini, RV, Maya, and Deadline.
• You have a developing understanding of Networking principles.
• You have Linux knowledge as well as knowledge of Window and MacOS.
• You have some experience deploying and managing production-related services such as database, render farm queues, configuration management systems, and license servers.
• You have had some exposure to modern cloud technologies and automation such as Terraform, ansible, puppet
• You are a tenacious problem solver
• You are proactive and have a can-do, positive approach to your work.
• You understand what it means to work in a deadline driven, client-facing environment.
• You are interested in new technology and creative software tools
• You are an excellent communicator, both orally and in writing
• You have a ‘customer services’ mindset 

WHY US?

We believe in talent, creativity and innovation.
We believe that creativity is the differentiator, it sits at the very heart of everything we do and the reason why Black Kite was born.
We back ourselves to grow and be the best, to always improve, but never lose sight of our values and principles.
We care about our people.
At Black kite we look out for each other and believe in doing things the right way. We place importance on a code of shared ethics and treating people fairly and with respect.
We believe in the power of team work and togetherness to achieve the extraordinary.
We are big on ambition.
We are excited about the future.