Job Summary:

This role is considered Hybrid, which means the employee will work 2-3 days onsite at a Company designated location and occasionally from home.

Position Summary

The Technical Assistant I (TA) provides front line rendering and data management support for ILM VFX Production teams and the facility. TAs also manage storage by wrangling data through archiving, removing data and following resource management best practices. The TA team ensures full utilization of the render farm during their shift and communicates as technical issues affecting the throughput the farm arise.

What You’ll Do

Prioritize overnight renders; coordinate processor allocations with Core Pipeline & Show Production teams; balance processor demands within show, between shows, and as a share of facility pool

Report issues with frames post render to the digital artists and CG Supervisors and work to find a solution

Work to ensure full resource utilization during the night. Manipulate priorities to ensure that renders are completed by next business day. Report any machine problems or general issues that hinder the completion of renders to the appropriate department

Monitor disk usage for the facility, with a particular focus on individual shows, and on a shot-by-shot basis within those shows. Coordinate show storage needs on a long-term basis with Digital Resource Manager

Work with the Digital Resource Manager, CG Supervisors and Core Pipeline team to ensure show follows proper data management procedures

Prioritize, manage, and maintain archive of show data, including creation of archival backups for shows, maintenance of archive database, storage and retrieval of physical media for recent show archives. Fulfill all data restoration requests, including archival research to locate requested data

Maintain and update department tools. Work closely with Core Pipeline to ensure that code is clean and well maintained

Participate in development projects; write production and pipeline scripts as required to assist ongoing technology efforts

What We’re Looking For

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Film Production or equivalent degree

1-2 years relevant work experience

Proven knowledge of and experience with Linux, Mac and Windows operating systems

Excellent verbal and written communication skills required. Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to effectively interact with diverse personalities

Strong time management skills; Ability to multi-task and prioritize

Aesthetic eye and/or artistic background highly desired

Familiarity with film and video post-production and/or computer graphics techniques highly desired

Proven ability to work autonomously and in team settings

Self-motivated

Strong problem-solving skills

Ability to adapt to a high pressure, fast-paced, dynamic environment

Ability to work shift hours as required, including evenings and weekends

Nice to have:

Strong scripting language (e.g. Python, Shell) is highly desired

Knowledge of, and experience with, 3D animation software (e.g. Maya, Katana) is highly desired

Database knowledge preferred (e.g. Oracle, Redis, MongoDB, Cassandra)

Knowledge of networking, tape backup systems, hardware a plus

VFX, Feature Animation or Episodic production experience a plus

Join ILM

The hiring range for this position in Vancouver is C$47,100 to C$60,200 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 full range of medical, financial, and/or other variable pay or benefits, may be offered dependent on the level and position offered.