Job Summary: Pixar’s Software R&D department (Tools) is responsible for advancing the state of the art with our in-house movie production software, including the Academy Award®-winning Presto Animation System. With several films in production concurrently, Pixar is an exciting and dynamic environment where adaptable and motivated individuals thrive! We’re looking for multiple talented software engineers to join our Tools Applications teams, which play a critical role in developing and maintaining the software and pipeline used by production artists to create our animated feature films. These teams support a wide range of production stages—from asset creation like set building, shading, and character rigging, to shot production tasks such as cinematography, animation, character simulation, FX, lighting, and rendering. As an engineer on one of these teams, you'll help shape the next generation of Pixar’s envelope-pushing tools and applications that power our filmmaking process.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Maintain and improve the software individually and collaboratively within a team of engineers

Work directly with technical and non-technical artists to support their use of Pixar's proprietary filmmaking software

Identify, triage, debug, and resolve time sensitive issues affecting production artists

Partner with graphics research scientists to implement experimental technology and explore new and innovative ways to meet the software needs of our artists

Work comfortably within a sophisticated, multi-layered technology pipeline

QUALIFICATIONS:

Demonstrated experience with and strong understanding of modern C++ and the STL with at least five years of professional experience

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or equivalent formal training

Strong software engineering skills including familiarity with software design principles, performance optimization, and testing

Strong problem-solving and communication skills with high attention to detail

Highly qualified candidates may have:

Familiarity with the mathematics of computer graphics such as linear algebra as used to represent spatial transformations, and parametric curves and surfaces

Familiarity with established graphics concepts such as subdivision, tessellation, mesh topology, and bounding hierarchies

Experience with multithreaded and GPU programming

Experience with professional 3D DCC applications (e.g., Maya, Houdini), USD, Qt, and Linux

Experience working within VFX or animation production environments

The hiring range for this position in Emeryville is $160,565.00 to $207,790.00 per year. 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.