Pipeline Technical Director

Description

The DreamWorks Dedicated Unit (DDU) is a unit within Technicolor India, built exclusively for the DreamWorks Animation (DWA) client. DDU has an exclusive state of the art infrastructure which is built to DWA’s spec. This unit seamlessly integrates with the DWA’s other studios/campuses in California. The tools and technologies (production pipeline) used by DDU are proprietary to DWA. The quality benchmark for DDU is the quality of work being produced at the 2 other DWA studios/campuses in California. DDU is currently working on shows/projects based on the DWA franchise such as Madagascar & Shrek.

DDU is looking to hire Lead TD's for upcoming features.

A Technical Director (TD) provides critical support to a show's artists and department heads. A Technical Director will design, develop, and implement new tools and processes for a particular show or department. As needed, a Technical Director may be asked to do shot work.


Essential duties and responsibilities:
• Provides technical support for aiding artists with the completion of computer graphics shots.
• Assists artists with troubleshooting and debugging of production issues.
• Support and develop tools and procedures, which maintain and enhance the production pipeline.
• Create documentation.
• Ensure software development follows studio policies and guidelines.
• Assist in training and mentoring of other TDs as required and appropriate.
• Assist in envisioning studio goals. Can work on goals with supervision.
• Works with multiple departments and across multiple areas of Technical Direction.
• Develops and implements new computer graphic techniques.
• Provide support and development of tools and procedures to extend and enhance the pipeline.
• Assist animators and artists with troubleshooting of shots. Issues may include problems with fur, clothing, particle effects, animation, and rendering.
• Support and work with multiple departments, including Modeling, Animation, Lighting, FX, and Research and Development.
• Work closely with other Technical Directors, Production Supervisors, VFX Supervisors, and Production Engineering to maintain and further the production pipeline.
• Assist in training and mentoring of other Entry Level and Associate Technical Directors.


Expectations:
• Ability to take direction and work in a team environment.
• Ability to pay close attention to detail; oftentimes on repetitive tasks.
• “Customer first” mentality and willingness to provide direct support to individuals.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Experience with the Unix environment.
• Strong math and programming skills.
• Must have a positive attitude.
• Ability to support (non-technical) artists
- teaching or tutoring experience, project roles that interface between developers and clients
• Excellent problem-solving skills
- involvement in small teams tackling big multi-discipline projects
• Sound computer science knowledge
- object oriented programming (OOP), design patterns, projects implementing large systems, C++, Python
• Experience with computer graphics
- 3rd party packages like Maya, Max, Lightwave, coursework or other studies in computer graphics, 3D game development