The Lead Software Engineer, Production Tools will drive the technical strategy and day-to-day delivery of the Production Tools team within Platform Engineering. Working closely with Studio Leadership, Production, Business Development, and other engineering groups, this role sets the technical direction for production-facing and studio management tooling, most notably the studio's bidding, planning and production management ecosystem, while growing and mentoring a team of software engineers. The ideal candidate combines a strong engineering background with deep knowledge of VFX studio production and a passion for building reliable, scalable tools that empower creative production.
Key Responsibilities
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Lead and mentor a team of software engineers, conducting regular code reviews, fostering skills development, and cultivating a culture of engineering excellence and continuous improvement
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Partner with Studio Leadership, Production, Business Development, Pipeline Leads, and other stakeholders to gather requirements, triage issues, and translate production needs into clear technical plans and roadmaps
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Work with Project Management to plan, execute, and deliver products, tools and features
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Own the technical architecture and user experience of the Production Tools ecosystem, including ShotGrid integrations, automations, and bespoke production tooling built in Python and related technologies
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Collaborate with other Platform Engineering leads (Backend, Core, Dev-Ops) to align on shared services, APIs, and infrastructure dependencies that underpin production tools
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Engage with cross-functional stakeholders to present technical proposals, provide clear engineering reports, and ensure transparency and alignment on project objectives
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Work with leadership to hire engineers and build a team capable of addressing both routine artist support needs and complex, strategic initiatives
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Champion a fast, responsive support culture – enabling the team to resolve issues effectively in a demanding, deadline-driven production environment
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7+ years experience supporting production tools and workflows in a production environment
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2+ years of Shotgrid use and development experience
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Senior-level proficiency in Python for pipeline tool development, including writing well-tested, maintainable code and working within established codebases
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Ability to analyse and reason about complex production pipelines, identifying bottlenecks and designing practical, scalable solutions.
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Familiarity with RESTful APIs and event-driven architectures in the context of studio tooling.
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Experience with Stakeholder management for leading cross-functional efforts across organizations
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Experience with translating technical details into actionable plans and reports for stakeholders, ensuring transparency and alignment on project objectives
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Familiarity with web development using React is a plus
