Description
*Note: Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, in order to keep all of our employees and candidates safe, SideFX is hiring and onboarding remotely.
Position Overview
SideFX is seeking an exceptional Houdini artist with a keen attention to detail to join our Toronto based Quality Assurance team. This is a position starting immediately.
As a member of the SideFX Research and Development group, you will have the opportunity to work alongside some of the brightest minds in the CG industry and interact with an outstanding artist community. We see this full time position as a career-defining opportunity in which to grow professionally and contribute to Houdini and its user community. As a Houdini Quality Assurance Specialist, you will be right at the heart of a constantly evolving synergy between technology and art and we need you to be the best.
Our R&D team has received many prestigious industry awards, including four Technical Achievement Awards from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, an Academy Award of Merit (Oscar®), a Technology and Engineering Emmy® Award from NATAS, and four back-to-back Editor’s Choice Innovation Awards from CG World Magazine. Movies using our toolset have received the Oscar® for Best Visual Effects every year in the past two decades. We share a passion for innovation in computer graphics and a drive for excellence in game tool development and procedural animation. Providing digital artists with the most advanced tools for their craft is, and has always been, our single focus.
Whether you are research-oriented or development-oriented, we have a great number of exciting projects to choose from. You will have ample opportunity to grow professionally and make significant contributions to the success of our products. You will be constantly in touch with our users in the entertainment industry and with our colleagues. You will be right at the heart of a constantly evolving synergy between technology and art.
Key Duties and Responsibilities*
- Testing Houdini to help ensure that it is of the highest quality possible
- Testing new and existing features in Houdini trying to break them in order to discover areas of the software that can be improved
- Build test cases, simulate customer workflows and demonstrate how to reproduce bugs so that they can be fixed by our talented team of programmers
- Validate, update and create new node examples
- Other duties as assigned
*Adjustments will be made to enable duties & responsibilities to be met working remotely considering the current Covid-19 pandemic situation.
Required Skills and Experience
- Minimum 3-5 years experience with Houdini
- Computer Animation and/or FX degree or equivalent industry experience, with a record of academic and professional excellence.
- Excellent communication and presentation skills
- Strong problem solving skills with a keen attention to detail is a must have
- Experience with modelling, animating, rendering and visual effects is necessary
- Ability to locate and investigate issues and track them in a database
- Experience on Windows, OSX, and Linux (we test on all three)
- Ability to work well in a team environment with a positive demeanor
- An independent learner with an eagerness to learn unfamiliar areas of Houdini
A demoreel with a detailed breakdown of what you did in each shot must be submitted along with your resume when applying in order to be considered for this role.
Bonus Skills
- Ideal candidates will have production experience in film, TV, or games
- 3D software testing/development experience
- Python scripting
- Experience with other 3D packages like Maya, 3DS Max, Blender, Softimage, etc
We appreciate all candidate interest, but only those with previous Houdini experience will be considered.
Company Profile
For over thirty years, SideFX has been providing artists with procedural 3D animation and visual effects tools designed to produce the highest-quality cinematic results. We are passionate about what our customers do because our roots are in production, both as artists and as pioneering technical innovators.
SideFX has been recognized by the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Science multiple times - including with an Oscar® - for the development of our Houdini software, and its breakthrough procedural-based technology.
Houdini is used by the world’s top film, TV, and game studios to create blockbuster movies such as Black Panther and Moana, captivating TV shows like Spider-Man, The Lion King and Godzilla vs. Kong, TV shows like The Crown, Game of Thrones and S.W.A.T., and video games like Ghost Recon, Far Cry and Age of Empires. Our customers include Disney Feature Animation, Pixar, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Weta Digital, Electronic Arts, Microsoft Game Studios, and many more.
Visit https://www.sidefx.com/careers/ for a full list of our current job openings.
Location
Our transit-friendly head office location, directly adjacent to Union Station in the heart of downtown Toronto, is open-concept with a relaxed style that includes, casual dress, and wraparound views from the 14th floor.
SideFX is committed to inclusion and diversity. We encourage all qualified applicants to apply. Accommodation will be provided to candidates with disabilities, upon request.