DESIGNER

 

As a Designer, you will create and design multiple parts of the game to optimise overall player experience. You will work closely with the project leads to deliver a creative vision for the game. Ideally, you need to be an effective team player who can contribute to new and existing ideas as well as adjusting to change in design choices as necessary.
 

Experience and Abilities:

Knowledge in Unreal Engine 4

Overall knowledge of game processes such as level flow, engagement design and storytelling

Ability to be in sync with the team's creative development process to have a consistent vision for the game

Clear understanding of schedules and milestones

Ability to work well under pressure

Excellent written, verbal and communication skills


If you're interested, send your cover letter and CV to Lar at [email protected]
 
About Us:
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ANIMATOR

 

We are looking for an Animator to join the team. You will have the drive to create our vision for the game and must be able to develop convincing performance and movement for combat, characters and creatures. Working directly with the Animation Director, you will also be mentoring other animators, so it is essential that you have good leadership skills and are an effective team player.

 

Experience and Abilities:

1+ shipped console title or equivalent

Minimum of 3+ years' experience in the games industry

Excellent knowledge in Maya and Unreal Engine 4

Understanding in all areas of character creation such as Rigging, Modelling and Texturing

Experience working in Motion Capture Animation

Ability to work under tight deadlines

Excellent attention to detail


If you're interested, send your showreel and CV to Lar at [email protected]
 
About Us:
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We are looking for a passionate and talented FX artist to join our team. We are looking for someone who will be able to effectively conceptualise, present and execute ideas within a schedule as well as actively contribute to technical and artistic problem-solving. A sound knowledge of best practices relating to game FX is vital to this role as you will need to be comfortable working quickly in an agile environment.

​

Experience and abilities:

1+ shipped console title or equivalent

Must be comfortable using Unreal Engine 4

Minimum of 3 years’ experience in the games industry

Good understanding of physical dynamics, natural phenomena, environmental &UI effects

Can problem-solve both technically and creatively in a collaborative environment with artists, designers and programmers

Must be a team player who can collaborate with the development team and work individually with minimal supervision

Solid time management skills are essential


If you're interested, send your cover letter and CV to Lar at [email protected]
 
About Us:
 
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You will work closely with directors and leads to organise and drive the game production processes, ensuring smooth and efficient operations and helping the team keep on schedule. Additional responsibilities include curating project documentation, providing support for studio operations and everything in-between.
 

We are looking for someone who can:

Assist directors and leads with their management task load

Create and maintain roadmap documentation, project schedules, milestone objectives, status reports, and other documentation clearly and accurately

Identify and resolve potential blockers and dependencies to manage workflows for all departments

Help identify and implement processes and practices that will enable our  growing team to deliver successful world-class games on time

Foster and facilitate communication and collaboration between all departments

Provide support for studio operations and administration as required
 
Skills & Requirements

3+ years of game production experience with at least 1 shipped title in a production role

Excellent project management skills, particularly in managing schedules and project resources to deliver results on time

Superb verbal and written communication skills

Excellent organisational skills and attention to detail, with the ability to keep cool under pressure

Unrelenting self-motivation and initiative

Strong problem-solving skills, with the ability to think ‘outside the box’

Strong time-management skills with the ability to focus on priorities, manage change and deliver against agreed deadlines

Excellent multi-tasking and prioritisation skills in a fast-paced environment

​

Send your CV and cover letter to Lar at [email protected]
 
About Us:
 
 

 
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As a Senior Technical Artist you will be a key part of the team when it comes to solving technical issues to help enable the Art team to work efficiently and to a professional standard. Strong Maya, Unreal Engine and scripting knowledge are essential as you will be tasked with planning and executing the creation of in house tools and workflows.

​

This is a key role within the studio, and we are more than happy to help with immigration and relocation to New Zealand. If this role excites you and you think you’re the one for the job, then we’d love to hear from you!

​

Responsibilities:

Solve technical issues for the Art department,

Plan pipelines and workflows to enable art to be created efficiently and correctly.

Document and communicate tools and workflows to the Art team.

Solve technical issues both in engine and DCC applications to ensure the Art department can operate efficiently and the game runs smoothly.



Additional Requirements:

5+ years in game development.

3+ shipped titles.

Excellent communication and problem solving skills.

High level knowledge of Maya and Unreal Engine.

Understanding of procedural asset creation and Houdini a bonus.

In depth profiling knowledge for consoles and PC.

​

Send your CV and showreel/portfolio to Lar at [email protected]
 
About Us:
 
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As a Senior Rigging TD you will be a key part of the team when it comes to creating, maintaining and looking to the future of games rigging. Strong Maya, Unreal Engine and scripting knowledge are essential as you will be a driving force in getting robust, functional rigs into the hands of the animators, and ensuring rigs pass through into the engine cleanly and ready for other departments to work with.

 

This is a key role within the studio, and we are more than happy to help with immigration and relocation to New Zealand. If this role excites you and you think you’re the one for the job, then we’d love to hear from you!


Responsibilities:

Build and maintain rigs across an array of humanoids, creatures and props.

Extensive knowledge of Python to create and maintain tools.

High level knowledge of Unreal Engine to ensure rigs function correctly from Maya through to game.

Work with artists, animators and programmers to problem solve issues that may arise.

Ensure that rigs are delivered on spec and in the time frame
 
Additional Requirements:

5+ plus years in game development.

3+ plus shipped titles.

Excellent communication skills.

High level knowledge of Maya and Unreal Engine.


Send your CV and showreel/portfolio to Lar at [email protected]
 
About Us:
 
 
 

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Weta Digital is seeking a Machine Learning Researcher to join the Look-Dev R&D department.

Our mission:

To create and support all the tools used for Look Development within the company, including texturing, material authoring, shading surfacing, appearance modelling
Conduct research in appearance-related problems, such as material models, material filtering, material measurement, texture creation, for the purposes of improving quality and efficiency of Look Development.


The ideal candidate will have proven research contributions in machine learning, as well as software engineering experience. Internship and junior positions are also available for this role.

Responsibilities:

Survey and monitor the existing state of the art and of the competition.
Participate in the research of new and practical Machine Learning-based solutions for Look Development problems, such as texture synthesis, semantic segmentation, inpainting, material measurement, etc.
Participate in the dissemination of scientific knowledge within and outside the company.
Participate in the implementation of new ideas into practical production tools.

Required Qualifications:

Graduate-level (MSc or PhD) education or equivalent experience.
Good knowledge of machine learning research and tools (TensorFlow, pyTorch, etc).
Fundamental understanding of the scientific process.
Ability to read, understand, and discuss scientific papers.
Ability to think creatively and formalize when faced with a problem.
Ability to understand the practical considerations of research applied to a production environment.
Good communication skills and English language fluency.

Desirable Qualifications:

Previous experience in machine learning research in the VFX industry
Good software engineering skills.
Proficiency in C++ and Python.

Location: Wellington - New Zealand
 
Email: [email protected]
Address: P.O Box 15208 9-11 Manuka Street Miramar, Wellington,New Zealand 6022
Phone: + 644 909 6000
Fax: + 644 380 9010 view all

Weta Digital is taking expressions of interest for Creature TDs to join its award winning team for roles opening up in 2019.

Applicants should be experienced and passionate about building photo-realistic creatures. They should have broad anatomical knowledge and be well versed in creation, rigging and simulation of skeletons, muscles, and skin.

A Creature TD is responsible for building, rigging and simulating the internal anatomy of a creature, in order to drive the final deformation of the skin. Also responsible for defining animation controls and rigging puppets to be used by animation and other departments.

Creature TDs work closely with various departments, especially modelling, animation, and shots. They work alongside the Creature Cloth/Hair TDs to deliver dynamic, realistic creatures.

Strong scripting and debugging skills are a must.

5 years or more as a full time senior creature TD on feature films
Experience with skinning and deformation of photo realistic characters and/or creatures
Poweruser in Maya
Poweruser in Python scripting
Linux experience
Experience in Cloth and Hair simulation a plus
Python, Perl, and C++ knowledge a plus.
Must be able to work well in a team environment
Must be willing to relocate to New Zealand

Location: Wellington - New Zealand

Expressions of interest are invited through the usual job application process.
 
Email: [email protected]
Address: P.O Box 15208 9-11 Manuka Street Miramar, Wellington,New Zealand 6022
Phone: + 644 909 6000
Fax: + 644 380 9010 view all

Do you have a keen vision for data flow, intuitive API design, and clear UX? Are you motivated to use big-picture insight as a platform for top-quality code? In your visual effects or gaming career have you experienced the difference end-to-end thinking makes?

Production Engineering is responsible for continuously improving how Weta Digital's artists collaborate to create movies. If you have a robust suite of VFX software skills and a passion for seamless, intelligent design of multi-faceted tools and pipelines, we have the challenges and environment for you to thrive! Multi-tier servers with multi-language APIs; desktop GUIs; full-stack web; application integration; image transformation and interaction are some of our specialities.

We seek a collaborative, clever thinker with the following skills:

Top-grade, expert-level Python, with complementary experience in C++, Java, or Go
Skilled GUI development in Qt or the web (particularly AngularJS)
Command of database interaction (particularly PostgreSQL and Elasticsearch)
Basic understanding of Maya, Houdini, Nuke, Katana, or Shotgun
Comfortable working in Linux
Delight in a fast paced, constantly evolving workplace

If this sounds like you – we would LOVE to hear from you!

Location: Wellington - New Zealand
 
Email: [email protected]
Address: P.O Box 15208 9-11 Manuka Street Miramar, Wellington,New Zealand 6022
Phone: + 644 909 6000
Fax: + 644 380 9010 view all

SENIOR C++ DEVELOPER

Production Engineering is responsible for the development of libraries and supporting tools which facilitate the creation and manipulation of scene data. This involves high-performance, in-memory scene representations for real- time and offline rendering, and interactive non-destructive manipulation. We embed this functionality in 3rd party applications as well as exposing it via C++ and Python APIs.

The idea applicant will have ...

5+ years of professional experience as a C++ developer
Expertise with APIs such as Boost, STL, Qt, CLANG, Unreal or Unity
Expertise with multi-threaded development and performance optimization
Experience writing performance sensitive APIs for use by other developers
Interest in topics like C++ implementations, compilers, and memory allocation strategies

Either of the below would be advantageous ...

Experience in the VFX or gaming industry
Experience with application APIs such as Maya, MotionBuilder and Houdini

If this sounds like you – we would LOVE to hear from you!

Location: Wellington - New Zealand
 
Email: [email protected]
Address: P.O Box 15208 9-11 Manuka Street Miramar, Wellington,New Zealand 6022
Phone: + 644 909 6000
Fax: + 644 380 9010
  view all

We are currently taking VFX Producer expressions of interest for future opportunities in 2019.

Job Purpose: Responsible, alongside the VFX Supervisor, for strategising, implementing and managing targets and relationships specific to the VFX delivery of a feature film project. Responsible for managing project budget and overseeing the schedule and workflow of the Show Production team. This is a client facing role. Reports to the Executive Producer.

Needs to Do

Key Responsibilities:

Bidding / Client Liaison / Project Delivery

Ensure all VFX show deliverables are determined, built into the contracted schedule and delivered on time
Liaise directly with the client to ensure work is progressing as per contracted
schedule and manage all change orders
Generate payment and key milestone schedules
Manage client expectations

Budget


Manage the contracted VFX budget for a feature film project
Monitor overall Bid vs Actuals

Reports

Provide weekly cost and schedule reports to Executive VFX Producer and Head of Production

Tracking:

Track all turnovers, assets, shots, finals, editorial updates, marketing requests and change orders

Internal Communications & Reporting

Manage internal communication between the VFX Supervisors, Leads, Heads of
Departments and Show Production; and anticipate and communicate issues in order to resolve problems quickly
Maintain weekly internal client status reports

Scheduling / Resource Management:

Maintain oversight of Production Manager’s schedule according to the scope of VFX work required on the show
Ensure scheduled targets are being hit; and, if not, troubleshoot and resolve any scheduling conflicts, issues or delays
Forecast resource requirements with the VFX Production Manager, VFX Supervisor and Resource Manager to plan an effective and efficient approach to completing the show within contractually agreed deadlines.

Manage Show Production Team

Set up and maintain best-practice methodology typical of a television VFX pipeline; including client relations, internal communications, scheduling, budgeting, database maintenance, reporting and tracking.

Above and Beyond:

Positive, upbeat and professional
Pro-active and solution-orientated

Needs to know and have

Essential Skills:

Good flair for dealing with clients – knows the right tone and urgency without leading to misunderstandings
Highly organised and detail-oriented; with first-class time/project management skills
Excellent written and verbal communication skills
The ability to remain calm and confident in a fast-paced environment
Capable of motivating and leading teams on various projects with confidence and clarity
Lateral thinking skills
Proficient in production database tools e.g. Shotgun

Essential Experience:

Proven experience with VFX workflows, pipelines and turnarounds
A minimum of 2 years of experience at a VFX Line Producer level or in a similar senior production role at a VFX facility
An in-depth understanding of live-action and CG based VFX workflows, pipeline and schedule
Proven track record of client-facing project management and scheduling
Responsible for the efficient running of a show through all departments within budget and to contracted deadlines.

Needs to:

Bid the Show
Forecast resources for the show using inhouse Forecasting Tools.
Schedule & plan resource requirements with the Executive VFX Producer, VFX Supervisor & Head of Production
Provide weekly cost and schedule reports to Executive VFX Producer and Head of Production
Ensure the VFX team understands the goals and deadlines for assets, shots, sequences and any R&D projects required.
Ensure scheduled targets are being met by troubleshooting and resolving any scheduling conflicts, issues or delays.
Track turnovers and ensure we are tracking to contract and budget.
Track editorial updates & changes ensuring the production database is current and aligned with change orders.
Track client change orders and ensure the VFX team are aware of budget changes approved to progress.
Ensure the production team is running efficiently by attending reviews, rounds & meetings.
Arrange and/or attend senior VFX Supervisor reviews & Director reviews.
Ensure artist schedules are being managed efficiently.
Approve requested overtime as necessary. Ensure the Production team are managing the amount of overtime pre-approved.
Approve artist timesheets and leave

Requirements are:

A minimum of 5 years experience as a Producer in Feature Film VFX.
Proven experience successfully Producing large projects within a facility.
Onset experience preferred.
Excellent knowledge of database systems (preferably Filemaker), Excel & Word.
Proven experience managing artists and working with clients.
Organized and methodical in approach to work.
Clear planning with artists, supervisors & clients.
Capable of motivating and leading teams with enthusiasm.
Able to troubleshoot & solve problems.
Calm and personable under pressure and when working to tight deadlines.

If this sounds like you, we would love to hear from you!

Location: Wellington - New Zealand
Email: [email protected]
Address: P.O Box 15208 9-11 Manuka Street Miramar, Wellington,New Zealand 6022
Phone: + 644 909 6000
Fax: + 644 380 9010 view all

Weta Digital is seeking a Pipeline Developer to join the Look-Dev R&D department.

Our mission:

To create and support all the tools used for Look Development within the company, including texturing, material authoring, shading surfacing, appearance modelling
Conduct research in appearance-related problems, such as material models, material filtering, material measurement, texture creation, for the purposes of improving quatlity and efficiency of Look Development.

The ideal candidate will have extensive pipeline engineering experience within a production environment, as well as software engineering expertise. Internship and junior positions are also available for this role.

Responsibilities:

Participate in code design and code reviews within the Look-Dev R&D department.
Integrate and test new Look-Dev technology within a production pipeline.
Provide support for Look-Dev tools to hundreds of production users.

Required Qualifications:

3+ years experience with Python, Qt and PyQt/PySide.
Experience with programming against database interfaces and domain APIs.
Good understanding of modern programming techniques and tools.
Good problem solving skills.
Ability to write practical and efficient production code.
Ability to design, write, document, test, debug and share code within a team.
Good communications skills and English language fluency.
Comfortable talking to users and developers and understanding feature requests.

Desirable Qualifications:

Experience with C/C++ programming.
Experience with Maya scripting and programming.
Masters-level degree in Computer Science or equivalent.

If this sounds like you, we would love to hear from you!

Location: Wellington - New Zealand view all

Weta’s Technology and Research group is the innovation engine of Weta Digital. All large scale projects of the studio are powered by tools invented and developed by the group, and it is well-known how leadership in both the technology and research spaces is a key strategic objective for Weta Digital.

Weta Digital is looking for an experienced, visionary senior research scientist to help guide research and implementation of tools based on computer vision and machine learning (CVML) across our technology and research departments.

As part of our senior technology and research group, you will lead our research in the CVML space and lead a team of developers delivering high quality software in fast paced, challenging and creative environment.

Responsibilities

Lead research into CVML-based tools and applications across the studio, in fields such as image synthesis, denoising, computer vision, motion analysis and synthesis as well as large scale data discovery, mining and analysis
Be a key advisor in setting the direction for Weta’s strategy in the CVML space, in collaboration with the Senior Head of Technology and Research to align with the studio’s wider goals
Work closely with the heads of our technology and research departments to share insight into mutually beneficial opportunities for new solutions, exercising a high level of creative thinking for leveraging CVML to build new, improved tools for the VFX process
Collaborate with developers to design and ship applications and plugins to enhance the quality of the work of Weta’s artists, improve their focus on the task at hand and empowering them to achieve new levels of excellence in their field, by means of a pleasant, forceful personality and a charismatic communication style
Seek and maintain long-term collaborations with leading research institution around the world, fostering a climate of collaboration between the industry and academia
Stay up-to-date and contribute to the applied research in the CVML space, spanning both the theoretical and implementation sides. Apply new technologies in the development and enhancement of our products and processes, and develop a vision for new possibilities. Continuously raise the effectiveness of the team building skill and trust both inside and around it

Required skills and experience

The ideal candidate will have a number of publications in the field, corresponding to observable improvements in tooling similar to Weta’s areas of interest, such as image synthesis, denoising, computer vision, motion analysis and synthesis, data analysis and discovery. The ability to illustrate a vision and a complex set of ideas in a manner appropriate to the present audience will be a crucial asset to the successful candidate.

The candidate will also be able to demonstrate skill in leadership and mentoring roles, ideally involving teams of researcher and engineers or various degrees of seniority as well as project managers and interfacing with testing teams.

Another crucial asset to the successful applicant will be an ability to illustrate best practices of use of the proposed tools to artists and technical directors with a rich diversity of backgrounds, enhancing their understanding of the new possibilities offered by the proposed technology and stimulating a fruitful exchange of ideas with the target user base.

The candidate will also be able to demonstrate a high degree of competence in multi-threaded C++ development on Linux and its associate toolchain, as well as common libraries for CVML applications. It is understood the successful applicant may also be versant in other languages common in this space, such as Java, python or R and the associated library packages

Additional desirable skills

Image synthesis and rendering
Animation
Physically based simulation
Design of effective user interfaces, workflows and interaction stories for new tasks
Requirement gathering and an ability to elicit expression of stated as well as latent needs from the target users
Experience with real-time environments, high performance computing and GPU programming
Experience working in a professional development team, including collaborations with project managers, tracking tooling such as Jira, regular reporting on progress and similar
Familiarity with Linux-based environments
Familiarity with common VFX pipeline tools such as Nuke or Maya and in general the VFX process

Qualifications and requirements

PhD or Master’s degree and proven track record of excellence in research
Proven track record of achieving significant results as demonstrated by grants, fellowships, patents, as well as first-authored publications at leading workshops or conferences such as CVPR, ECCV/ICCV, SIGGRAPH, NIPS
Demonstrated software engineer experience via an internship, previous work experience, coding competitions, or widely used contributions in open source repositories (e.g. GitHub)
Willing to work in Wellington, New Zealand Weta’s Technology and Research group is the innovation engine of Weta Digital. All large scale projects of the studio are powered by tools invented and developed by the group, and it is well-known how leadership in both the technology and research spaces is a key strategic objective for Weta Digital.

Weta Digital is looking for an experienced, visionary senior research scientist to help guide research and implementation of tools based on computer vision and machine learning (CVML) across our technology and research departments.

As part of our senior technology and research group, you will lead our research in the CVML space and lead a team of developers delivering high quality software in fast paced, challenging and creative environment.

Responsibilities

Lead research into CVML-based tools and applications across the studio, in fields such as image synthesis, denoising, computer vision, motion analysis and synthesis as well as large scale data discovery, mining and analysis
Be a key advisor in setting the direction for Weta’s strategy in the CVML space, in collaboration with the Senior Head of Technology and Research to align with the studio’s wider goals
Work closely with the heads of our technology and research departments to share insight into mutually beneficial opportunities for new solutions, exercising a high level of creative thinking for leveraging CVML to build new, improved tools for the VFX process
Collaborate with developers to design and ship applications and plugins to enhance the quality of the work of Weta’s artists, improve their focus on the task at hand and empowering them to achieve new levels of excellence in their field, by means of a pleasant, forceful personality and a charismatic communication style
Seek and maintain long-term collaborations with leading research institution around the world, fostering a climate of collaboration between the industry and academia
Stay up-to-date and contribute to the applied research in the CVML space, spanning both the theoretical and implementation sides. Apply new technologies in the development and enhancement of our products and processes, and develop a vision for new possibilities. Continuously raise the effectiveness of the team building skill and trust both inside and around it

Required skills and experience

The ideal candidate will have a number of publications in the field, corresponding to observable improvements in tooling similar to Weta’s areas of interest, such as image synthesis, denoising, computer vision, motion analysis and synthesis, data analysis and discovery. The ability to illustrate a vision and a complex set of ideas in a manner appropriate to the present audience will be a crucial asset to the successful candidate.

The candidate will also be able to demonstrate skill in leadership and mentoring roles, ideally involving teams of researcher and engineers or various degrees of seniority as well as project managers and interfacing with testing teams.

Another crucial asset to the successful applicant will be an ability to illustrate best practices of use of the proposed tools to artists and technical directors with a rich diversity of backgrounds, enhancing their understanding of the new possibilities offered by the proposed technology and stimulating a fruitful exchange of ideas with the target user base.

The candidate will also be able to demonstrate a high degree of competence in multi-threaded C++ development on Linux and its associate toolchain, as well as common libraries for CVML applications. It is understood the successful applicant may also be versant in other languages common in this space, such as Java, python or R and the associated library packages

Additional desirable skills

Image synthesis and rendering
Animation
Physically based simulation
Design of effective user interfaces, workflows and interaction stories for new tasks
Requirement gathering and an ability to elicit expression of stated as well as latent needs from the target users
Experience with real-time environments, high performance computing and GPU programming
Experience working in a professional development team, including collaborations with project managers, tracking tooling such as Jira, regular reporting on progress and similar
Familiarity with Linux-based environments
Familiarity with common VFX pipeline tools such as Nuke or Maya and in general the VFX process

Qualifications and requirements

PhD or Master’s degree and proven track record of excellence in research
Proven track record of achieving significant results as demonstrated by grants, fellowships, patents, as well as first-authored publications at leading workshops or conferences such as CVPR, ECCV/ICCV, SIGGRAPH, NIPS
Demonstrated software engineer experience via an internship, previous work experience, coding competitions, or widely used contributions in open source repositories (e.g. GitHub)
Willing to work in Wellington, New Zealand

Location: Wellington - New Zealand
 
Email: [email protected]
Address: P.O Box 15208 9-11 Manuka Street Miramar, Wellington,New Zealand 6022
Phone: + 644 909 6000
Fax: + 644 380 9010 view all

Job Purpose

Responsible for overall show schedule and for managing everything required for efficient running of the Show. Reports to VFX Producer.

Needs to do

Create an overall show schedule for all phases of production.
Schedule and plan resource requirements with the VFX Producer, VFX Supervisor and Resource Manager to plan an effective and efficient approach to completing the show within contractually agreed deadlines.
Track overall Show Schedule (ie. Shots/Assets). Ensure the VFX team understands the goals and milestone deadlines for assets, shots, sequences and any R&D projects required.
Responsible for hitting scheduled targets and working with both department production & show production to ensure the schedule is on track.
Provide regular milestone reports and liaise with departments regarding milestones
Schedule new turnovers and attend turnover meetings
Input shots into Shotgun as required
Establish workflow for organizing and tracking incoming data and then hand off to PA, monitor workflow through out project
Report Show progress and any delays to VFX Producer
Inform all necessary parties of any possible/actual delays, reasons and what is being done to avoid further delays. Also, to notify all departments who might be affected by the delay. Adjust schedule accordingly.
Assist the VFX Producer with the weekly client reports. Liaise with the VFX Producer to ensure the information contained within is accurate at all times.
Arrange and/or attend senior VFX Supervisor reviews & Director reviews
If required, communicate with external vendors for Stereo deliveries.
Manage production team, ensuring roles and responsibilities are clearly defined. Mentor Production P.A’s.
Request overtime as necessary for artists to hit their targets. Maintain oversight on the amount of overtime worked, ensuring overtime at all times is productive.
If requested by VFX Producer, liaise with client to arrange reviews, meetings, conference calls, playlists, deliveries, discuss schedule etc.
Forecast resources for the show using the Forecasting Spreadsheet if required by VFX Producer
Track Actual Days vs Bid days on all stages of the pipeline

Needs to know and have

2+ years Sequence Management experience in VFX or 2+ years previous experience in VFX Production Management
Proven scheduling experience with a knowledge of Shotgun
Good knowledge of Excel
Good communication skills – including interaction with show production team, department groups and supervisors
Able to manage clients
Organised and methodical in approach to work
Calm and positive demeanor
Clear in planning with artists, supervisors & clients.
Capable of motivating and leading teams with enthusiasm
Experience of onset work preferred

If this sounds like you we would love to hear from you.

Location: Wellington - New Zealand
 
Email: [email protected]
Address: P.O Box 15208 9-11 Manuka Street Miramar, Wellington,New Zealand 6022
Phone: + 644 909 6000
Fax: + 644 380 9010 view all

Weta Digital is seeking a Senior Build Engineer to improve our automated build and release infrastructure. Key aspects of the role include developing standards for building a wide variety of complex C++ and Python projects, and collaborating with engineers from multiple departments to ensure that a common set of best practices is widely adopted. Extensive Python programming experience is a prerequisite, and in-depth experience with a wide range of build systems is required. The ideal candidate will also have a proven track record developing large-scale applications in C++.

Requirements:

3+ years of experience as a build engineer for a large software project.
3+ years of Python programming experience.
Comprehensive knowledge of best practices in automating the building C++ and Python projects.
Hands-on experience with a wide variety of build automation frameworks (e.g. make, cmake, Ninja, Waf).
Ability to work independently with numerous stakeholders in a customer-oriented production environment.

Desirable experience and skills:

A degree in Computer Science or a strong background in software engineering.
Experience programming in C/C++ on a large-scale project.
Familiarity with Agile development, continuous integration, and automated testing.
Experience developing tools for visual effects or animated feature production.
Comfortable working in a Linux development environment.

If this sounds like you – please get in touch – we would LOVE to hear from you!

Location: Wellington - New Zealand
 
Email: [email protected]
Address: P.O Box 15208 9-11 Manuka Street Miramar, Wellington,New Zealand 6022
Phone: + 644 909 6000
Fax: + 644 380 9010 view all

The Rendering department at Weta Digital is seeking a Compiler Engineer to advance the state of the art in shading language compiler technology and related systems. Extensive experience in compiler design is required, including parsing, typechecking, intermediate representations, and code generation.

The ideal candidate will have a strong academic background including program analysis, program transformation and optimization, and programming language design. Familiarity with shading languages and computer graphics is desirable. Experience with high performance systems that include multi-threading, vectorization, and GPU acceleration is a plus.

Responsibilities:

Accelerate shading performance in Manuka, a world-class renderer for cinematic visual effects and animation.
Work with shading department to develop new shader authoring techniques.
Improve compiler infrastructure, including intermediate representation and code generation.
Extend the shading language with advanced features (e.g. templates)
Investigate vectorization and GPU code generation.
Improve and maintain existing code to improve quality, reliability, and maintainability.
Find and fix bugs. Proactively test new and existing features to ensure the highest levels of quality.

Requirements:

A degree in Computer Science and a strong foundation in object-oriented programming.
Extensive experience writing compilers, including parsing, typechecking, and code generation.
Extensive programming experience in C++.
Ability to work independently on a self-directed team in a rapidly changing, deadline-oriented environment.

Desirable qualifications and skills:

A masters or Ph.D. in Computer Science.
Understanding of static single assignment and other intermediate representations.
Familiarity with advanced program transformations like specialization.
Hands-on experience with the LLVM compiler toolkit.
Thorough understanding of CPU architecture and the memory hierarchy.
Knowledge of vectorization is a plus.
Familiarity with GPU programming.
Hands-on experience with shading languages
Knowledge of various rendering technologies, including path tracing, geometry processing, etc.

If this sounds like you – please get in touch – we would love to hear from you!

Location: Wellington - New Zealand
 
Email: [email protected]
Address: P.O Box 15208 9-11 Manuka Street Miramar, Wellington,New Zealand 6022
Phone: + 644 909 6000
Fax: + 644 380 9010 view all

Weta Digital is now looking for a Senior level Texture Artist.

Required Skills:

Evidence of strong artistic skills, which can include drawing and painting, must be presented in portfolio/showreel.
A passion for painting highly detailed photo-realistic textures for work on organic and hard-surface models.
Have strong initiative and problem solving skills to work efficiently and maintain deadlines under pressures.
Be able to work from reference and interpret artistic direction from supervisors.
Experience in look-development such as working with shading networks.
Advanced knowledge of Mari & Photoshop.
Strong knowledge of Maya and UV layout.
Have good communication skills.

Applicant would also ideally have:

Enjoy being part of a team and be prepared to assist others.
Be willing to share techniques and experience.
Zbrush/Mudbox sculpting experience.
Procedural texturing experience.
Working knowledge of Linux.
Lighting experience.

Please note: A detailed shot breakdown of all material on reel must be provided with application.

Location: Wellington - New Zealand
 
Email: [email protected]
Address: P.O Box 15208 9-11 Manuka Street Miramar, Wellington,New Zealand 6022
Phone: + 644 909 6000
Fax: + 644 380 9010 view all

Weta Digital is taking expressions of interest for Lead Creature TDs to join its award winning team for roles opening up in 2019.

Applicants should be experienced and passionate about building photo-realistic creatures. They should have broad anatomical knowledge and be well versed in creation, rigging and simulation of skeletons, muscles, and skin. Mechanical rigging experience and knowledge is also required.

A Lead Creature TD is responsible for reviewing work done by other TDs in the department. They will be hands on with regards to building, rigging and simulating Creatures in order to drive the final deformation of the skin, and are also responsible for helping to ensure consistent controls and rigging approaches to puppets to be used by Animation and other departments.

A Lead Creature TD will work closely with various departments including modelling, motion delivering departments (including animation) and shots.

Within the Creatures Department a Lead Creature TD is expected to run Creatures dailies sessions to both review and QC work done within the department.

They are expected to mentor and advise members of their team. They are also expected to present Creature work to the VFX Supervisor and CG Supervisors that needs approval at that level.

A Lead Creature TD is a point person for other departments to liaise with the Creatures department for the technical aspects of the show or shows they are assigned. They should have impeccable communication skills both verbal and written, and be able to appropriately bid both asset and shot based work.

Strong scripting and debugging skills are a must.

7 years or more as a full time senior/lead creature TD on feature films
Experience with simulation and deformation of photo realistic characters and/or creatures
Poweruser in Maya
Poweruser in Python scripting
Linux experience
Experience in Cloth and Hair simulation a plus
Python, and C++ knowledge a plus.
Must be able to work well in a team environment
Must be willing to relocate to New Zealand

Production Houdini experience a plus

If this sounds like you we would love to hear from you.

Location: Wellington - New Zealand
 
Email: [email protected]
Address: P.O Box 15208 9-11 Manuka Street Miramar, Wellington,New Zealand 6022
Phone: + 644 909 6000
Fax: + 644 380 9010 view all

LOOK DEV SOFTWARE ENGINEER

Weta Digital is seeking a Software Engineer to join the Look Dev R&D department. Our mission is to create and support all the tools used for Look Development within the company, including texturing, material authoring, shading surfacing, appearance modelling. We also conduct research in appearance-related problems, such as material models, material filtering, material measurement, texture creation, for the purposes of improving quality and efficiency of Look Development.

To be considered for this role you will have extensive software engineering expertise and a solid computer graphics R&D background.

Your responsibilities will include, but not be limited to:

Participating in code design and code reviews within the Look-Dev R&D department.
Implementing and testing new Look-Dev technology within a production pipeline.
Providing support for Look-Dev tools to hundreds of production users.


Required qualifications:

3+ years of solid C++ software development experience.
Good understanding of computer graphics techniques (linear algebra, material models, light transport algorithms, geometry processing tools, etc).
Ability to translate a paper or research idea into practical and efficient production code.
Ability to design, write, debug and share code within a team.
Great communications skills and English language fluency.
Ability to listen to and empathise with users.


Bonus requirements:

Previous experience in computer graphics research.
Previous experience in software engineering in the VFX industry.

Why join us?

Weta Digital is an industry-leading, award-winning visual effects and animation facility based in Wellington, New Zealand. We offer a flexible, creative, dynamic and supportive environment, and the opportunity to work with leading-edge technology. We are an equal-opportunity organisation who value diversity.

If this opportunity interests you, we’d love to see your application.

Location: Wellington - New Zealand
 
Email: [email protected]
Address: P.O Box 15208 9-11 Manuka Street Miramar, Wellington,New Zealand 6022
Phone: + 644 909 6000
Fax: + 644 380 9010 view all

Weta Digital is looking for an FX Department Manager. We are keen to talk to experienced production candidates who have a track record of handling large teams working on challenging projects.

Job Description:

The Department Manager is responsible for overseeing all scheduled work, managing the department crew and production team. The role is primarily planning and resource-based, entailing the close management and support of crew and the oversight on all department deliverables.

Key Responsibilities:

Maintain an overview of department schedule and manage resource requirements, working with VFX Producers, Production Managers and central production
Ensure weekly departmental progress reports are delivered to Show Production in the form of tasks completed, resource plan updates and schedule updates
Along with Department HoD ensure any planned development work related to the dept tools or pipeline is factored into any show milestones
A comprehensive understanding of the requirements and challenges of incoming shows shared across the department. Early identification and triage of critical technical and/or creative show challenges (risks and issues) and prioritization of problem solving discussions and initiatives to successfully address these.
Oversee all scheduling across the department proactively identifying issues and risks, acting as a problem-solving resolution point for these within the department.
Forecast resource requirements for the department – identifying key shortfalls and anticipating surplus crew scenarios
Working with HoD to identify areas where development of crew skill-sets can benefit current or upcoming projects.
Approve artist leave and formulate coverage plans for any artist absence to ensure project targets are not compromised.
Oversee department recruitment strategy. This includes identifying candidates with HoD and key Leads, establishing hiring windows and targeting candidates within that timeframe. Working with crew services to update job descriptions and maintain a good knowledge base of industry-wide crew trends and project plans.

Needs to know and have:

Strong communication skills – with an ability to deal with a wide range of different groups, including internal Dept prod team, Show production groups and central production team.
Effective in crew management, including fostering career development within the team and casting tasks to strengths from available resource pool
Proven scheduling experience, with a working knowledge of Shotgun a plus
Concise and comprehensive approach with written communication
Strong leadership qualities, with a confidence to front department plans and form solid partnership with Dept HoD.

If this sounds like you, we would love to hear from you!

Location: Wellington - New Zealand
 
Email: [email protected]
Address: P.O Box 15208 9-11 Manuka Street Miramar, Wellington,New Zealand 6022
Phone: + 644 909 6000
Fax: + 644 380 9010 view all

Weta Digital is looking for a Department Manager to join our team. We are keen to talk to experienced production candidates who have a track record of handling large teams working on challenging projects.

Job Description:

The Department Manager is responsible for overseeing all scheduled work, managing the department crew and production team. The role is primarily planning and resource-based, entailing the close management and support of crew and the oversight on all department deliverables.

Key Responsibilities:

Maintain an overview of department schedule and manage resource requirements, working with VFX Producers, Production Managers and central production
Ensure weekly departmental progress reports are delivered to Show Production in the form of tasks completed, resource plan updates and schedule updates
Along with Department HoD ensure any planned development work related to the dept tools or pipeline is factored into any show milestones
A comprehensive understanding of the requirements and challenges of incoming shows shared across the department. Early identification and triage of critical technical and/or creative show challenges (risks and issues) and prioritization of problem solving discussions and initiatives to successfully address these.
Oversee all scheduling across the department proactively identifying issues and risks, acting as a problem-solving resolution point for these within the department.
Forecast resource requirements for the department – identifying key shortfalls and anticipating surplus crew scenarios
Working with HoD to identify areas where development of crew skill-sets can benefit current or upcoming projects.
Approve artist leave and formulate coverage plans for any artist absence to ensure project targets are not compromised.
Oversee department recruitment strategy. This includes identifying candidates with HoD and key Leads, establishing hiring windows and targeting candidates within that timeframe. Working with crew services to update job descriptions and maintain a good knowledge base of industry-wide crew trends and project plans.

Needs to know and have:

Strong communication skills – with an ability to deal with a wide range of different groups, including internal Dept prod team, Show production groups and central production team.
Effective in crew management, including fostering career development within the team and casting tasks to strengths from available resource pool
Proven scheduling experience, with a working knowledge of Shotgun a plus
Concise and comprehensive approach with written communication
Strong leadership qualities, with a confidence to front department plans and form solid partnership with Dept HoD.

If this sounds like you, we would love to hear from you!

Location: Wellington - New Zealand
 
Email: [email protected]
Address: P.O Box 15208 9-11 Manuka Street Miramar, Wellington,New Zealand 6022
Phone: + 644 909 6000
Fax: + 644 380 9010 view all

ENVIRONMENT MODELLER

Weta Digital is currently looking for experienced environment modellers.

Please note - you must have at least 3 years feature film experience.

Summary

The Environment Modeller is responsible for the creation of the environment digital assets across all shows. Qualified candidates must have proven experience in production environments, demonstrating ability with high-end 3D modelling tools to create complex models. The ability to create accurate models from 2d reference, previs, photogrammetry or scan data. The environment modeler will also be responsible for handing off models that meet the technical requirements for other departments within Weta such as FX, Shaders, DMP and Layout.

Additional Requirements:

An impressive reel showing a wide range of organic / environment models with clean and efficient topology
Demonstrate knowledge and experience using Maya in a production environment (please note that due to our pipeline Maya knowledge is considered a must). Additionally, an ability to script in MEL and/or Python is an asset
Experience in managing complexity of Environment builds and associated asset inventory.
Experience with Mudbox or Z-Brush.
Photogrammetry processing.
Experience with Houdini or World machine also beneficial.
Ability to take direction and work independently while being an effective team player
Strong problem-solving skills and attention to detail
Knowledge of Linux desktop and system commands to perform daily tasks comfortably
Excellent organizational. communication skills with the ability to meet deadlines.

If this sounds like you, we would love to hear from you!

Location: Wellington - New Zealand
 
Email: [email protected]
Address: P.O Box 15208 9-11 Manuka Street Miramar, Wellington,New Zealand 6022
Phone: + 644 909 6000
Fax: + 644 380 9010 view all

The Models department is responsible for the creation of the digital assets across all shows. These tasks include ,character, digital double, organic models, hard surface models, environments, hi-res models for displacement map extraction, low resolution models for previs or crowd simulation, shot sculpting, fur, hair, costume creation using Marvelous Designer.

Qualified candidates must have proven experience in production environments, demonstrating ability with high-end 3D modelling tools to create complex models, and the ability to create accurate models from 2d reference, previs, photogrammetry or scan data.

Additional Requirements:

An impressive reel showing a wide range of organic and hard surface models with clean and efficient topology
Demonstrate knowledge and experience using Maya in a production environment (please note that due to our pipeline Maya knowledge is considered a must). Additionally, an ability to script in MEL and/or Python is an asset
Experience with Mudbox or Z-Brush.
Experience with Cyslice and UVlayout and good knowledge of UV workflow is a plus.
Experience with Houdini or World machine also beneficial.
Ability to take direction and work independently while being an effective team player
Strong problem-solving skills and attention to detail
Knowledge of Linux desktop and system commands to perform daily tasks comfortably
Excellent organizational. communication skills with the ability to meet deadlines.

If this sounds like you, we would love to hear from you!

Location: Wellington - New Zealand
 
Email: [email protected]
Address: P.O Box 15208 9-11 Manuka Street Miramar, Wellington,New Zealand 6022
Phone: + 644 909 6000
Fax: + 644 380 9010
 
Weta Studio Tours:
 
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Are you an experienced Software Engineer with Python experience or do you have a similar background with relevant skills? Are you smart, passionate about software engineering, web applications, communication tools, new technologies and providing high quality solutions to happy customers?

You will be joining the Information Systems team who look after all Production tracking tools at Weta Digital which are mostly written in Python. These tools support the complex and exciting nature of the VFX pipeline whilst also providing a performant and intuitive experience for all of our users across the company. You will be joining a team of 14, 9 of the team are developers who are spread across 3 small functional teams.

We offer the opportunity to work with other talented software engineers providing industry-leading tools in the world of visual effects and film. You will work with passionate, dedicated visual effects artists and technicians in an award-winning company dedicated to innovation and excellence.

Your Role Responsibilities will include:

Developing, maintaining and ensuring reliability of services, APIs and web applications
Understanding and implementing solutions for internal customers

You will have the following Key Skills and Attributes:

Python - preferred but will consider other languages
Postgres, MySQL or similar enterprise level database server experience
Exceptional verbal and written communication skills
Experience with software provisioning tools (Ansible, Docker, Consul - or similar)
Experience debugging low-level issues (networking, file-system etc)
Experience with developing on Linux
Ability to work under pressure
An eye for detail
Open minded and inquisitive - enjoy discussion and reaching a decision at the same time as being able to look at technical decisions with a critical and discerning eye
A desire to learn/improve/keep up to date with the latest technology trends
An eagerness to improve things

You may have these Desirable Qualifications & Experience:

BS/MS or equivalent in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Engineering or equivalent
At least 2 years prior experience in a similar development role
Experience with NoSQL and full-text search databases (Redis, Elasticsearch, Solr)
Experience in collaborating with other technical teams and technical clients
Experience with Javascript (React, Backbone, jQuery)

Location: Wellington - New Zealand
 
Email: [email protected]
Address: P.O Box 15208 9-11 Manuka Street Miramar, Wellington,New Zealand 6022
Phone: + 644 909 6000
Fax: + 644 380 9010
 
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Weta Digital seeks a Mid/Senior Software Engineer to join our Simulation Group. This position is within a team of software engineers and researchers that develop and support a large suite of proprietary tools for the simulation of visual effects like fire, water, plants, hair, cloth, muscles, etc.

Responsibilities:
Develop and deploy simulation software to artists in the Effects and Creature departments.Interact closely with artists to gather requirements, validate designs and resolve issues.Manage own workload by planning, tracking, and reporting on projects.Maintain a good awareness of departmental pipeline and identify areas of potential improvement.

Required qualifications:

Extensive experience with C++.
Experience with SDKs for Houdini, Maya or similar DCC.
Experience with foundational libraries like OpenGL, QT, TBB/OpenMP, MPI, and Boost.
Ability to work well in a team, solo and closely with artists.
Ability to multitask as required in a production environment.
Experience in implementing and supporting a wide variety of complex software systems.
Experience with UNIX / LINUX.
Good verbal and written communication skills.
3+ years of applicable experience in Computer Graphics or VFX
BS/MS or equivalent knowledge and experience in Computer Science or a related field.

If this sounds like you - please get in touch!

Location: Wellington - New Zealand
 
Email: [email protected]
Address: P.O Box 15208 9-11 Manuka Street Miramar, Wellington,New Zealand 6022
Phone: + 644 909 6000
Fax: + 644 380 9010 view all

DESCRIPTION

Weta Workshop’s Location-Based Entertainment (LBE) division is looking for an experienced Senior Project Manager.

Your focus will be managing all facets of Weta Workshop’s LBE projects, from conception to completion. A nucleus of communication with a nose for leadership, you’ll be the main point of contact between Weta Workshop and its LBE clients, suppliers, and stakeholders, managing expectations and tracking progress across all aspects of the project. The devil’s in the details, deadlines, and deliverables – and that’s where you’re most comfortable, always one step ahead.

First-rate facilitator. Top-class communicator. You’ll plan. You’ll move. You’ll lead. You’ll groove. You’ll parse the puzzle pieces for our talented crew so that together, we can Get the Job Done. Ready for the challenge?

In a nutshell, you’ll be responsible for:
Overall project managementAccount management of key stakeholdersProvide project leadership and direction to the LBE teamBudget management

We’re looking for someone with:

Strong interpersonal and organisational skillsExcellent communication skillsThe ability to plan and manage projectsStrong critical–thinking and problem-solving skillsExcellent attention to detail

You’ll also have:
Project management experience – managing multiple projectsAccount management experienceExperience working on previous LBE projectsStrong commercial business acumen

Does this sound like you? If so, attach your CV and cover letter below.

Please note: You must already have in place the relevant visa for work in New Zealand.
 
 
Email: [email protected]
Address: P.O Box 15208 9-11 Manuka Street Miramar, Wellington,New Zealand 6022
Phone: + 644 909 6000
Fax: + 644 380 9010
 
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