BC - Senior Houdini Groom TD

Senior Houdini Groom TD

This position is onsite, based in Vancouver, BC. (Some remote work may be considered) All applicants must reside in the lower Mainland of BC, Canada. 

About Zoic 
Zoic Studios is a Visual Effects company that specializes in high end visual effects for television, film, and advertising. Our mantra is Visual Evolution - we focus on every part of the process, from the final picture to the pipeline used to create them.   

Are you looking for your next creative and technical challenge? Come join our team!  

Why Join Zoic? 

• We are an Artist owned and operated VFX studio. 
• We love what we do and always stay curious about new technology and techniques. 
• We respect work/life balance in a hectic industry. 
• We work with a team from all walks of life and backgrounds. 

There’s an exciting project that we’re working on at Zoic. It's a stop-motion animated feature that will continue into Fall of 2025. 

For this particular show a lot of Zoic employees assigned to the project will be working within our Zoic Vancouver Studios, in the Gastown Area (close to Waterfront Station Downtown).  Coming together as a team within our studio will help create the excitement and positive work environment we want for this special project.

Summary of Position
The VFX Groom Technical Director (TD) works with creative and technical leadership to empower artists to achieve the artistic vision of the show, matching real world puppet hair styling and performance. This position will work with CG Supervisors and Asset Leads to implement and support workflows and tools in service of the artistic vision, triage and fix technical problems encountered by artists, and maintain clear and concise workflow documentation.
 

Job Functions 

• Design, develop, and refine Houdini digital assets and tools to help artists achieve their artistic goals, as defined by the creative supervisors on the show, under the guidance of technical leadership.
• Collaborate closely with the Groom team to ensure that technical challenges and bugs are addressed promptly.
• Liaise with other VFX departments including Modeling, Rigging, Surfacing, Animation, and Lighting to ensure that the produced groom artifacts function properly throughout the pipeline.
• Assist Asset Leads with mentoring, training, and developing team members within the VFX department.
• Participate in regular development meetings led by the Digital Pipeline Manager and technical leadership.
• Participate in periodic code reviews with the technical team, led by the Digital Pipeline Manager and technical leadership.
• Break down assigned work into actionable tasks, maintaining and refining relevant technical documentation and tickets.
• Work with technical leadership to communicate development schedules and timelines with production and artistic leadership.

Qualifications 

• 5+ years of related experience in film, preferably in motion picture computer graphics.
• Expertise in Houdini’s technical and creative toolset, with an emphasis on groom related ops.
• Expertise in coding in Python, including familiarity with modern best practices, knowledge of the Python Standard Library, and other industry standard libraries such as PySide/PyQt, PyYaml, Pytest, etc.
• Expertise in with Houdini’s domain specific languages, including VEX and Hscript.
• Experience with C++ and Houdini’s C++ APIs, a plus.

Additional information

• British Columbia Employees Pay Range: $50 - $65 (The actual base salary offered will depend on a variety of factors, including without limitation, the qualifications of the individual applicant for the position, years of relevant experience, level of education attained, certifications or other professional licenses held, and if applicable, the location of the position)
• Candidates MUST be located in the Lower Mainland, British Columbia.  This Role requires the candidate to work onsite, within our Vancouver Studio in Gastown. (Some remote work may be considered)
• Zoic does not cover relocation costs.
• Any and all remote positions require the candidate to have a reliable internet connection via ethernet and work on Pacific Standard Time.
• This job description contains the basic requirements for the position and is NOT intended to be a complete list of responsibilities; other duties may be assigned.
• Due to the sheer volume of applications, we receive, we regret that only those selected to interview will be contacted.

This position is based in Vancouver. All applicants must reside in British Columbia.

Permanent Residents and Canadians only, please.