Studio Pipeline Engineer

General Summary

At LAIKA, we craft breathtaking stop motion films by blending timeless artistic techniques with innovative technology. As a Pipeline Engineer on the Studio Pipeline team, you'll help design, build, and maintain the pipeline and workflow tools that empower artists and production teams throughout the creative process.

In this role, you'll provide hands-on pipeline support and troubleshoot a wide range of editorial and production tracking challenges across every stage of our filmmaking process. You'll report to the Studio Pipeline Sr Manager and collaborate closely with other engineers and development teams, as well as artists and production managers in the fabrication, stage, VFX, and editorial departments.

To thrive in this role, you bring strong problem-solving skills, clear communication, and a collaborative mindset. You're organized, adaptable, and comfortable managing multiple priorities. You approach challenges with curiosity and initiative, exercise sound judgment, and help foster a positive and inclusive team culture.

If you love blending art and technology, enjoy working closely with creative collaborators, and want to contribute to one of the industry's most visionary studios, we'd love to hear from you.

Job Functions

• Develop and maintain production tracking and asset management tools including CLI, PyQt/PySide, and web-based applications.
• Write scalable, extensible, and performant code that aligns with modern development principles.
• Collaborate with artists, production staff, and developers to gather requirements and deliver reliable, user-friendly solutions.
• Provide user support for FlowPT (ShotGrid), production tools, and other pipeline-related workflows, diagnosing and resolving issues efficiently.
• Contribute to the improvement of existing pipeline systems through bug fixes, performance optimizations, refactoring, and feature enhancements.
• Support multi-OS production environments including macOS, Windows, and Linux.
• Participate in code reviews and follow best practices for source control, deployment, and documentation.
• Contribute to internal training and user guides to help artists and production teams better understand tools and workflows.

Qualifications

• 2-4 years' experience developing workflow tools and services for production tracking, asset management, pipeline engineering, or technical support in animation, VFX, or game development.
• Proficiency in Python including experience with PyQt/PySide2 for UI tool development, and familiarity with JavaScript.
• Experience with FlowPT (ShotGrid) including its Python and REST APIs, UI framework, and automation capabilities.
• Solid understanding of Git source control branching strategies.
• Experience with modern web technologies such as Django, Flask, React, or Node.js, and familiarity with relational databases (e.g., PostgreSQL).
• Familiarity with common software design patterns and principles including OOP, SOLID, and MVC.
• Familiarity with agile development methodologies (Scrum, Kanban) with a track record of delivering effective, maintainable software on time and within scope.
• Proficiency with common developer tools including Visual Studio Code, Postman, and similar toolsets.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills with the ability to work effectively across technical and creative teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Hands-on experience with FlowPT (ShotGrid) administration, AMIs, and custom page authoring.
• Experience designing and maintaining CI/CD pipelines (Docker, Kubernetes, GitLab Runners, Jenkins) to streamline software delivery and stability.
• Background in developing or integrating server-side components with AWS, Azure, or other cloud-native services.
• Experience developing in Rust and React, particularly for building performant, maintainable, and scalable production tools or services.
• Familiarity with distributed or service-oriented pipeline architectures and orchestration frameworks supporting scalable production workflows.
• Understanding of observability and DevOps practices including monitoring, logging, and alerting to maintain pipeline reliability.
• Passion for creative collaboration, continuous learning, and improving the artist and production experience through thoughtful technical design.

Physical Demands and Work Environment

The physical demands and work environment characteristics described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Physical demands: While performing the duties of this job, the employee is required to walk; stand; sit; use hands to operate standard office equipment; reach with hands and arms; balance; stoop; talk or hear both in person and by telephone. The employee must lift and/or move up to 15 pounds. Vision abilities include close vision, distance vision, and the ability to adjust focus.
• Work environment: While performing the duties of this job, the employee works under typical office conditions and is exposed to variable indoor temperatures. The noise level is usually quiet or moderate.

Location

On-site in Hillsboro, OR, and eligible for hybrid and/or remote work (in CA, OR, or WA only).

Salary

Salary is commensurate with skills and experience.

Disclaimer

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this classification. They are not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required of personnel so classified.

Please review our EMPLOYMENT DISCLAIMER and MATERIALS SUBMISSION AGREEMENT.