Render Technical Director

About Flying Bark Productions

Flying Bark Productions is a cutting-edge animation studio devoted to advancing character animation and storytelling techniques. Our current projects include high-profile titles like the Avatar: The Last Airbender feature film, Netflix's Ghostbusters animated series, Stranger Things animated series, and Tales From Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan.

Role Overview

We are looking for a Render Technical Director (Render TD) to act as a vital link between the creative teams (Lighting, Surfacing, FX) and the rendering technology. This role involves auditing and optimizing heavy production scenes to enhance image quality while keeping compute costs low.

Key Responsibilities

• Audit complex production scenes, checking geometry details (such as subdivisions and instancing), texture formats (tiled, mipmapped), memory use, shading networks, and scene graph efficiency before rendering on the farm.
• Provide expert technical support to diagnose and resolve intricate render failures across Surfacing, FX, and Lighting departments including shading issues, memory crashes, render locks, and visual artifacts like fireflies and noise.
• Optimize shot configurations by fine-tuning sampling rates, ray depth, and light thresholds specific to assets, sets, and sequences ensuring frame budget goals are met.
• Conduct performance profiling focusing on CPU use, input/output bandwidth, and memory consumption using engine logs and diagnostic tools to identify bottlenecks.
• Develop and maintain internal tools and automation scripts in Python and Lua to streamline render setups, custom AOVs, secondary outputs, and denoising processes.
• Possess a working knowledge of ray tracing and shading techniques to customize shaders (using OSL, C++) and manipulate ray behaviors for specialized production requirements.

Technical Qualifications

• Minimum six years of professional experience in feature animation or visual effects as a Render TD, Lighting TD, or Pipeline TD.
• Strong expertise with leading production ray-tracing engines such as Renderman, Arnold, or Karma.
• Proficient with Digital Content Creation tools like Katana and Nuke and well-versed in scene graph data structures.
• Experience in analyzing render logs, detecting memory leaks or spikes, and using native engine debugging and profiling tools.
• Firm grasp of computer graphics fundamentals including Monte Carlo sampling, BVH acceleration structures, color management systems (ACES/OCIO), and system limitations concerning RAM, VRAM, and I/O performance.

Preferred Additional Skills

• Experience developing volumetric shaders or utility nodes in OSL or C++.
• Familiarity with queue management software such as Pixar Tractor.
• Academic credentials in Computer Science, Computer Graphics, Physics, or Mathematics.

Company Culture and Benefits

• Work on exciting, award-winning projects.
• Access to a top-tier studio in Alexandria featuring a cinema, quiet room, Zen Garden, games room, and advanced animation setups.
• Complimentary daily breakfast and regular social events including cake days, movie nights, and wrap parties.
• Active charity involvement via our Paws for a Cause program supporting organizations like Beyond Blue, RSPCA, and Cancer Council.
• Dog-friendly studio environment frequently visited by furry companions.
• A flexible hybrid working model allowing work-from-home days.
• Focus on career growth with ongoing training and development support.
• Inclusive workplace culture celebrated by all employees.
• Access to mental health resources including free counseling through our Employee Assistance Program.
• Wellbeing support through discounted health insurance, financial wellbeing programs, and trained Mental Health First Aid staff.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Flying Bark Productions is committed to being an Equal Opportunity Employer.