Technical Assistant I - ILM Vancouver

The Walt Disney Company•Vancouver, BC

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

This role is considered Hybrid, which means the employee will work 2-3 days onsite at a Company designated location and occasionally from home. The Technical Assistant I (TA) provides front line rendering and data management support for ILM VFX Production teams and the facility. TAs also manage storage by wrangling data through archiving, removing data and following resource management best practices. The TA team ensures full utilization of the render farm during their shift and communicates as technical issues affecting the throughput the farm arise.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Film Production or equivalent degree
1-2 years relevant work experience
Proven knowledge of and experience with Linux, Mac and Windows operating systems
Excellent verbal and written communication skills required.
Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to effectively interact with diverse personalities
Strong time management skills; Ability to multi-task and prioritize
Proven ability to work autonomously and in team settings
Self-motivated
Strong problem-solving skills
Ability to adapt to a high pressure, fast-paced, dynamic environment
Ability to work shift hours as required, including evenings and weekends

Nice To Haves

Strong scripting language (e.g. Python, Shell) is highly desired
Knowledge of, and experience with, 3D animation software (e.g. Maya, Katana) is highly desired
Database knowledge preferred (e.g. Oracle, Redis, MongoDB, Cassandra)
Knowledge of networking, tape backup systems, hardware a plus
VFX, Feature Animation or Episodic production experience a plus
Aesthetic eye and/or artistic background highly desired
Familiarity with film and video post-production and/or computer graphics techniques highly desired

Responsibilities

Prioritize overnight renders; coordinate processor allocations with Core Pipeline & Show Production teams; balance processor demands within show, between shows, and as a share of facility pool
Report issues with frames post render to the digital artists and CG Supervisors and work to find a solution
Work to ensure full resource utilization during the night.
Manipulate priorities to ensure that renders are completed by next business day.
Report any machine problems or general issues that hinder the completion of renders to the appropriate department
Monitor disk usage for the facility, with a particular focus on individual shows, and on a shot-by-shot basis within those shows.
Coordinate show storage needs on a long-term basis with Digital Resource Manager
Work with the Digital Resource Manager, CG Supervisors and Core Pipeline team to ensure show follows proper data management procedures
Prioritize, manage, and maintain archives of show data, including creation of archival backups for shows, maintenance of archive databases, storage and retrieval of physical media for recent show archives.
Fulfill all data restoration requests, including archival research to locate requested data
Maintain and update department tools.
Work closely with Core Pipeline to ensure that code is clean and well maintained
Participate in development projects; write production and pipeline scripts as required to assist ongoing technology efforts