Senior Software Engineer - Media Management Tools [Contract]

Req ID: 10124777

Position Overview

At Walt Disney Animation Studios, we are driven by the philosophy that creativity inspires technology, and technology inspires creativity. Engineers in our Production Technology department are responsible for developing and implementing new algorithms to solve unique and challenging problems for all of our animated content. We work in a collaborative environment alongside our users, who utilize the code we develop daily.

We are seeking an engineer to join our Production Technology team, focusing on developing user-facing tools and back-end solutions for media management and video playback applications.

Responsibilities

In this role, you will partner with:

• Artists
• Production and technology leadership
• Technical directors
• Cross-team software engineers
• Other technologists and researchers across the Walt Disney Studios

You will be supporting the creation and maintenance of our playback and review tools, which are critical to our creative process. This is a highly collaborative role where you will interface directly with your user base and implement groundbreaking features to elevate the way we review and create animated content.

Projects Include:

• Develop and extend the API of dpix, our proprietary media management application.
• Improve and create new customizations of RV, Autodesk’s Playback App, including:
  • Advanced Color Pipeline
  • Real-time synced reviews between desktop and mobile devices with highly-latent connections
  • Visual draw-over feedback

What it means to be a Developer at Walt Disney Animation Studios

Our engineers have the opportunity to work on the full stack of our tools, from developing underlying algorithms to building intuitive, artist-friendly interfaces. You will:

• Work hand-in-hand with artists and a team of cross-site developers to create the tools needed for incredibly complex characters and environments featured in our content.
• Develop on top of a highly performant, extendable in-house application framework.
• Develop new artist-centric interaction models using the latest hardware and technologies.

Requirements

You will succeed in this role if you have:

• The ability to produce readable and testable code, with excellent problem-solving, troubleshooting, and debugging skills.
• Excellent collaboration skills, including with end users, providing guidance and coordinating feedback.
• Ability to collaborate with team members across different disciplines.
• A deep care for craftsmanship in your software, and the ability to work backward from the customer experience.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Key Qualifications:

• 5+ years designing and developing complex user-facing software, ideally in a studio environment.
• Proficiency in Python.
• Proficiency developing back-end data management solutions utilizing SQL and/or NoSQL databases.

Bonus Qualifications:

• An understanding of studio production processes and workflows used in filmmaking.
• Familiarity with OpenColorIO, OpenImageIO, and/or OpenTimelineIO.

Required Education:

• BS in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent experience.

Company Information

Job Posting Segment: WDAS Vancouver Job Posting Primary Business: WDAS Vancouver Primary Job Posting Category: Software Engineer

Employment Details

Employment Type: Full time Contract Duration: 12 month, fixed-term contract position

Location

Primary City, State, Region, Postal Code: Vancouver, BC, Canada Alternate City, State, Region, Postal Code:

Salary

Hiring Range: C$130,000 to C$157,000 per year (British Columbia, Canada)

The base pay actually offered will take into account internal equity and also may vary depending on the candidate’s geographic region, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience among other factors. A full range of medical, financial, and/or other variable pay or benefits may be offered dependent on the level and position offered.

Date Posted: 2025