Pipeline Technical Director

About the Company:

Founded in 2017 by visionary directors Anthony and Joe Russo, AGBO is an artist-led, Academy Award–winning independent studio redefining global storytelling across film, television, and gaming. With 15 #1 openings and more than $7 billion at the box office, its hits include Marvel’s highest-grossing film Avengers: Endgame, the multi-Oscar-winning Everything Everywhere All at Once, and Netflix blockbusters The Gray Man and Extraction. AGBO’s Citadel universe has become a worldwide Prime Video sensation, while recent projects in post-production, include The Bluff (Amazon MGM) and The Whisper Man (Netflix). Upcoming releases include Citadel Season 2 and Marvel Studios’ epic Avengers: Doomsday (2026) and Avengers: Secret Wars (2027), both directed by the Russo Brothers and produced by AGBO.

About the Position:
The Pipeline Technical Director supports the Pipeline Engineering team by developing and maintaining tools and scripts that optimize workflows across Visual Effects, Visualization, and Production. This role will initially focus on expanding the studio’s visualization toolsets while ensuring efficient, high-fidelity shot delivery in collaboration with department leads and creative teams. Additionally, the position works closely with Production to manage the seamless ingest, tracking, and delivery of assets and frames to internal teams, vendors, and clients.

This is a full-time, onsite position based in Los Angeles, CA.

Key Responsibilities:  

• Integrating Unreal Engine ShotGrid toolkit workflows with those of tools such as Maya, Houdini, Nuke, etc.

• Create, develop, deploy, and maintain custom tools/templates/scripts, for both creative tasks and pipeline infrastructure, supporting the VFX, Visualization, and Production teams under the direction of the Pipeline Supervisor.
• Work in conjunction with project teams to effectively problem-solve, acting as a first line of support for all workflow & productivity issues.
• Work closely with Technical Supervisors to design, develop, evolve, and maintain department pipelines, including:
  • Shot ingest and delivery
  • Production automation and tracking
  • Web and desktop based automations for all creative and production tasks
  • CG asset creation, metadata databases, and libraries
  • Animation, rigging, cloth, and creature techniques
  • Shading, lighting, and rendering techniques
  • Virtual production, motion capture, realtime, and ICVFX workflows
  • Motion graphics and cel animation integration
  • Compositing, color, conform, and finishing workflows
• Create, develop, deploy, and maintain Python or C++ plugins and extensions for 3rd party packages and platforms, including:
  • Maya, Blender, Houdini, Nuke, Fusion, Adobe CC, Resolve, Unreal Engine, VRay, Redshift, Octane, Arnold, Shotgrid Toolkit
• Extend and integrate the use of Shotgrid and other database systems to meet production needs, including both desktop-native and browser-hosted applications and plugins
• Design User Interfaces for automation tools for VFX, Visualization, and Production.
• Work with non-technical end users to help define requirements for new tools and pipeline processes to solve production problems.
• Develop test plans and roll out new Shotgrid based workflows and tools, and work with end users to improve the usability of these tools.
• Work with a sprint team: scope and bid tickets, participate in launch and review meetings, collaborate with product owners and production customers to prioritize work, communicate progress, and support team members with technical guidance.
• Follow the processes and procedures of the software development life cycle, build and release system, documentation and testing standards.
• Support users on Windows, MacOS, and Linux.
• Write the necessary end-user and developer documentation for developed tools
• Train and support artists to use the developed tools

Qualifications & Skills:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in Computer Science, Engineering, Visualization, or VFX required.
• 4+ years of experience developing custom tools and workflows with ShotGrid in an animation, gaming, or VFX studio environment.
• Deep understanding of the VFX pipeline from shooting to modeling to texturing, animation, lighting and rendering, compositing, technical editorial, and DI.
• Proven technical experience in VFX, Virtual Production, or AAA Gaming productions.  
• Ability to design user interfaces, gizmos, and interfaces for VFX tools.
• Experience with desktop and/or web application development/deployment.
• Experience with shader development, GLSL, and real-time rendering technologies.
• Experience with Unreal Engine Blueprints, and C++ development.
• Experience with software development life cycle concepts, including build/release via CI/CD, version control with Git / GitLab / BitBucket.
• Knowledge of Production Technology/IT/IS methods, practices, and trends.
• Experience with Agile development methodologies such as Scrum and Kanban.
• Strong problem solving skills
• Highly organized and detail oriented
• Patient and thorough with technical details
• Ability to work in a collaborative environment, offer mentorship, and take direction from department and show leadership
• Calm demeanor with technical support and troubleshooting
• Excellent technical communication skills, both verbal and written
• Desire for creative innovation, excellence in visual media, and creating toolsets to empower artists and creators.
• Familiarity building, running, managing and monitoring services on a Linux container platform such as Docker/Kubernetes.
• Experience with ShotGrid Toolkit.
• Experience with Python, C++, PySide/PyQt/Qt.
• Experience with LLMs or Generative AI - a plus.

AGBO Labs LLC is committed to operating fair and unbiased recruitment procedures allowing all applicants an equal opportunity for employment, free from discrimination on the basis of religion, race, sex, age, sexual orientation, disability, color, ethnic or national origin or any other classification as may be protected by applicable law. We aim to recruit the right people for the jobs we have to offer, and to assess applications on the basis of relevant skills, education and experience.

AGBO participates in E-Verify - English | Spanish
The job description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed by the employee(s) incumbent to this position.