Sr Studio Pipeline Engineer

General Summary 

At LAIKA, we craft breathtaking stop motion films by blending timeless artistic techniques with innovative technology. As a Sr Pipeline Engineer on the Studio Pipeline team, you’ll play a key role in designing, building, and maintaining the pipeline and workflow tools that empower artists and production managers throughout the creative process. 

In this role, you’ll focus primarily on developing and supporting core pipeline tools, middleware, and services that power studio workflows and operations. You’ll work across the stack—from end-user workflow tools to API design, services development, and data modeling—while collaborating closely with other developers, artists, and production teams. 

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 Function 

• Design, develop, and maintain pipeline tools, middleware, and microservices supporting production tracking, asset management, and workflow automation.
• Architect scalable, extensible, and performant systems aligned with modern development principles, with a strong focus on service-oriented, event-driven design.
• Develop full-stack web applications including server-side logic, database design, and RESTful API integration within a hybrid on-prem and cloud environment.
• Collaborate closely with artists, leads, production managers, and fellow developers to gather requirements and translate creative and operational needs into reliable, user-centered technical solutions.
• Communicate complex technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical partners.
• Provide user support for FlowPT (ShotGrid), production management tools, and other pipeline-related workflows, diagnosing and resolving issues efficiently.
• Promote code quality and maintainability through thoughtful design, comprehensive testing, peer reviews, and thorough documentation.
• Champion automation and reliability by contributing to CI/CD workflows, deployment pipelines, and observability practices (logging, metrics, monitoring).
• Contribute to technical strategy by evaluating new technologies, sharing insights, and helping guide the long-term evolution of the studio’s web-based pipeline platforms.
• Develop and share knowledge by authoring technical guides, training materials, and documentation that help artists, developers, and production teams grow their understanding of the pipeline.
• Mentor and support junior engineers, offering guidance, feedback, and opportunities for professional growth. 

Qualifications 

• 5+ years of experience developing workflow tools and services for production tracking, asset management, or pipeline automation in animation, VFX, or game development.
• Expert proficiency in Python including experience with UI and REST API development, and solid JavaScript fundamentals.
• Experience with one or more of these frameworks: Actix, Warp, Django, Flask, FastAPI, React, Vue.js.
• Hands-on experience with FlowPT (ShotGrid) including its Python and REST APIs, UI framework, and automation capabilities.
• Expertise in relational and data-store technologies including PostgreSQL, MySQL, and Redis, with experience in schema design, query optimization, and data modeling.
• Experience designing and operating service-oriented and event-driven systems.
• Solid understanding of source control practices including Git, GitHub, and modern branching strategies.
• Strong grasp of software design principles and patterns including OOP, SOLID, and MVC.
• Experience working in agile development environments (Scrum, Kanban), delivering maintainable software on time and within scope.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills with the ability to work effectively across technical and creative teams.
• Experience mentoring or supporting early-career engineers. 

Preferred Qualifications 

• Expert-level proficiency with FlowPT (ShotGrid) administration, workflow customization, and solutions design.
• 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.