Python Pipeline Developer

Why This Role

This is a chance to own real tools end to end. You'll build internal tools and automation that a whole studio of creative professionals uses every day, take modules from idea to production in months rather than years, and work on modern tech — cloud infrastructure, a fast-growing AI/ML layer, and USD-based data workflows — instead of maintaining legacy code. AI is expanding quickly in this space, and this role sits right at that edge: you'll help decide how ML tooling gets built into real production workflows, not just consume it. There's a clear path to grow into deeper platform and R&D work, with senior engineers to learn from and junior developers to mentor. If you like building tools that visibly make people's work faster, you'll enjoy it here.

About FutureWorks

FutureWorks is a leading VFX and animation studio with 17+ years delivering high-quality visual effects and post production for feature films, OTT, television, and commercials. Behind the creative work is a serious software problem: hundreds of artists, terabytes of assets, and complex multi-stage workflows that all need tooling, automation, and integration to run smoothly. That's what our pipeline and R&D teams build, and it's the work this role is part of.

About the Role

We're looking for a strong Python developer to design, build, and maintain the internal tools and automation that keep our production pipeline running. In plain terms: you'll build the desktop apps, services, and automation that connect the many applications artists use, move data between stages of production, and remove manual, repetitive work.

At its core this is a software engineering role. If you write clean, well-structured Python, enjoy building tools that solve real problems for real users, and like integrating systems through their APIs, you'll do well here — whether or not you've worked in VFX or media before. The domain-specific stack (our production-tracking system, the creative applications, USD) is a niche skill set, and we're glad to train the right engineer on it. We care far more about the fundamentals that are hard to teach: Python craftsmanship, problem-solving, and a tools-builder mindset.

What You'll Do

• Design, develop, and maintain Python tools and automation for asset management, publishing, rendering, and general workflow optimization.

• Build desktop tools and internal applications, and integrate Python with the applications your users work in day to day.

• Diagnose and resolve complex technical issues across the pipeline.

• Collaborate with artists, supervisors, and production teams to turn workflow problems into practical technical solutions.

• Review code, mentor junior developers, and write clear technical, deployment, and user documentation.

• Build and integrate AI/ML-assisted tooling into user workflows — for example, wiring models for tasks like image cleanup, denoising, upscaling, or asset generation into the pipeline, and building the tools around them that make them usable in production.

• Contribute to R&D on emerging pipeline technology, including USD-based data workflows and cloud rendering, and help shape how new AI capabilities are adopted as the space evolves.

What We're Looking For (Required)

• 0–3 years of professional Python development with strong OOP fundamentals.

• Demonstrable experience building internal tools, automation, or applications that other people rely on.

• Experience integrating Python with a host application or platform through its API (any domain — this is a transferable skill).

• Strong Git skills and comfort working across Linux and Windows.

• Good working knowledge of REST APIs, JSON, YAML, XML, and databases.

• Strong debugging and problem-solving ability, and a collaborative approach to working with non-technical users.

Adjacent Backgrounds Welcome

We welcome strong engineers from adjacent fields. A background in developer tools, creative or content-authoring tools, game engines, ML tooling, data platforms, desktop application development, or automation and DevOps systems maps closely to this work — VFX experience is not required to apply.

Nice to Have (Or We'll Help You Learn)

None of the below is required. Each strengthens an application, but we're glad to train a strong engineer on the ones they're missing.

• UI development with PySide2 / PySide6 and Qt Designer.

• Experience integrating ML models into applications or pipelines (calling model APIs, running inference in production tooling, or wiring ML services into user-facing tools) — a growing part of this role.

• Experience with a production-tracking system's API (ours is ShotGrid / Flow Production Tracking and its Toolkit, SGTK) — or any comparable system you can learn from.

• Python scripting or plugin development for creative / DCC applications such as Maya, Houdini, Nuke, or Katana.

• Render farm systems (e.g. Deadline), Docker, CI/CD, or cloud deployments.

• Perforce or advanced Git workflows.

• Familiarity with USD, Alembic, OpenEXR, or OpenColorIO.

Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, IT, Software Engineering, or a related field — or equivalent practical experience. We care about what you can build, not only what's on paper.

What We Offer

• Meaningful software ownership on tools used across a real production studio.

• Exposure to cutting-edge technology — AI/ML tooling, cloud, and USD — and a clear path to grow into the pipeline and R&D domain.

• A collaborative environment working alongside experienced engineers, artists, and R&D teams.

• Real technical ownership, mentoring opportunities, and room to grow.