Quality Assurance Specialist - Houdini

Position Overview  

SideFX is seeking an exceptional Houdini artist with a keen attention to detail to join our Toronto-based Quality Assurance team. 

As a member of the SideFX Research and Development group, you will have the opportunity to work alongside some of the brightest minds in the CG industry and interact with an outstanding artist community. We see this full time position as a career-defining opportunity in which to grow professionally and contribute to Houdini and its user community. As a Houdini Quality Assurance Specialist, you will be right at the heart of a constantly evolving synergy between technology and art, and we need you to be the best.

Our R&D team has received many prestigious industry awards, including four Technical Achievement Awards from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, an Academy Award of Merit (Oscar®), a Technology and Engineering Emmy® Award from NATAS, and four back-to-back Editor’s Choice Innovation Awards from CG World Magazine. Movies using our toolset have received the Oscar® for Best Visual Effects every year in the past two decades.  We share a passion for innovation in computer graphics and a drive for excellence in game tool development and procedural animation. Providing digital artists with the most advanced tools for their craft is, and has always been our single focus.

Whether you are research-oriented or development-oriented, we have a great number of exciting projects to choose from. You will have ample opportunity to grow professionally and make significant contributions to the success of our products. You will be constantly in touch with our users in the entertainment industry and with our colleagues. You will be right at the heart of a constantly evolving synergy between technology and art.

What you will be working on

• Testing Houdini to help ensure that it is of the highest quality possible.
• Testing new and existing features in Houdini trying to break them in order to discover areas of the software that can be improved.
• Build test cases, simulate customer workflows and demonstrate how to reproduce bugs so that they can be fixed by our talented team of programmers.
• Validate, update and create new node examples.
• Other duties as assigned.

What you need to be successful 

• Minimum 3-5 years experience with Houdini.
• Computer Animation and/or FX degree or equivalent industry experience, with a record of academic and professional excellence.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills.
• Strong problem-solving skills with a keen attention to detail is a must have.
• Experience with modelling, animating, rendering and visual effects is necessary.
• Ability to locate and investigate issues and track them in a database.
• Experience on Windows, OSX, and Linux (we test on all three).
• Ability to work well in a team environment with a positive demeanor.
• An independent learner with an eagerness to learn unfamiliar areas of Houdini.

A demo reel with a detailed breakdown of what you did in each shot must be submitted along with your resume when applying in order to be considered for this role.

Not required but great to have 

• Ideal candidates will have production experience in film, TV, or games.
• Character animation experience, strongly preferred.
• 3D software testing/development experience.
• Python scripting.
• Experience with other 3D packages like Maya, 3DS Max, Blender, Softimage, etc.

We appreciate all candidates' interest, but only those with previous Houdini experience will be considered.