Technical illustrator Jobs in New Orleans, LA

Nuke Technical Director

Swaybox Studios is rewriting the rulebook of visual storytelling. As we collaborate with DC Studios/Warner Bros Pictures Animation and Matt Reeves' 6th and Idaho on a revolutionary new project, you'll help bring bold creative visions to life through hands-on artistry and performance. This is your chance to be a part of a production that's equal parts innovative and unforgettable.

Job Summary

Swaybox Studios is looking for a highly skilled Nuke Technical Director to help develop, roll out, and maintain tools, procedures, and workflows that optimize efficiency and creativity within our VFX pipeline. You will have a deep understanding of film/VFX pipelines and Nuke's role within them, working closely with our teams to create intuitive solutions to automate and improve our pipeline, as well as, address the technical needs of our artists. This role is key to ensuring that our VFX production pipeline runs smoothly and our teams have the tools they need to deliver high-end content.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop, maintain, and integrate user-friendly tools, scripts, procedures, and workflows within Nuke to support our teams and uphold best practices, while increasing efficiency and creativity in VFX production.
• Implement and support naming conventions and version control in files and tools that sync with our current pipeline structure and folders.
• Troubleshoot and debug technical issues, providing timely support, guidance, and clear solutions; acting as the first support line to solve day-to-day problems artists may encounter.
• Automate manual processes and extend the Nuke pipeline to enhance functionality without sacrificing performance or quality.
• Prioritize production needs, while balancing multiple development tasks, that deliver long-term pipeline improvements, ensuring efficient workflow and timely delivery of tools and solutions.
• Contribute to the ongoing improvement of the studio's overall pipeline and technical standards, collaborating across teams and departments, to identify optimization opportunities, troubleshoot, and gather solutions to address production challenges.
• Create and maintain technical documentation, including training sessions, tool descriptions, and user guides to ensure clean and smooth adoption and understanding of new tools and procedures by the team.
• Continually examine user experiences, satisfaction, and level of understanding to identify areas of improvement to the production pipeline.
• Keep up with current artistic methodologies and technology trends that best suit the production and the company in the development of a strong creative and technical environment.

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience working as a Nuke Technical Director in high-end VFX, Animation, or hybrid production environments.
• Deep understanding of film production pipelines and workflows (both artistic and technical).
• Strong proficiency in Blinkscript and Python scripting and tool development for Nuke, including creating and implementing custom tools, menus, scripts, etc.
• Excellent problem-solving and troubleshooting skills with a proven track record of resolving production issues quickly and efficiently.
• Strong project management skills; being self-motivated, organized, resourceful, and prudent.
• Strong understanding of Nuke's capabilities in VFX and compositing.
• Extensive experience building Nuke tools and creating customized workflows to support complex compositing, roto, paint, and tracking tasks.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to clearly convey complex technical concepts and collaborate with cross-disciplinary teams.
• Experience working in a fast-paced VFX production environment, balancing development demands with production needs.
• Experience working with version control systems.
• Ability to develop and maintain scalable, robust, and intuitive tools that support complex, film-quality workflows.
• Expertise with rendering pipelines, cloud-based solutions, or distributed computing systems for high-performance VFX work.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience compositing is advantageous.
• Experience in C++ is a plus.
• Understanding photography, filmmaking, color management, computer graphics, and how displays and computers work is greatly desired.
• Solid understanding of other industry-standard tools, such as Maya, Houdini, Fusion, and Unreal is strongly preferred.
• Knowledge of motion capture and/or real-time compositing workflows.
• Prior experience collaborating with Foundry or other vendors on support tickets, feature requests, or beta testing is great to have.
• Familiarity with asset management systems such as ShotGrid/Flow, Ftrack, or similar production tracking tools.
• Experience in a hybrid production environment combining live-action, animation, and VFX is a plus.

At Swaybox Studios, we believe that great storytelling comes from diverse voices, perspectives, and experiences. We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer and are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, talents, and identities.

We do not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.

Swaybox Studios also complies with applicable Louisiana laws governing non-discrimination in employment. We are dedicated to fostering a creative, inclusive, and respectful environment for all.