Software Engineer, Tools Internals (Core)

Our Software R&D department (Tools) is responsible for developing Pixar’s in-house and open-source software. We work very closely with both artists and engineers to build innovative filmmaking tools that enable our film production and continuously extend artistic reach.

As a Software Engineer on the Internals team, you will work on extending the feature set as well as improving the performance of our in-memory scene representation and its computation engine. This software stack is at the heart of our in-house digital content creation application, Presto, and is making its way into open-source USD. You will collaborate with us in a multi-functional team of developers, and help craft and implement robust, easy-to-maintain code. Are you enthusiastic about software architecture and API design? Do you love writing high-performance and high-quality C++ code, and are you interested in putting your multithreading and parallel programming skills to use? If so, we would love to have you on the team!

What you’ll do

• Contribute to world-class 3D graphics software applications and frameworks that enable and support Pixar’s film production

• Profile performance-critical code paths and creatively optimize algorithms to enhance interactive user experiences

• Take ownership of challenges that arise from evolving and modifying software that is heavily exercised in an active production environment

• Collaborate with a team of engineers, technical artists, QA, build support and project management

• Work closely with other teams to plan and develop user-facing features that help our artists push boundaries, as well as libraries and APIs that enhance the capabilities of our software

• Join forces with valued external partners, and help bring Pixar’s production-proven technologies to our open-source USD distribution

• Work in a collaborative environment, exchanging knowledge with accomplished technicians, and drawing inspiration from amazing artists

What you offer

• A strong and continually-expanding understanding of C++, including knowledge of how things work under the hood

• Solid knowledge of data structures and algorithms

• Experience with STL and modern C++

• Passion in crafting high-quality code with attention to detail, readability and performance in mind

• Ability to design and implement APIs and frameworks as well as user-facing features

• You hold yourself to a high bar when it comes to engineering methodologies, like writing maintainable code, providing good documentation and embracing automated testing

• Love of the whole development cycle: From proposal and planning, to implementation, testing, optimization and deployment

• You listen well and communicate clearly and succinctly

• Four or more years of professional experience

Nice to haves

• Prior exposure to performance profiling tools and workflows, parallel programming and multithreading, and cache-aware programming

• Experience programming on GNU/Linux

• Bachelors degree in Computer Science or equivalent professional experience or education

The hiring range for this position in Emeryville is $145,265.00 to $187,990.00 per year. The base pay actually offered will take into account internal equity and also may vary depending on the candidate’s geographic region, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience among other factors.

Pixar is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We know our storytelling is at its best when we include, celebrate and embrace difference. We strive to be a diverse workforce that is representative of our audiences, and where all can thrive and belong. We are committed to building a team that includes and respects a variety of voices, identities, backgrounds, experiences and perspectives. Pixar participates in E-Verify and will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S. | Follow us on X @PixarRecruiting.