We are hiring a Render Pipeline Engineer to own the rendering infrastructure that turns finished 3D assets into final production-quality images at scale.
What you will do
Design and maintain the rendering pipeline. Scene assembly, lighting setup, camera systems, render execution, and output validation, all running automatically across high volumes of 3D assets.
Build and manage Blender Cycles render configurations in headless environments. OptiX/CUDA GPU acceleration, sampling strategies, denoising, output format management. You make rendering fast, correct, and repeatable.
Create and maintain master lighting templates. Three-point setups, balanced exposure, rim lighting, genre-appropriate moods. Artists define the look, you systematize it so it applies consistently to every asset without manual intervention.
Manage render farm infrastructure. Job distribution, GPU pool management, queue prioritization, failure recovery, cost monitoring. Whether it is cloud instances (AWS/GCP) or a local farm, you keep it running and efficient.
Build automated post-render validation. Exposure checks, clipping detection, resolution compliance, background compatibility. Your validation catches rendering failures before any human sees the output.
Optimize render times without compromising quality. Sampling budgets, light path tuning, shader complexity management, adaptive resolution. Every second you save per frame multiplies across millions of items.
Write Python tooling that connects the render pipeline to the broader production system. Ingest queues, metadata tagging, output routing, delivery formatting. Your code is the bridge between 3D production and final delivery.
Collaborate with art directors on look development. They define the creative target, you build the technical system that hits it reliably at volume.
What you must bring
5+ years of professional experience in rendering, look development, or lighting pipeline engineering in games, VFX, or 3D production.
Deep knowledge of Blender Cycles or equivalent path-tracing renderers (Arnold, V-Ray, RenderMan). You understand sampling, light transport, shader graphs, and how to get predictable results from physically based rendering.
Strong Python scripting. You automate rendering workflows, build tools, and write pipeline code that runs unattended. Blender Python API experience is ideal; Maya or Houdini render scripting translates directly.
Experience with GPU rendering infrastructure. CUDA or OptiX configuration, multi-GPU setups, cloud GPU instances, render job management. You have operated rendering at a scale beyond a single workstation.
Understanding of PBR materials, lighting principles, and how to evaluate a rendered image technically. You can look at an output and diagnose whether a problem is in the shader, the lighting, the geometry, or the render settings.
Experience with batch processing and automation. You have built systems that render thousands of assets with consistent settings, handle failures gracefully, and produce structured output.
Familiarity with cloud infrastructure. AWS or GCP GPU instances, S3 for output storage, job orchestration. You can set up and manage a cloud render pipeline.
Strongly preferred
Production experience with Blender Cycles specifically, including headless operation, OptiX acceleration, and Python-driven scene construction.
Experience building lighting template systems that apply consistent look development across large asset libraries without per-asset manual setup.
Experience with render farm management tools (Deadline, Flamenco, or custom orchestration).
Background in look development or lighting for games or film. You have an eye for what makes a render read well, not just what makes it technically correct.
Experience with automated image analysis. Histogram evaluation, exposure measurement, perceptual quality metrics. You have written code that evaluates whether a render is good before a human looks at it.
