AI Tools & Pipeline Developer

AI Tools & Pipeline Developer Full Stack / Python / Animation & VFX Production We are building a new Artificial Intelligence department to support the production of our animated television series and are looking for an AI Tools & Pipeline Developer to join the team. This role will work closely with our recently appointed Head of Artificial Intelligence to help design, build, and maintain tools that support AI-assisted animation production. The ideal candidate is a strong Python developer with full-stack capabilities, a practical understanding of production pipelines, and an interest in applying AI and machine learning to real-world creative workflows. Our current ecosystem leans heavily on Python, PySide/PyQt, and integrations with common animation and VFX tools such as Autodesk Maya, Nuke, and related production systems. The first phase of this role will focus on helping gather, organize, review, and prepare training materials, including images and video, for use in developing internal AI models. Over time, the role will expand into adapting and building tools that allow artists, supervisors, and production teams to harness AI/ML systems inside our animation pipeline. This is a hands-on engineering role for someone who enjoys solving practical production problems, building artist-friendly tools, and working at the intersection of animation, software development, and emerging AI technology. Core ResponsibilitiesInitial Responsibilities In the early phase of the role, the new hire will support the Head of Artificial Intelligence by helping establish the department’s technical and data foundations. Responsibilities may include: • Developing tools and scripts to collect, organize, rename, catalog, and validate large sets of image and video training material. • Building internal utilities for browsing, tagging, annotating, filtering, and reviewing training data. • Helping define metadata standards for training assets. • Assisting with dataset preparation, including frame extraction, image processing, video transcoding, resolution normalization, and file format conversion. • Creating repeatable workflows for turning production materials into structured datasets suitable for AI/ML experimentation and training. • Working with production, editorial, pipeline, and creative teams to identify useful training sources and clarify how material may be used. • Helping maintain data integrity, versioning, access control, and internal documentation for training datasets. • Supporting the Head of AI in prototyping AI-assisted workflows for animation production. Long-Term Responsibilities As the department grows, the role should evolve from data preparation into broader production tool development. Responsibilities may include: • Adapting AI/ML code, prototypes, and research experiments into usable internal production tools. • Building Python-based tools for use inside Maya, Nuke, and other animation/VFX applications. • Creating PySide/PyQt interfaces for artists, supervisors, and technical directors. • Developing lightweight full-stack web applications or dashboards for managing datasets, model outputs, review queues, and AI-assisted production tasks. • Integrating AI tools with existing production systems, asset databases, file structures, render workflows, or project tracking systems. • Helping package AI tools so they are reliable, documented, deployable, and maintainable by the production team. • Creating automation scripts for repetitive production tasks involving images, video, animation data, or scene files. • Working with the Head of AI to evaluate new AI/ML tools and determine how they can be safely and practically incorporated into production. • Collaborating with artists and production staff to gather feedback and improve usability. • Helping establish internal best practices around AI tooling, dataset management, model versioning, and production deployment. Qualifications You must have: • Strong Python programming skills. • Experience building production tools, internal applications, automation scripts, or pipeline utilities. • Experience with UI development using PySide, PyQt, or similar Python UI frameworks. • Comfort working with image and video files, including formats, codecs, frame sequences, metadata, and batch processing. • Familiarity with full-stack development concepts, such as APIs, databases, web interfaces, authentication, and deployment. • Ability to write clean, maintainable, documented code. • Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to turn ambiguous production needs into practical tools. • Interest in AI, machine learning, computer vision, generative AI, or production automation. • Familiarity with PyTorch, TensorFlow, ComfyUI, Stable Diffusion, diffusion models, computer vision models, or generative AI workflows. • Ability to work closely with technical leadership while also owning individual implementation tasks. You might have: • Experience working with artists, designers, production teams, or other non-engineering users. • Experience in animation, VFX, games, virtual production, post-production, or a similar media pipeline environment. • Familiarity with Maya Python, Nuke Python, or other DCC scripting APIs. • Familiality with Google’s AI Studio • Experience with AI Model Training, such as LoRA models for Flux and WAN • Experience with version control, especially Git. It would be nice if you have: • Experience with OpenCV, FFmpeg, Pillow, NumPy, or similar image/video processing tools. • Experience working with machine learning datasets, annotation tools, model inference, or training pipelines. • Experience with databases such as PostgreSQL, SQLite, MongoDB, or similar. • Experience with frontend frameworks such as React, Vue, DJango, or similar. • Experience with cloud storage, local network storage, render farms, or media asset management systems. • Familiarity with ShotGrid, FTrack, Kitsu, or other production tracking systems.