Houdini Technical Consultant- Animation at Side Effects… · Toronto

Position Overview

We’re on the hunt for an exceptional human to join our Technical Consulting Team, working closely with the Technical Consulting Manager.

As a Houdini Technical Consultant, you’ll be building smart workflows and crafting tools that empower artists to create amazing procedural content with Houdini. Your work helps unlock creativity at scale.

You’re a natural Houdini advocate- someone who can clearly communicate what makes it powerful and why it matters. With solid, well-rounded industry experience, you’re comfortable jumping into problems on the fly and figuring things out. You listen closely, understand what artists are trying to achieve, and help them get there.

You enjoy sharing what you know, whether that’s through live demos, presentations, or online content. You’re just as comfortable speaking to a room as you are connecting one-on-one. As we continue to grow across the games industry worldwide, you’ll play a key role in supporting and inspiring a global community of artists using our tools.

You’ll also collaborate with teams across R&D, Sales, and Marketing. And yes- there’s some travel in the mix, sometimes international, whether it’s visiting studios, delivering a workshop, or showing up at industry events.

What you will be working on

Primary Responsibilities

• Learn existing tools and workflows in Houdini.
• Communicate with customers both in person and on-line in meetings, webinars, live streams, and the like.
• Explore and prototype workflows and share the results with our R&D team.
• Identify, develop, test, document and deploy tools and workflows that solve real production problems for our customer.
• Support our Sales Team as needed by providing specialized knowledge to further relationships with both prospective and existing customers.
• Take an active role in growing sales by identifying and developing opportunities at both new and existing studios for SideFX technology.
• Report on industry trends and relay customer feedback to internal teams as appropriate.
• Keep track of your interactions and make notes available to others at SideFX.
• Be a champion of our company and represent SideFX to the larger CG community.
• Participate as needed in public channels where Houdini tools are discussed.
• Occasionally create demo content to be shown at various trade shows and Houdini related events.
• From time to time conduct training for customers.
• Collaborate on materials to assist sales team in communicating with customers.
• You will work closely with our Marketing, R&D, Finance and Education departments.
• To build strong customer relationships you can expect to travel about once per month, sometimes internationally, whether to visit customers or events such as conferences, trade shows, user groups and the like.

Secondary Responsibilities

• Building for the future - while in-year revenue is important, we realize our technology takes time to be fully embraced so you will be “planting seeds” for business development and future growth.
• You will develop a number of relationship and insights into our customers and will be expected to maintain our CRM (Customer Relationship Management system) with key contacts and other relevant shared information.
• Other duties as appropriately assigned

What you need to be successful

• You’ve spent 5+ years in film, tv or games industry and know the space inside and out.
• You’re comfortable navigating modern 3D pipelines and understand how everything fits together in game development.
• You have experience working as a character animator in production.
• You’re a people person—great at building connections, whether face-to-face or online.
• Presenting comes naturally to you. You can create compelling Houdini content and share it with confidence.
• You genuinely love procedural workflows and tools—and you’re excited to spread that enthusiasm.
• You communicate clearly and effectively, both in writing and in conversation.
• You think beyond the surface—approaching business, product, and technical challenges with a strategic, analytical mindset.
• You’re self-driven and comfortable working remotely, even when operating with a high degree of independence.
• You understand the business side of development and can speak to the real-world challenges studios face in a constantly evolving industry.
• You’re flexible with your schedule and open to collaborating across time zones, including EST and PST when needed.

Bonus Skills

• Bachelor’s degree in a field relating to Computer Graphics, Animation, VFX or equivalent experience/education.
• Have experience as a Technical Director at a VFX or animation studio.
• Experience creating learning materials or teaching production software.

Company Profile

For over thirty years, SideFX has been at the forefront of providing artists with procedural 3D animation and visual effects tools designed to produce the highest-quality cinematic results. Rooted in production as both artists and pioneering technical innovators, we are passionate about supporting our customers' creative visions.

SideFX has been recognized by the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences multiple times, including with an Oscar® for our flagship software product, Houdini, and our breakthrough procedural-based technology.

Used by the world’s top film, TV, and game studios, from the largest AAA to the smallest Indie Studios, Houdini has transformed content creation workflows at hundreds of film and game studios. Contributing to blockbuster movies like Black Panther and Moana, captivating TV shows such as Game of Thrones and The Crown, and hit video games like Horizon Zero Dawn, Spiderman, and Ghost Recon. Our diverse clientele includes industry leaders like Disney Feature Animation, Pixar, Weta Digital, CD Projekt Red, and Rockstar Games, demonstrating Houdini’s transformative impact across multiple entertainment mediums.

What We Value Most:

• Decency: We treat everyone with honesty, kindness and empathy. We give generously of our time and knowledge.
• Relationships: We build collaborative bonds—with our co-workers and clients—based on trust and respect. Our diverse team gives us broader perspectives.
• Dedication: We take pride and ownership in our work, always trying to do our best. We are devoted to the well-being and success of each other and our clients.
• Excellence: We continually improve ourselves, our work and our company, striving towards excellence in all that we do.

Our Employees Receive:

• Hybrid Work option - Combining time spent collaborating in person at our offices with remote work for added flexibility.
• Generous paid time off, including vacation and floater days to relax and re-energize (starting at 4 weeks).
• Year-End Company Shutdown and Long Weekend Early departures to support a healthy work-life balance.
• Health insurance coverage: Robust Health insurance coverage for you and your dependents.
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP); because sometimes we need a bit of extra support.
• Retirement Plan with company matched contributions.
• Comprehensive Long Service Award program, providing both a monetary reward and additional days off.
• A highly competitive bonus structure.
• A generous sick time entitlement to care for yourself and your loved ones.

Why Join SideFX?

• Because you want to be part of a unique experience and winning team that has won an Oscar and an Emmy (Cool, right?)
• Because you want to grow with one of Canada's Best Managed Companies®
• Because you want to be part of an industry-leading company that is constantly mindfully growing.
• Because you want to work with some of the most talented people in the industry on a ground-breaking product.
• Because you want to work with people from all around the world.
• Because you want to be part of an exciting and fun industry.
• Because you want to join and add to a positive, supportive and respected company culture.
• Because you want your job to be GREAT!

Location

This role is primarily based in our Toronto office; candidates in other locations may be considered.

SideFX is committed to inclusion and diversity. We encourage all qualified applicants to apply. Accommodation will be provided to candidates with disabilities upon request.

Our hiring process does not involve the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to screen, assess or select applicants.