Render Wrangler

[Mr. X Inc.]

Specializing in feature film visual effects and animation for international and local producers, Toronto based digital studio, Mr. X Inc. is comprised of a unique and gifted team of artists, filmmakers and programmers devoted to the art, craft and technology of visual story telling. Our talented staff, committed to quality above all else, has achieved some of the most original and photo-realistic visual effects and animation seen on film to date. If you have the imagination, talent and drive, then Mr. X is looking for you. We invite you to visit our website at www.mrxfx.com.

Mr X is looking to hire a Render Wrangler to join the Systems Dept, and work closely with Technical Directors associated with rendering.

Render Wranglers (RW's) are responsible for providing 24x7 support of the studio's rendering efforts. RW's monitor and load balance the render farm, assist with crashed and erred jobs, and participate in the day-to-day management of render farm hosts. RW's provide rendering support for all departments and divisions, including: Previz, Animation, Lighting and VFX.

RW's can also assist monitoring data transfers across various file system hierarchies and initiate data moves to balance disk utilization. Other responsibilities include answering the Render Desk hotline, escalating urgent studio support issues after hours and responding to all Support tickets assigned to the department.

Responsibilities:

Render Farm Management:

• Detect and troubleshoot failed jobs

• Follow-up crashed jobs and jobs killed because they were hung

• Monitor, diagnose and resolve/escalate malfunctioning farm hosts

• Keep the render farm running at maximum capacity

• Monitor file systems for space availability

• Monitor render farm I/O utilization

• Request changes in storage volume sizes as needed

• Identify and report trends and potential problems

• Monitor render blade local disk caches and clear caches

• where necessary

• Monitor software license utilization on render farm

Render Queue Management:

• Monitor the XRender render queue

• Monitor the XRender Dispatcher operation

• Update and maintain the XRender job priorities according to Production

• Assist artists with (python) job submissions and job errors

• Respond to all render-related Support Request Tickets

• Work with production to forecast render resource needs

Render Pipeline Management:

• Update shot directories, libraries and servers

• Run Linux and Perl scripts to convert proprietary script files into images, movie and video files

• Render, inspect and fix frames for multiple concurrent productions

• Provide render time estimates to producers, directors and animators for dailies

Studio Support:

• Monitor studio infrastructure servers and escalate problems

• Answer and escalate Studio Help Desk calls after hours and on weekends

• After hours and weekend render farm support

Qualifications:

• Good verbal and writing skills, good organizational skills

• Able to handle a fast paced, high pressure environment

• Can work well with a group or independently

• Able to work very flexible hours on weekend evenings or nights. The shift will be from approximately 6pm-3am but may vary depending on production needs.

Please send your cover letter and resume to recruiting@mrxfx.com with the subject line ‘Render Wrangler’.