Montreal -Rigging: Lead

Job Description

About Barnstorm
Barnstorm is an Emmy and VES-nominated visual effects studio with locations in Burbank, CA and Vancouver, BC. We provide photo-realistic visual effects for television and streaming projects across genres. Our studio culture is built on creativity and collaboration. As we grow, we are committed to preserving our scrappy, artist-driven DNA while evolving our structure, workflows, and leadership.
Who You Are
You are a Senior Creature Artist or Creature Supervisor who is experienced in Rigging, CFX, and Tech Anim, ready to bring your technical artistry and problem-solving mindset to a team that values flexibility, clarity, and ownership.
You've worked across stylized and photoreal pipelines, from character deformation to cloth and hair simulation - with an understanding of how it all connects downstream. You're fluent in Maya, Houdini, mGear, Python (plus a few tricks up your sleeve), and know how to debug a broken rig or sim without skipping a beat.
You're hands-on, solutions-oriented, and thrive in environments where the work is collaborative and fast-moving. You want to mentor artists, contribute to process and pipeline improvements, and still dive into shots when the team needs it.
What You'll Do
Process (50%)
• Build, maintain, and troubleshoot high-quality body and facial rigs using mGear and Maya.
• Simulate realistic cloth, hair, muscle, and skin using Houdini or Maya
• Optimize and prep rigs for animation and shot-based simulation, including grooming integration and cache publishing.
• Develop and maintain internal tools, scripts, and workflows in Python or VEX
• Handle shot-level CFX/tech anim tasks including shot sculpting, deformation cleanup, and collision fixes.
• Debug, version, and publish rigs, caches, and simulations using Alembic and USD within the pipeline.
• Use ShotGrid/Flow to track your tasks and any creature artists you are supporting, to keep to production's schedule.
• Expected to take on rigging, simulation, and shot work as needed.
Pioneering (20%)
• Prototype new rigging and sim systems, improve solver setups, and test pipeline integrations
• Collaborate with Pipeline and CG Supervision on next-gen creature workflows across Houdini, Maya, mGear
• Build procedural systems to scale with show demands, including auto-rigging tools, sim libraries, and caching solutions
• Create documentation, tools, and workflows that support groom, layout, and lighting handoff
People (30%)
• Mentor junior and mid-level rigging/CFX artists and support their growth within the department
• Work closely with animators, FX, and lighters to ensure character fidelity and shot continuity
• Lead technical reviews, QC passes, and best practices documentation
• Collaborate and communicate with Production on show/task updates.
• Collaborate with Artist Management on crewing, team feedback, and any show hindrances that department leadership should be aware of.
• Provide technical support and guidance to Production for bidding and scheduling rigging/CFX tasks
• Report to the Head of CG
What You Bring
• 8+ years experience in high-end VFX for episodics or features
• 2+ years experience leading or supervising rigging/CFX teams
• Strong proficiency in Maya, Houdini, and Python - plus experience with MGear, Alembic, USD, and VEX
• Comfortable building and debugging custom rigs, cloth/hair sims, muscle systems, and custom CFX tools
• Experience working closely with animation, and downstream teams to ensure seamless asset handoff and shot success
• Experience building simulation-ready proxy assets, sim attachments, and layered garments
• Strong understanding of version control, shot-specific caching, and tech animation data prep
• Comfortable in fast-paced environments and capable of balancing priorities across multiple shows
• Strong communication and collaboration skills - you value feedback, clarity, and good-faith problem solving

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-3696nn-35-215-184-102-42 in your application.