{"id":800223,"url":"https://alion.io/job/absurdventures-software-engineer-cinematic-tools","title":"Software Engineer, Cinematic Tools","company":{"id":669423,"name":"Absurd Ventures","domain":"absurdventures.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/absurdventures","size_band":"51-200","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Greenhouse","truth_index":null},"role":"Backend","role_family":"Backend","seniority":"senior","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Santa Monica, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":130000,"max":155000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":155000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":5,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"AI Agents","optional":false},{"name":"C#","optional":false},{"name":"C++","optional":false},{"name":"Maya","optional":false},{"name":"Node JS","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false},{"name":"Unreal Engine","optional":false},{"name":"Audiokinetic Wwise","optional":true},{"name":"DaVinci Resolve","optional":true},{"name":"JavaScript","optional":true},{"name":"Jenkins","optional":true},{"name":"TeamCity","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-09-10T17:36:43Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-09-10","last_verified_at":"2026-11-07T14:56:14Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":58,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":58},"description":"Summary\nWe are seeking a highly experienced and collaborative Software Engineer to help drive the design, implementation, and support of tools for Absurd’s cinematic content pipeline.\nAs a Cinematics Pipeline Tools Engineer, you will be passionate about developing tools and systems that enable animators, audio engineers, and cinematic producers to create world-class cinematic content for our games.\nYour mission will be to ensure a streamlined process for moving content from capture through a variety of production tools and ultimately into our games. You will work across a broad range of technologies and workflows, developing C# tools to automate audio and motion capture collection and processing; C# and Node.js tools to support studio operations such as scheduling and actor database management; tools for ingesting assets into Unreal Engine; C++ and Python tools for moving content to and from external applications such as Premiere, Maya, and Pro Tools; and C++ tools for working with cinematic content directly within Unreal Engine.\nCore Responsibilities \nWork directly with leadership from Absurd’s production department to identify audio and motion capture toolchain requirements, and then build, test, and support those tools.\nSupport and guide work done by creative staff who use agentic coding as part of their regular workflows.\nInterface with animators, audio engineers, cinematic producers to design, implement, and support tools for ingesting, authoring, and exporting cinematic content.\nParticipate in technical planning, task estimation, and milestone reviews. \nWork directly with studio production staff to provide troubleshooting and support during production shoots.\nCore Qualifications \n5+ years of professional game development experience with a focus on systems for cinematic content capture, management, and authoring\n2+ years of professional experience working in Unreal Engine, ideally with experience working with Unreal Sequencer, animation systems, and audio systems\n1+ year professional experience developing desktop applications in C# or similar language\nAbility and desire to thrive in a fast-paced production environment\nSuperb written and verbal communication skills. You will be working with a wide range of studio staff with very different technical skillsets\nComfortable using AI coding agents and helping non-engineers use them\nComfortable working in both PC and Mac environments\nShipped at least one AAA title in an engineering role\nA customer-centric mindset with excellent problem-solving and technical troubleshooting skills\nThirst to learn, experiment, and grow in a rapidly evolving technical environment\nPlus if... \nHands-on experience developing support tooling for Wwise, ProTools, Premiere, Da DaVinci Resolve, and/or Maya\nExperience working with motion capture systems like Captury and Xsens\nExperience working with narrative authoring systems like Articy \nExperience working with automation pipelines like Horde, TeamCity, or Jenkins\nDescription \nFull-time job with benefits. \nRole is on-site in Santa Monica, CA. \nOffice is located near downtown Santa Monica - near metro and freeways. \nThe base pay range for this position is $130,000 to $155,000 per year. Actual compensation is based on market location and may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. We also offer a competitive package of benefits including vacation time, sick time, company holidays, parental leave, medical/dental/vision insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, and 401(k) matching to regular full-time employees. Certain roles may also be eligible for bonus and equity.","description_format":"text","description_chars":3634,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":5,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Equity","Life insurance","Parental leave","Vision insurance"],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Film Production","Game Development"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-09-12T07:21:38Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":29,"band":"fade","label":"Fading","p_open":1,"p_active":0.649,"p_room":0.45,"age_days":57,"expected_fill_days":36,"reasons":["conf:3","velocity","win:tail"],"computed_at":"2026-11-07T05:47:08Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":155000,"is_top_pay":false},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/absurdventures-software-engineer-cinematic-tools","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/absurdventures-software-engineer-cinematic-tools.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-07T19:01:55Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":29273,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-08T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":669423},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=669423"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fabsurdventures-software-engineer-cinematic-tools"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fabsurdventures-software-engineer-cinematic-tools"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fabsurdventures-software-engineer-cinematic-tools"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/absurdventures-software-engineer-cinematic-tools\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fabsurdventures-software-engineer-cinematic-tools"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":800223}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"absurdventures.com","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":800223},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. Docs: https://alion.io/developers"}}