Senior Front-End Engineer

This is a unique opportunity to join the founding engineering team for Reactor, a new product initiative that blends next-generation AI workflows with Foundry’s best-in-class VFX technology. As a Senior Front-End Engineer, you will help define and build the user-facing experience for Reactor’s core workflows, including its node graph, timeline, playback systems, and interactive AI tooling.

You’ll work in a highly exploratory environment designed for speed, where ideas must be prototyped, validated with customers, and iterated upon quickly. Autonomy, ingenuity, and resourcefulness are essential. You will collaborate closely with the Lead Engineer, Product Manager, Creative Director, and production partners to translate vague or emerging concepts into working prototypes that help shape the product direction.

In this role, you are expected to be inventive, comfortable with ambiguity, and skilled at turning complex challenges into simple, testable solutions. You will repurpose existing Foundry technology where useful and build new workflows that enable artists to work fluidly with media, AI models, and hybrid compute execution.

You’ll model Foundry’s values by grounding decisions in real user workflows, collaborating openly, and experimenting boldly with the guardrails appropriate for an early-stage product.

• 5+ years of commercial software engineering experience in the domain of creative tools for media and entertainment.

• Demonstrated ability to build sophisticated production-proven workflows for artists.

• Proven success rapidly prototyping features under ambiguity and delivering solutions with small, focused teams.

• Experience analysing and breaking down product requirements into clear technical plans.

• Comfortable engaging directly with customers or end users to gather insights and validate designs.

Technical Skills

• Strong proficiency in modern front-end development (C++, Python, TypeScript/Javascript, React or comparable frameworks, modern UI architectures).

• Familiarity with workflows and technology powering modern node-graph-based or timeline-based applications used in VFX, compositing, and editorial.

• Experience building workflows over native modules or performance-critical code (e.g., C++ back ends, Python APIs, GPU-accelerated pipelines).

• Understanding of VFX workflows, artist-facing applications, and production pipelines is highly advantageous.

Nice to Have

• Knowledge of AI/ML concepts or tooling (e.g., inference runtimes, model hubs, diffusion models, LLMs, workflow tools such as ComfyUI).

• Experience with cloud-based or distributed processing (AI orchestration, hybrid compute).

• Familiarity with Nuke, Nuke Studio, or similar VFX technologies.

Software & System Development

• Build and maintain Reactor’s user-facing workflows, including node-based compositing, timeline, round-tripping with content creation tools, and interactive AI-driven tools.

• Prototype end-to-end workflows rapidly to validate concepts with users and inform product direction.

• Implement UI components and workflows that integrate seamlessly over native back-end libraries and shared Foundry technologies.

• Translate high-level or ambiguous product ideas into clear engineering tasks and front-end architectures.

• Contribute code reviews, documentation, and testing practices appropriate for a fast-moving, exploratory team.

Problem Solving & Innovation

• Devise inventive solutions to hard technical and user workflow problems, often under significant ambiguity.

• Make pragmatic, resourceful choices, repurposing, integrating, or adapting internal and external technologies where expedient.

• Break down vague problem statements and surface hidden constraints or opportunities in workflows.

Planning, Risk Mitigation & Collaboration

• Work closely with the Lead Engineer, Product Manager, and Creative Director to explore workflows, identify constraints, and shape technical direction.

• Flag risks, limitations, and one-way-door decisions early, proposing reversible paths and quick experiments to inform decision-making.

• Contribute to planning, estimation, and prioritisation within a fast-paced, discovery-led roadmap.

• Communicate clearly with both technical and non-technical stakeholders about progress, findings, and technical trade-offs.

Customer & Cross-Team Engagement

• Participate in customer interviews, prototype reviews, and production partner sessions to deeply understand real workflows and refine the team’s understanding of user workflows.

• Collaborate with engineers across Foundry’s portfolio (e.g., Nuke, Nuke Studio, Flix) to leverage existing technology where appropriate.

• Share technical knowledge across the team, helping elevate engineering practice and contributing to a culture of openness, experimentation, and reflection.

• 25 days holiday + bank holidays

• Pension scheme & life assurance

• Health cash plan & medical insurance

• Season ticket loan

• Company’s social events

• Personal Annual Development Time

• Passion Days

• Anniversary Day off

Foundry has a heritage of more than 25 years, developing creative software for the Media and Entertainment industry. Its portfolio of award-winning products solves complex visualization challenges to turn incredible ideas into reality.

Working with creative leaders around the globe, Foundry products are used to create breathtaking visual effects and animation and have been integral in the making of every VFX Academy Award-winning film for the past decade.

For more information visit www.foundry.com.

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