DreamWorks Technology - Principal Engineer, AI

About this role

DreamWorks Technology - Principal Engineer, AI

• Full-time
• Business Segment: Universal Film
• Compensation: USD 190,000 - USD 230,000 - yearly

Company Description

DreamWorks Animation is looking for more adventurous dreamers who shoot for the moon. We tell stories about the journeys our unconventional heroes take to make dreams come true. As a growth-minded studio, we pride ourselves on being one of the world’s leading producers of high-quality, award-winning, animated films and series, reaching consumers around the globe. We push to feel more, laugh more, and build immersive new worlds.

DreamWorks creates a diverse array of original content in a variety of formats, delivering compelling stories with unique characters. We place tremendous value on the experiences our talent offers from their own non-traditional paths to success. We believe in frequent communication and that transparency and trust yield the best work. We are a community of artists, technologists, innovators, and creators, who are passionate about animation and also happen to love eating lunch together.

DreamWorks is seeking a highly collaborative AI Architect who will be a hands-on technical leader assistive across multiple teams aimed to provide results to both technical and creative departments. This role involves identifying, designing, and delivering AI-powered agentic architecture that eliminates the repetitive, manual, low-creativity tasks that pull artists and production management away from their craft, while maintaining high operational availability to ensure production systems run reliably. An ideal candidate should be an adventurous, growth-minded problem solver who thrives in collaborative environments, values transparency and trust, and possesses a deep passion for leveraging technology to empower artists and storytellers.

If you are part of the fandom and believe teamwork makes the dream work, join us in #livingthedream and #doingyourdreamwork!

Job Description

“What would you say you do here?”

• Collaborate and advise on next-generation AI-assisted agentic workflows strategy alongside product owners, developers and creatives.
• Design and own the architecture for AI-powered frameworks and automation across the entire Studio pipeline and platforms.
• Define the end-to-end architecture for ingestion, processing, and routing of operational telemetry (metrics, logs, traces).
• Integrate solutions with popular industry DCC tools.
• Prototype solutions for high-friction tasks: asset tagging, scene prep, render queue management, shot setup, and versioning.
• Define technical standards and integration patterns for AI tooling across departments and shows.
• Evaluate and select AI frameworks, foundation models, and automation technologies for creative production and operational stability.
• Build and maintain a library of reusable AI components and automation patterns.
• Partner with platform, systems and security teams to monitor model drift, system latency, and system security.
• Write, test, and deploy production-ready tools that run reliably inside active show pipelines.
• Develop reference implementations that set the canonical pattern for future pipeline AI work.
• Partner with engineers and TDs to fold automation into existing artist-facing toolsets.
• Maintain and iterate on deployed tools based on artist feedback and production data.
• Drive adoption across both technical and creative departments so tools are understood, trusted, and used.
• Create lightweight training and documentation for artists and engineers.
• Establish metrics for automation impact and report results to studio leadership on a regular cadence.
• Champion a culture of continuous improvement and surface new automation opportunities as workflows evolve.

Qualifications

“What do I need to have in order to do this job?”

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 10+ years building production systems, with 2+ years building AI/ML systems for real workflows.
• Hands-on experience deploying enterprise software in AI, data, or integration environments.
• Expertise with containerization, orchestration, Python, TypeScript, React, and AI frameworks such as LangGraph, Spring AI and MCP.
• Deep understanding of LLM model integration and tuning.
• Experience with designing automation that reduces manual work in complex, multi-stakeholder environments.
• Proven ability to influence senior engineers without authority and to be the person others learn from.
• History of building and supporting durable artifacts: frameworks, templates, training, open source that extend to other projects.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to translate fluently between artists, production management, and engineers.
• Genuine passion for animation, storytelling, or creative production.

“What can I offer?”

• 2+ years in a Principal, Staff, or Lead role responsible for AI or pipeline automation, ideally in a creative studio.
• Strong understanding of the animation production pipeline, departmental workflows, and industry-standard digital content creation (DCC) software.
• Familiarity with animation frameworks and standards such as USD, Autodesk Flow Production Tracking and Jira.
• Experience measuring and reporting the productivity impact of engineering tooling investments.
• Stays current with AI trends and emerging technologies.

Hybrid: This position currently has a hybrid schedule, which requires contributing from the office a minimum of four days per week. The Company reserves the right to change in-office requirements at any time.

This position is eligible for company sponsored benefits, including medical, dental and vision insurance, 401(k), paid leave, tuition reimbursement, and a variety of other discounts and perks. Learn more about the benefits offered by NBCUniversal by visiting the Benefits page of the Careers website.

Salary range: $190,000 - $230,000

Additional Information

As part of our selection process, external candidates may be required to attend an in-person interview with an NBCUniversal employee at one of our locations prior to a hiring decision. NBCUniversal's policy is to provide equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, gender identity or expression, age, national origin or ancestry, citizenship, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy, veteran status, membership in the uniformed services, genetic information, or any other basis protected by applicable law.

NBCUniversal will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories, or arrest or conviction records, in a manner consistent with relevant legal requirements, including the City of Los Angeles' Fair Chance Initiative For Hiring Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, and the California Fair Chance Act, where applicable.

If you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran and require support throughout the application and/or recruitment process as a result of your disability, you have the right to request a reasonable accommodation. You can submit your request to [email removed].