Pipeline Engineer (Graphics/3D)
World Labs
San Francisco, CA · $200k–$325k a year · Posted January 8, 2026
Just laid off? Start here: a plan for the first weeks
See every open role at World Labs
More in California job market · Technology & Software · Engineering jobs
More roles at World Labs
- Research Scientist (Generative Modeling) · San Francisco, CA
- Rendering Systems Engineer - Simulation & Synthetic Data · San Francisco, CA
- Performance Engineer (Inference, Training & GPU) · San Francisco, CA
- Executive Business Partner (Office of the CEO) · San Francisco, CA
- Research Engineer / Scientist (3D Tech Lead) · San Francisco, CA
Similar jobs
- Principal Scientist - Data Pipeline Engineer · Adobe · San Jose, CA
- Wi-Fi Certification Quality Engineer, Wireless Technologies & Ecosystems · Apple · Cupertino, CA
- RealityKit Media Pipeline Engineer, Vision Products Software · Apple · Sunnyvale, CA
- Project Engineer MQ-9B Production - Engineer III · General Atomics · Poway, CA
- Haven Certification Engineer · Vast · Long Beach, CA
- Senior Asset Pipeline Engineer - Sensor Platform · Applied Intuition · Sunnyvale, CA
Where San Francisco, CA ranks
Where San Francisco, CA placed in our monthly rankings, month by month. Each month stays online at its own address.
November 2026
- #1Best cities for security jobs316 openings · of 20
- #1Best cities for technology jobs7,178 openings · of 100
- #1Best cities for financial services pay after cost of living$173k · of 33
- #1Best cities for entry-level jobs that want AI skills35% · of 100
- #1Best cities for entry-level jobs that want AI skills in the West Coast35% · of 54
- #1Cities with the most jobs that do not need a four-year degree in the West Coast902 jobs · of 47
Rankings about engineering jobs
- Best cities for software and engineering jobs #1 San Francisco (3,412 openings)
- Best cities for engineering pay after cost of living #1 San Mateo ($216k)
- Most requested AI skills in engineering jobs #1 AI tools in daily work (6.1%)
- AI tools named most often in engineering jobs #1 Claude (1.7%)
- Employers with the most engineering jobs #1 Amazon (2,992 roles)
How AI is used in this kind of work
AI use among petroleum engineers is little observed so far. Measured exposure for petroleum engineers: 0% (little observed).
Share of this job’s tasks that AI is already used for at work, from real usage. It is not a forecast of job loss, and a low number means no use seen yet. Source: Anthropic Economic Index.
Skills this job asks for
Say which you have and which you want to build. We use it to match you to jobs like this one.
About the job
ABOUT WORLD LABS
World Labs https://www.worldlabs.ai/ is a frontier AI research and product company advancing spatial intelligence, the next frontier beyond large language models. Co-founded by Dr. Fei-Fei Li https://profiles.stanford.edu/fei-fei-li, Justin Johnson https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-johnson-41b43664/ and Ben Mildenhall https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-mildenhall-86b4739b/, the company is pioneering world models that perceive, generate, reason, and interact with virtual and physical worlds.
The company’s flagship product, Marble https://marble.worldlabs.ai/, transforms text, images, and video into fully navigable 3D worlds, unlocking applications across gaming, film, architecture, robotics, and immersive digital experiences. Backed by leading investors and with over $1B raised, World Labs is assembling a world-class team at the intersection of AI research and real-world deployment.
ROLE OVERVIEW
We are building a production-grade web application for 3D Gaussian Splat scene generation, editing, and publishing, and we’re looking for a Pipeline Engineer to help integrate cutting-edge research features and make them reliable, debuggable, and delightful to use.
This is a high-ownership, fullstack-but-backend-heavy role that sits between R&D and frontend. You will work end-to-end across graphics/ML algorithms, backend services, and frontend UI — turning proof-of-concepts into shipped features that users can rely on. The ideal candidate enjoys making complex, messy systems work smoothly in production and improving them continuously based on both internal testing and external user feedback.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
- Bridge research and product by working closely with both graphics/computer vision researchers and frontend engineers to ship usable features.
- Turn standalone Python scripts into clean, production-ready systems with clear inputs, outputs, validations, and failure modes.
- Develop backend services, APIs, and tooling that expose complex 3D workflows in a reliable and scalable way.
- Assist in integrations across the 3D ecosystem, including asset import/export and format conversion with common DCC tools.
IDEAL CANDIDATE PROFILE
- You have a strong pipeline mindset, with experience turning scripts into production systems with clear inputs, outputs, validations, and failure modes.
- You enjoy building tools and infrastructure that enable others, and you take pride in making complex systems understandable and usable.
- You have fluency in the 3D ecosystem, including familiarity with 3D algorithms, DCC tools and common 3D file formats, sufficient to design integrations and debug workflow issues.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
- Strong proficiency in Python, including packaging, typing, tooling, debugging, and performance profiling.
- Strong literacy in core 3D graphics and computer vision concepts, such as transforms, cameras, coordinate systems, rendering, and visual artifact debugging.
- Demonstrated experience taking prototypes to production, including refactoring, testing, CI/CD, versioned artifacts, and reproducibility.
- Solid backend fundamentals, including HTTP APIs, FastAPI (or similar frameworks), async/concurrency basics, cloud deployment, and service reliability.
STRONGLY PREFERRED / NICE-TO-HAVES
- Experience with photogrammetry, 3D reconstruction, or Gaussian splat rendering pipelines.
- Hands-on experience with DCC tools such as Blender, Maya, Houdini, Unreal, or Unity.
- Familiarity with the GPU stack (CUDA, PyTorch), batch/queue systems, and containerization (Docker, Kubernetes).
- Frontend adjacency, with comfort collaborating on React-based parameter plumbing and UX for technical controls.
- Experience with production pipelines at VFX, animation, or gaming studios.
- A production support mindset, including willingness to iterate on documentation, tutorials, and error messages to improve usability and reduce misuse.
EXAMPLE PROJECTS YOU MIGHT WORK ON
- Packaging ML and 3D Python pipelines into GPU-backed FastAPI services with request validation, reproducible outputs, and well-defined request/response schemas.
- Designing parameter schemas and defaults that map cleanly from frontend controls to backend APIs and internal pipeline configurations.
- Integrating import/export workflows with popular DCC tools (e.g., Blender, Maya, Houdini, Unity, Unreal, USD), identifying workflow friction, and producing lightweight documentation, tutorials, and example code/scripts to help users succeed.
WHO YOU ARE
- Fearless Innovator: We need people who thrive on challenges and aren't afraid to tackle the impossible.
- Resilient Builder: Impacting Large World Models isn't a sprint; it's a marathon with hurdles. We're looking for builders who can weather the storms of groundbreaking research and come out stronger.
- Mission-Driven Mindset: Everything we do is in service of creating the best spatially intelligent AI systems, and using them to empower people.
- Collaborative Spirit: We're building something bigger than any one person. We need team players who can harness the power of collective intelligence.
We're hiring the brightest minds from around the globe to bring diverse perspectives to our cutting-edge work. If you're ready to work on technology that will reshape how machines perceive and interact with the world - then World Labs is your launchpad.
Join us, and let's make history together.
Logistics:
Location: This role is based in San Francisco, California; we work in-person in the office 5 days a week.
Visa sponsorship: We sponsor visas. While we can't guarantee success for every candidate or role, if you're the right fit, we're committed to working through the visa process together.
Benefits: We offer generous health, dental, vision and 401K benefits, flexible PTO, paid parental leave, and relocation support as needed.
Equal Employment Opportunity
World Labs is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected under applicable law. We welcome all qualified applicants and are committed to providing reasonable accommodations throughout the hiring process upon request.