JJ Jay

Work History

• 

  character technical director

  DreamWorks Animation

  February 2019 - Present

  Petaluma, CA
• 

  General TD / Engineering Manager

  Pixar

  November 1995 - June 1999

  Point Richmond, CA

  Created and rigged 3D models for A Bug's Life and Toy Story 2.
  Designed and developed procedural model building and animation techniques for A Bug's Life.
  Designed and developed procedural particle (dust) system.
  Designed and developed secondary dynamic motion system.
  Created variety of shot-based special effects work.
  Some work in 3D shading and lighting.
  
  Led the software development for the Toy Story Activity Center CD-ROM.
  Recruited, hired, and managed software development and quality assurance staffs.
  Member of the product design team.
  Established software development processes for Interactive Division.
  Engineering liaison between Pixar's Interactive Division and Disney Interactive.
  Engineering manager for subsequent interactive projects.

• Vice President Software Development

  Penguin Software/Polarware

  1985 - 1987

  Geneva, IL

  Converted The Quest from Apple II to Atari 800.
  Managed production of all software, including staffing, design, and software development.
  Produced software for graphics utilities, educational games, and entertainment software.
  Designed and developed game development tools.
  Involved in all phases of day-to-day business and corporate planning.
  Developed a rich and complex English imperative parser for use in our graphics adventure games.
• 

  Member Technical Staff

  AT&T Bell Laboratories

  September 1988 - November 1995

  Naperville, IL and Indianoplis, IN

  Provided technical leadership for the development and maintenance of the Public Phone 2000, a real-time DOS-based public telephone.
  Developed software architecture for AT&T's coin telephone and next generation public card phone.
  Designed and developed variety of call routing and software maintenance features for the 5ESS digital switch.
  Designed software processes and C-coding standards for entire 5ESS international development.
• 

  Senior Character Technical Director

  LucasArts

  August 2006 - March 2007

  San Francisco, CA

  Brief stint as Character TD Lead for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.
• 

  Director Of Engineering

  Kudos&Co;.

  April 2017 - March 2018

  Petaluma, CA

  Worked with Product Development Head to plan next versions of iOS, Android and web apps.
  Assisted Product and Business Development in planning of future feature set.
  Contributed to architectural changes and feature designs.
  Planned and implemented software requirements for COPPA and GDPR compliancy.
  Worked with Server-Side team on API to support Front-End apps.
  Modified and improved internal web apps.
  
• 

  Character TD Department Head

  DreamWorks Animation

  January 2008 - February 2014

  Redwood City, CA and Glendale, CA

  Supervised technical and artistic work in Character TD department for Shrek Forever After, Gift of the Night Fury, Me and My Shadow, and Penguins of Madagascar.
  Managed production schedule and costs for Character TD department for above mentioned films.
  Managed cross-department dependencies regarding character development.
  Mentor technical artists as necessary.
  
• 

  Member Technical Staff

  AT&T Bell Laboratories

  September 1989 - November 1995

  Naperville, IL

• Director of Software Development

  Kudos & Co.

  June 2017 - March 2018

  Petaluma, CA

• Owner and Brewer

  Petaluma Hills Brewing Company

  January 2012 - June 2017

  Petaluma, CA
• 

  Character TD

  DreamWorks Animation

  February 2003 - March 2014

  Redwood City, CA

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

• VP Software Development

  GeoVector Corporation

  June 1999 - May 2002

  San Francisco, CA
• 

  Technical Director

  Pixar

  November 1995 - June 1999

  Point Richmond, CA