Joao Montenegro

Joao Montenegro is a highly experienced Senior Software Engineer at Pixar Animation Studios, specializing in Machine Learning and Lighting Tools since June 2017. Prior to this role, Joao served as an on-site and remote Software Engineer for The Foundry, contributing to the development of the Katana lighting framework. Joao played a significant role in the early stages of Katana’s development, earning recognition with an Academy Sci-Tech Award for contributions to its lighting framework. Earlier experience includes positions as a Pipeline Technical Director at Framestore, where Joao led the front-end Pipeline Team on the production of "Avatar," and served as a Software Engineer at Chipidea Microelectronica, focusing on database and information system development. Joao holds an MSc in Computer Animation from Bournemouth University and a BSc in Software Engineering from Universidade do Porto.