Job Description
Director, Production Technology, Disney Motion Picture Production
The Walt Disney Studios is home to some of the most iconic live action characters, worlds and stories across Disney, Marvel, and Lucasfilm.
We're looking for a visionary and highly technical senior leader to support production of The Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production's (MPP) world-class slate of live action films. You are a seasoned technologist, and have prior experience and extensive knowledge of film production and post production pipelines and associated systems. You have proven yourself as a technology innovator developing and streamlining workflows, implementing automation and other tools critical to the production pipeline. You understand the urgent needs of feature production today as you oversee the development of long-term solutions tomorrow.
Who you are:
Your leadership and passion for developing and delivering on strategies to increase efficiency in pre-production, production, postproduction workflows utilizing a mixture of in-house development and third-party solutions. You are:
• A Leader. You have a demonstrated ability to establish a technology vision in the motion picture production space and to execute on it. You have exceptional experience in building and leading teams – with a keen eye for strong talent especially in developing current and cultivating future leaders.
• A master problem solver. You take deep pride in your work and view each new problem as an opportunity for success; you approach challenges creatively, but methodically. You understand the urgency and cadence of the production environment, while balancing with long term durability and sustainability of solutions that benefit each Studio.
• Comfortable with ambiguity. You face change with a cool head and persevere even if you don't have all the details; you're comfortable moving between projects and facing the uncertain because risk and change motivates you to evolve and innovate.
• Technically astute. You have a solid foundation technically and regularly contribute to the industry in some capacity. You rapidly learn new skills, grasping complicated technical information that often leaves others lost whether it's product, industry, or hard technical knowledge, you absorb it quickly and are ready for more.
• Goal oriented. You develop and actualize vision, mission, and strategy into a cohesive outcome through capable team management, tactical execution, and unrelenting focus on daily progress; you develop world class infrastructure that enables maximum value for our projects.
• Excel at multi-tasking. You are able to quickly sort tasks into priorities, determining the balance between short-term triage and designed robust solutions. You can consistently focus on problems of different scopes and timelines.
• Maintain Balance. You are able to balance the demands of technical leadership while maintaining a high standard of operational execution.
What you will do
• Provide leadership and oversight of production technologies across MPP for Pre-Production, Production, Postproduction, and delivery of our projects
• Develop key partnerships with Disney Live Action Production, Finance, VFX and Postproduction stakeholders
• In close collaboration and architectural partnership with multiple teams inside Studio Technology to lead the effort, define and build scalable filmmaker friendly pipelines
• Oversee annual labor and production technology budget working with our Studio Technology Finance team
• Oversee and mentor technical team with a mix of full time and contract staff. Team size can vary greatly depending on the number of concurrent productions in flight
• Contribute to the annual infrastructure and technology strategy
• Contribute to cross-studio standards with 20th Century, Searchlight and Marvel
• Seek out input and requirements from stakeholders and cross-functional show operations teams to implement durable solutions
• Collaborate with various stakeholders to prioritize and implement proofs of concept
• Maintain high architectural and security standards, developed in collaboration with Studio and Global Content Security
• Provide input and guidance on annual operating plans and 5-year planning.
• Provide regular executive-level reporting
What's Your Story?
• 10+ years of experience in feature production and/or postproduction
• 5+ years of experience in a production technology leadership role
• Experience with designing, architecting, and maintaining highly complex media production/postproduction workflows
• Track record of innovation in feature production technology and engineering
• Experience contributing to production and post production products and or standards
• Previous experience developing and implementing pipeline solutions for pre/post production teams
• Experience with camera formats and the growing variety of video codecs
• Documented work experience in a studio environment with hands on experience or first-hand knowledge of studio technologies from providers such as Avid, Adobe, Blackmagic, Autodesk, Signiant, Aspera, and/or other postproduction specific software or transport technologies
• Customer service focused with an emphasis on delivering results for filmmakers and stakeholders
• Superior written and verbal communication skills
What's beneficial to the role?
• Strong technical leader who can successfully collaborate with/across teams to bring designs and projects to fruition
• Exemplify quality, inclusive leadership skills that promote collaboration and provides a ''fail safe'' environment for the team
• Situational and strategic awareness of the environment for quick and decisive identification of issues and bringing about resolution
• Ability to communicate technical solutions to non-technical Production stakeholders
Education
• BS in Engineering, Computer Science, or other related technology discipline
• Master's degree preferred
This position reports to the VP, Production Technology, MPP, TCS & SL in Burbank, CA.
About Studios Content:
The Studios Content group encompasses a collection of world-class entertainment studios that produce high-quality cinematic storytelling for both theatrical and streaming release. It is also home to Disney Theatrical Productions, producer of popular stage shows on Broadway and around the world.
This position is with Walt Disney Pictures, which is part of a business we call Studios Content.
Jobcode: Reference SBJ-g40pnv-52-90-40-84-42 in your application.