Manager, Creative Technologies - Animation

Job Description

Netflix is the leading provider of streaming video, a lot of it original content: features, shorts, series, documentaries, comedy specials and unscripted content.

Optimizing content quality and longevity without compromising efficiency across all types of projects presents significant challenges, but that's what the Creative Technologies team does by setting technical requirements and best practices, driving new industry standards, consulting on the studio's technical infrastructure, providing direct support to Netflix Original Productions and staying up-to-date with the most advanced developments in professional and consumer technology. Our team consists of subject matter experts who offer varied yet overlapping backgrounds in motion picture production, post-production and distribution - image science, editorial, color correction, image capture, encoding, compression, storage, video, audio... Every day, we collaborate with the crews as well as our internal production, post-production, distribution, marketing, facilities and development teams.

As Netflix creates more and more programming around the world leveraging new video and audio production technology, we are scaling to support the needs of diverse creative teams while continuing to foster industry-wide change.

About You

You are an expert in the technical practices and tools of all animation practices imaging, from hand-drawn to CG, from development, through layout to compositing. You understand current workflows, techniques and software, and how they've developed as technical and creative demands have evolved. You have worked with directors, animators, editors, CG supervisors, artists, engineers, developers. You keep abreast of developing standards, industry trends and solutions that are changing how we create animated content. You have big ideas and opinions about how to ensure high quality, creative flexibility, efficiency, and scalability in animation production and post.

As part of the Creative Technologies & Infrastructure group, you will:
• Provide technical guidance steeped in expertise to develop the best practices and standards that will guide animation production for Netflix Originals.
• Represent the Netflix Creative Technologies group at industry functions, conferences, committee meetings, etc.
• Educate various internal and external teams on Netflix Originals technical specifications and production best practices for animation.
• Provide direct support to productions by ensuring workflows are sound and exploring new techniques and technologies.
• Evaluate various vendors and markets for technical readiness to deliver to our specifications.
• Work with our developers to create tools that facilitate animation production, review and archive.
• Devise and execute strategies to achieve our production goals, improve efficiency and foster the evolution of animation industry practices.
• Identify challenges and opportunities presented by emerging technology, and engage with manufacturers to align them to our strategies and requirements.

Qualifications:
• 8+ years of experience in animation technology, for both features and series.
• Knowledge of or participation in industry associations and standards bodies.
• Deep knowledge of the animation toolset and practices.
• Knowledge of and relationships with technology solutions, equipment, studios and service vendors in the animation space.
• Knowledge of animation archival practices, and the opportunities to improve them.
• The communication skills to clearly articulate and document technical concepts and explain how they impact the creative process.
• A passion for the moving image, whether synthetically or photographically generated.
• Compulsive curiosity.
• Familiarity with animation talent, theory, history and styles.
• Strong knowledge of vendor side workflows including animation pipelines, compositing process, CG pipeline (modeling, rigging, texturing, look development, environments, creature FX, lighting and FX), delivery, archive and the ability to specify efficient workflows and identify additional tools required.
• Working knowledge with Adobe Flash/Animate, ToonBoom, Maya.

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-dy8ekr-3-138-141-202-42 in your application.