Director Of Product Innovation, Animation

Job Description

We are looking for a senior product leader to develop operational and innovative animation products for our Animation studio for both animated features and series. Leaning on a proven track record in product management in a proven animation studio, or technical animation strategy, we expect this leader to refine and drive our product vision for what animation products look like within our studio. These efforts will include managing a team of product managers based in the studio with distinct product lanes, build vs. buy analysis related to ecosystem growth, and developing key partnerships with studio engineering, design, research, and animation production and creative teams to execute across our animation portfolio.

In this role you will:
• Drive strategy first, solutions second. A leader and team player who can partner with a variety of animation production and creative teams to drive business strategy then actualizes that strategy with both operational and innovative products.
• Own some, but collaborate more. Drive the overall animation product strategy and own key decisions on when to build bespoke (some) versus when to collaborate with other product leaders (more).
• Exercise flexibility vs. conviction. Use personal judgment on when to pivot the product strategy as the business pivots or stand firm on initiatives with grit and persistence.
• Balance near term animation business problems and foundational operating requirements with opportunities for innovation and change management.
• The organization is flat, process is minimal, individual responsibility is big, and in conjunction with the animation production and creative teams, you are empowered to prioritize and make decisions to drive impact for the business.

Here is what we are looking for:
• Proven experience as a leader within an animation studio, preferably with both feature and series pipeline workflow and production management experience required.
• Animation pipeline experience integrating internally developed tools, 3rd party tools and outsource vendors.
• 10+ years of experience as a product manager or technology leader working across a mix of consumer, enterprise, and internal tools with a media or content creation focus. However, the main experience needs to be within an Animation studio.
• Technical fluency, including an ability to clearly describe tradeoffs between users, Animation Production and Creative Teams, designers and engineering partners.
• A master of organization and prioritization who has the ability to triage multiple initiatives with a keen ability to focus team efforts on tackling the right problems at the right time.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including an affinity for socializing product complexity with ease to a variety of audiences.

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-gk59pg-18-226-96-61-42 in your application.