Team Name:
Cinematics

Job Title:
Senior Manager - Cinematics TD (SFD / Cinematics)

Requisition ID:
R027710

Job Description:

Blizzard Animation, which creates the Cinematics that breathe life into the various Blizzard Franchises, is hiring an experienced Senior Manager - Cinematics TD to lead a team of TD's supporting multiple animation and cinematics projects. This role sits at the intersection of technology, production, and artistry, ensuring that artists across all departments have the workflows, tools, and technical support needed to deliver world-class content.

The ideal candidate is an exceptional people leader, communicator, and technical expert who understands the end-to-end animation pipeline from asset creation and rigging through animation, FX, lighting, rendering, and final delivery. This individual will partner closely with Production, Department Supervisors, Technology teams and Studio Leadership to drive operational excellence, resolve complex production challenges, and continuously improve artist workflows.

We are looking for someone with deep expertise in animation/VFX pipelines who also understands emerging production technologies and can identify practical opportunities to enhance artist productivity, streamline workflows, strengthen knowledge management, and support scalable production environments.

This role is a hybrid work position, with some work on-site and some work-from-home. The home studio for this role is Irvine, CA. This is a full-time staff position.

Responsibilities

Priorities can often change in a fast-paced environment like ours, so this role includes, but is not limited to, the following responsibilities:

Leadership & Team Management

• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of Technical Directors supporting multiple concurrent productions
• Establish clear priorities, resource allocation, and career development plans for TD team members
• Foster a culture of technical excellence, customer service, collaboration, accountability
• Recruit, onboard, and retain high-performing technical talent

Production Technology and Support

• Partner with Production Managers, Producers, Supervisors, and Department Leads to understand project priorities and technical needs
• Ensure timely and effective technical support for artists across all departments
• Provide strategic guidance on pipeline architecture, DCC integrations, automation, asset management, rendering, and production infrastructure
• Coordinate TD resources across productions to balance workload and address critical production challenges.
• Act as the primary escalation point for complex production and pipeline issues.
• Identify bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and recurring production of pain points, then implement scalable solutions.
• Establish best practices and standards for production support and technical troubleshooting

Minimum Requirements

Experience

• 10+ years of experience in animation, VFX, game cinematics, or related digital content production environments
• 2+ years of experience managing technical teams, including Technical Directors, Pipeline TDs, Production Engineers, or similar roles
• Proven experience supporting artists and productions in fast-paced, deadline-driven environments

Knowledge & Skills

• Deep understanding of end-to-end animation and VFX production pipelines, including Asset creation and management, Rigging and character workflows, Animation pipelines, Simulation and FX workflows, Lighting and rendering, Production publishing and delivery
• Strong leadership, communication, and stakeholder management abilities. Experience partnering effectively with Production, Department Supervisors, and Engineering teams
• Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to balance immediate production needs and long-term technical strategy
• Working knowledge of modern DCC applications such as Maya, Houdini, Katana, Nuke, or equivalent production tools
• Demonstrated understanding of current technology trends, advanced creative-production tools, and their practical applications within modern content development pipelines.

Extra Points

• Experience leading TD organizations supporting multiple simultaneous productions.
• Background or working knowledge using Universal Scene Description (USD) workflows in production pipelines
• Experience with cloud-based production workflows and render infrastructure
• Knowledge of asset management systems, production tracking platforms, and workflow orchestration tools
• A definite plus - Experience evaluating or implementing next-generation workflow enhancements that improve content creation, optimize production processes, or support cross-team collaboration
• Experience managing organizational change and technology adoption initiatives

Rewards

We provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well-being for 'Every World' - we've got our employees covered! Subject to eligibility requirements, the Company offers comprehensive benefits including:

• Medical, dental, vision, health savings account or health reimbursement account, healthcare spending accounts, dependent care spending accounts, life and AD&D insurance, disability insurance;
• 401(k) with Company match, tuition reimbursement, charitable donation matching;
• Paid holidays and vacation, paid sick time, floating holidays, compassion and bereavement leaves, parental leave;
• Mental health & wellbeing programs, fitness programs, free and discounted games, and a variety of other voluntary benefit programs like supplemental life & disability, legal service, ID protection, rental insurance, and others;
• If the Company requires that you move geographic locations for the job, then you may also be eligible for relocation assistance.

Eligibility to participate in these benefits may vary for part time and temporary full-time employees and interns with the Company. You can learn more by visiting https://www.benefitsforeveryworld.com/.

In the U.S., the standard base pay range for this role is $149,100.00 - $275,876.00 Annual. These values reflect the expected base pay range of new hires across all U.S. locations. Ultimately, your specific range and offer will be based on several factors, including relevant experience, performance, and work location. Your Talent Professional can share this role's range details for your local geography during the hiring process. In addition to a competitive base pay, employees in this role may be eligible for incentive compensation. Incentive compensation is not guaranteed. While we strive to provide competitive offers to successful candidates, new hire compensation is negotiable.