Director, Ucan Production Solutions

Systems, Workflows & Technology (SWT) is a central organization that is optimally positioned at the intersection of creative (art) and technology (science), bringing the brightest minds from different functions and geographies to solve business needs across the Netflix 'pitch-to-play' ecosystem.

Collaboration is fundamental to our success. We identify opportunities for improvement through deep discovery and alignment with senior leadership and business stakeholders; ensuring initiatives are consistently interlocked with business objectives and operational strategies. Our close partnership with product and data science teams enables us to deliver effective, scalable solutions that drive operational efficiency for Netflix productions, globally.

We are tenacious and eternally curious. Our team remains in perpetual exploration and evolution, empowering a culture that thrives on continuous improvement and innovation. To amplify business impact, we are searching for a Director to lead our newly formed Production Solutions group in United States/Canada (UCAN). This is a unique and thrilling opportunity for a dynamic business leader with a proven track record of driving complex operational strategies and executing business-centered solutions. An extensive knowledge of production operations and technical workflows, paired with an exceptional ability to manage stakeholder relationships and define and structure business needs (or problems), is critical to the success of this role.

Influencing without authority will play a pivotal role in your ability to affect meaningful change in support of a more cohesive, efficient, and impactful UCAN Production org. As a result, operationalization will require development of business strategies across multiple functions, including teams outside of UCAN Live Action Production such as Content, Product, Production Finance, Dubbing, Marketing, and Business Affairs & Legal Affairs.

You are self-motivated, quick-thinking, flexible, able to pivot when necessary, thorough, and able to juggle multiple and diverse responsibilities with a strong emphasis on organization and unwavering attention to detail at all times. This is a demanding and fast-moving position that requires someone who is a proactive and positive thinker, and able to exercise good judgment and initiative.

CORE FUNCTIONS:

• Workflow Validation & Prioritization: Establish clear understanding and alignment on UCAN production org priorities, which will serve as a guide for informed business decisions and strategic planning. Clearly define the breadth of needs, both 'top-down' and 'bottoms up', to ensure successful implementation of solutions and improvements.

• Workflow Operationalization: Take the lead in implementing key global and regional studio initiatives, while also serving as a crucial bridge between local and global teams, with the goal of alleviating the operational demands on title management functions.

• Production & Market Insights: Provide a regional and functional perspective on vendor and talent landscape by monitoring industry trends, vendor performance and market pressures. Work in close partnership with global and local teams to support effective data gathering and curation, e.g., partner and talent survey, vendor performance metrics.

RESPONSIBILITIES (include, but not limited to):

• Provide functional support and guidance for key business stakeholders in UCAN, including production management, post-production, VFX, and music teams.

• Identify, prioritize, and communicate local and regional needs to central teams, ensuring alignment with global initiatives while streamlining workflows, tools, and processes to optimize resources and allow our content, creative, and production teams to focus on higher value activities.

• Employ 'top down' and 'bottom up' approaches to identifying opportunities for business improvement, including alignment with senior leadership and title management teams.

• Collaborate across global, regional, and local teams to address data accuracy and completeness. Leverage data to drive regional improvements.

• Partner with SWT and product teams in the discovery, development, and adoption of tools, overseeing their operational rollout and guiding long-term planning initiatives.

• Partner with SWT and regional counterparts in the development of slate planning tools, articulating business pain points, contributing high-level requirements, collaborating on product briefs, aligning on technical specifications, and testing strategies.

• Provide the business with actionable data-driven insights and enhance user experiences.

• Assist Product/Customer Success teams in curating and developing runbooks for managing, operating, and supporting new product releases, including exception handling and establishing recovery pathways.

• Provide regular executive-level reporting.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• 10+ years of experience in content production, with roles in production/post, technology, and workflow optimization at a production service vendor, studio or network.

• A proven ability to lead teams despite reporting lines.

• Deep knowledge and experience of the content creation process, on set production and post production services and workflows.

• Repeated success creating cross-functional workflow and processes that create visibility for multiple POV's.

• An excellent communicator who is highly diplomatic in stressful and complex situations; able to generate highly effective decks, documents, spreadsheets, or in-person presentations as a way of inspiring alignment and managing change.

• An innovator and strategic thinker who has a real passion for production and innovation.

• Curious about collecting data to help set business goals and best practices.

• Demonstrated success with engineering teams in scoping and developing solutions for a broad and diverse user base.

• Functional knowledge and understanding of how data is gathered and leveraged across the production lifecycle to inform decision making.

• Ability to manage and operate in ambiguous situations and think on your feet to solve challenges and problems

• Strong communication skills with proven ability to socialize, explain and "sell" new and complex technical strategies, practices and workflows

• Proven track record of innovation, taking initiative, ideation and implementation

• Experience and understanding of requirement documentation, scoping and implementation of custom software development

• Proven ability to embrace, drive and enable change management

• Experience working with diverse teams across multiple functions, skills and locations

• Strong organizational skills with proactive mentality, positive orientation and outlook

• Ability to respond after hours for important, timely, or urgent matters

• Team-player who thrives in a fast paced, team-oriented setting

• Passionate about our culture and values in the workplace

• Willingness to travel

ADDITIONAL CRITERIA TO BE CONSIDERED:

• Has a multi-faceted background in production technologies and workflows, software development, and data structures is ideal

• Must be comfortable operating within a matrixed organization, but possess the strategic and tactical acumen to navigate through ambiguity and partner with the right stakeholders to execute projects successfully.

• Adaptable management / leadership philosophy

• Willingness to embrace and drive technical innovation and disruption in production space