Director, Platform Integration Animation

Paramount•New York, NY

About The Position

The Director, Platform Integration – Animation is an expert in animation. They lead a team called an Integration 'solution pod.' Their role is to turn real-world animation workflows into easy-to-use AI tools that can be adopted and released. This role is designed for a former or current Head of CG, Animation Supervisor, CG Supervisor, or Pipeline-aware Department Lead who deeply understands animation production—from asset and rig build through shot finaling, editorial, and delivery—and can partner with product and engineering teams to turn that knowledge into production-ready software. The Director will own workflow discovery, product definition, prioritization, and end-to-end delivery from prototype through pilot and production, leveraging shared platform capabilities.

Requirements

10+ years of experience in animation production, including significant time in a senior show-side role (e.g., Animation Supervisor, Head of CG, CG Supervisor, or equivalent).
Have a deep knowledge of modern animation pipelines.
Be familiar with DCC tools and how shows are delivered. This includes handoffs between departments, approvals, editorial timelines, and planning for shots or sequences.
Demonstrated ability to translate complex creative workflows into clear requirements and decision frameworks.
Experience partnering closely with engineers, TDs, or pipeline teams.
Solid communication skills with artists, leads, supervisors, production, and executives.
You should have credibility with creative stakeholders. This means you can constructively challenge ideas. You can also align different departments and make decisions, even when there is time strain.

Nice To Haves

Experience helping design or deploy pipeline tools, automation, or AI-assisted workflows in animation production.
Background working across multiple shows, studios, or large-scale animation productions.
It is important to understand AI-enabled creative tools. This includes knowing their risks, limitations, and evaluation challenges. Key challenges are temporal consistency and controllability.
Experience navigating studio governance, security, and IP protection requirements.

Responsibilities

Act as the primary animation workflow authority for the solution pod; build trusted relationships with Animation Supervisors, Heads of Department, Production, and Studio stakeholders.
Run working sessions with show-side and studio leaders to understand current-state pipelines, handoffs, and failure points across the animation lifecycle (e.g., story → layout → animation → CFX → lighting → final).
Explore future workflows and pipelines to elevate the team, then map out a plan to achieve the vision (including multi-show scalability and pipeline compatibility).
Translate animation workflows into clear, testable requirements that engineering and UX teams can execute against.
Produce the Workflow Requirements for a project that includes: Artist, lead, and supervisor user journeys (with department-specific variations where needed), Definition of Done tied to production readiness (show viability, repeatability, supportability), Telemetry and success metrics (e.g., time saved per shot/sequence, reduced iteration loops, fewer handoff defects), PipeThere are constraints related to the pipeline, security, and studio aspects. These constraints include asset and shot provenance, IP restrictions, show partitioning, and approvals.
Make tradeoffs to maximize adoption on real shows; actively prevent scope creep—especially when “nice-to-have” creative controls threaten schedule or stability.
Decompose animation initiatives into: Capability needs for Core AI/Research (e.g., model interfaces, eval targets, failure modes relevant to animation—temporal stability, character consistency, acting intent, style adherence, continuity, editability), Integration work for the pod (UI/UX, pipeline hooks, DCC integration, automation, packaging, interoperability with show tools).
Check if any AI or platform features are ready for production in animation.
This includes ensuring latency, reliability, predictability, and auditability.
Also, confirm versioning and repeatability across shots.
Act as the animation “reality check” on model performance, edge cases, and failure tolerance (what breaks continuity, what introduces unacceptable artifacting, what undermines approvals).
Drive sprint planning, milestone definition, and delivery cadence with engineering/UX.
Ensure prototypes are tested early with real users across key departments; incorporate feedback rapidly and pragmatically.
Plan and execute pilots: onboarding, enablement, communications, feedback loops, and clear go/no-go criteria tied to show schedule and production risk.
Ensure production readiness. This includes creating telemetry dashboards. Also, prepare support and runbooks. Establish an escalation path. Develop a rollout and rollback plan. Finally, document everything to align with how shows operate.
Accurate definition of animation workflow problems and acceptance criteria
Backlog prioritization and scope control for the pod
Pilot success and production go/no-go recommendations (with required governance approvals)
Adoption outcomes and stakeholder satisfaction for delivered tools