IT Manager

Absurd Ventures•Santa Monica, CA

3h•Onsite

About The Position

We are looking for an experienced IT Manager to oversee the technical infrastructure and daily support operations of our studio headquarters in Santa Monica. Reporting to the company's IT Director, this person will help ensure that artists, designers, and developers have the tools and systems they need to create world-class entertainment content. As part of a small, hands-on IT team, you will manage both day-to-day technical support and maintenance. You will support on-prem and cloud-based production workflows, build systems, and collaboration hardware. The ideal candidate combines technical expertise with an understanding of the unique needs of a creative production environment.

Requirements

5+ years of IT experience in a production or creative studio environment.
Strong understanding of mixed-platform environments (Windows, macOS, and Linux).
Experience supporting high-performance hardware for artists and developers (e.g., GPU workstations, render farms, NAS/SAN systems).
Proficiency with network management, including firewalls, VPNs, routing, and switching, especially Ubiquiti or Palo Alto products.
Familiarity with cloud services and integrations (AWS or Azure).
Admin experience with JIRA, Confluence, Perforce, Slack, & Office 365.
Solid grounding in cybersecurity, endpoint protection, and access control management.
Excellent troubleshooting, communication, and organizational skills.
Ability to work proactively in a small, cross-functional team and support a fast-paced creative culture.

Nice To Haves

Experience in a game studio, animation, or VFX environment.
Understanding of build systems, CI/CD pipelines, or virtual production workflows.
Experience with automation or scripting (Python, PowerShell, Bash, etc.).
Knowledge of virtualization or containerization platforms.
Previous experience managing IT for a hybrid (onsite + remote) creative workforce.

Responsibilities

Oversee and maintain the studio’s local IT infrastructure, including workstations, servers, storage, conference room hardware.
Support production pipelines for AAA console game development, VFX, and other content creation tools (e.g., Unreal Engine, Autodesk, Adobe, Perforce).
Manage user access, permissions, and authentication across local devices, SaaS services, and Microsoft Entra.
Maintain and troubleshoot Teams based conference rooms.
Collaborate closely with production and engineering teams to identify and deliver technical solutions that enhance workflow efficiency.
Provide responsive, high-quality support to internal and external collaborators, both onsite and remote.
Track company inventory of hardware and software assets.
Maintain documentation of IT systems, configurations, and processes.
Ensure the security and integrity of studio data through consistent application of cybersecurity best practices.
Occasional on-call or after hours work to fix emergencies or complete special projects.