Senior Director, Executive Producer

Universal Orlando•Orlando, FL

About The Position

At Universal Creative, we design, develop and deliver the most compelling entertainment experiences imaginable to drive growth for Universal Parks & Resorts worldwide. Our innovative attractions, immersive theme parks and world-class resorts fuse art and technology to create new standards in the themed entertainment industry. Our Team Members are the driving force behind Universal Creative. With their diverse skills and forward-thinking ideas, our team pushes us beyond the boundaries of what’s possible to achieve the extraordinary. Together, we’re creating a Universe of fun, always ensuring the next thing we do is better than the last thing we did. JOB SUMMARY: The Senior Director, Executive Producer – Studio leads the front-end creative development process of projects, building and guiding multidisciplinary teams from pre-ideation through concept. This role is accountable for leading and enforcing a structured development process, including clear frameworks, milestones, and decision gates, ensuring projects progress with rigor, discipline, and accountability at each stage, while inspiring and encouraging a highly creative culture. The role ensures projects are strategically aligned, operationally viable, and sufficiently defined to support a successful transition into execution and ensuring the creative intent schedule, budget goals are achieved.

Requirements

Major decision-making.
Influences decisions of major nature.
High degree of tact & diplomacy to obtain favorable decisions or maintain good will.
Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
Consistent attendance is a job requirement.
Bachelor’s degree in arts, science or management disciplines including Theater, Design, Industrial Engineering, Production, Project Management is required or equivalent combination of education and experience.
10+ years of leadership experience as a production or project management leader, leading overall production and executive communication for a dynamic, multi-disciplined, fast-paced creative studio or projects in experience-based entertainment, entertainment marketing or agency for world-class theme parks, studios, or related industries; or equivalent combination of education and experience.

Nice To Haves

Master's degree is strongly preferred - MS, MA, MBA.

Responsibilities

Lead and govern the front-end development process from pre-ideation through concept.
Establish and manage frameworks, milestones, and decision gates, including defined phase exit criteria.
Govern project progression and drive gate decisions, holding teams accountable to established standards and advancement criteria.
Oversee and manage development-phase budgets and cost tracking, ensuring spending aligns with approved plans and supports accurate forecasting and reporting.
Strong, proactive problem solving and trade-offs leadership, strong collaboration, and ability to build conscience. Leads with clarity, breaking down complex problems and driving momentum.
Design to budget
Guide teams in defining project scope, objectives, and success criteria.
Develops early-phase plans, schedules, estimates, and resource strategies.
Validate that concepts are strategically aligned, operationally viable, and sufficiently defined to support successful execution On Time, On Budget, On Brand and On Strategy.
Identify and drive resolution of key risks, gaps, and dependencies impacting readiness.
Build and lead multidisciplinary accountable teams, establishing clear roles, expectations, and accountability.
Direct the producing team to ensure consistent application of development processes, standards, and best practices.
Drive delivery of high-quality, well-defined concept work across teams.
Lead team culture development, fostering a culture of empowerment, collaboration, disciplined execution, and solution-oriented problem solving while embodying the studio values.
Lead executive development reviews and cross-functional alignment.
Ensure clear communication of project status, risks, and readiness to leadership.
Partner with Creative Studio, Global Project Hub, global portfolio teams, and business stakeholders to align development efforts with project priorities.
Contribute to the development of new and continuous improvement of development tools, workflows, and best practices.
Lead with executive presence, translating complex project and development concepts into clear, persuasive narratives that drive alignment, secure buy-in, and influence senior leadership decisions.
Understand and actively participate in Environmental, Health & Safety responsibilities by following established UO policy, procedures, training and team member involvement activities.
Performs other duties as assigned.