Animation Department Director

Requisition Number: 175582

Position Title: DD II

External Description:

EA is a world-renowned entertainment leader, creating top-selling videogame franchises, award-winning interactive technology, fan programs and cross-platform digital experiences enjoyed by players all over the world. EA artists strive to create characters, performances, scenery, moods and experiences that suspend disbelief and emotionally connect with players.

EA Create's Animation team is responsible for high-quality performance in all aspects of their work. They know how to reveal emotions, attitude, and mood through a character's movement and behavior, creating memorable characters that appeal to players. In the end, the look of a game is a significant factor in a game's overall impact to players.

What you will do at EA

We are looking for an experienced person who is responsible for the business and direction for a growing team. You must be passionate about both people and project management, providing leadership for the department's business and strategy. The Development Director oversees all projects in Animation, ensuring each project delivers as expected, aligned with the department's expertise and planning.

Reporting to the Senior Development Director, you will establish the direction and the future trajectory of our Animation team, making sure we works together towards the department's strategic vision.

Leadership and People Management

• Champion the department's strategic vision and ensure leadership understands the direction for the department
• Partner with the Senior Animation Director on long-term needs, technical roadmap, staff development plans, and future department growth opportunities
• Connect with development partners to understand animation needs
• Work with development team leadership to identify opportunities for business and evolve the team's craft
• Collaborate with Create leadership across Rigging, Motion Capture, Scanning, Audio, Operations, Finance, and external partners
• Ensure all projects are planned and staffed
• Organize the scale of the team
• Mentor Development Directors
• Provide constructive feedback to team members and guide their career development and progression
• Create an inclusive environment and address any conflict on the team
• Develop positive working relationships with internal and partner teams
• Promote a creative and supportive environment where people can flourish
• Establish a solution-based approach to overcome complex challenges in collaboration with the team and other disciplines

Execution

• Oversee all staffing, finding solutions to meet staff requirements
• Be responsible for financial planning and reporting
• Represent the Animation department to all development teams and business leaders, promoting the work we do and looking for collaboration opportunities
• Work with Operations to create estimate tools for accurate scoping and bidding
• Collect metrics for all projects, conducting business analysis and looking for efficiencies
• Support animation production in any risk management and solutions
• Drive innovation for Animation's needs; work with production to find new production solutions
• Champion improvements to tools and standards regarding project bidding, tracking metrics, communicating progress and identifying risk

Project Management

• Collect all scope of work, schedule, deadlines, and dependencies
• Stay up-to-date on all scope of work, keeping all scope in one central location
• Develop an overall project schedule based on the individual task estimates for production
• Determine the resources needed to meet the task requirements
• Track metrics and scope changes
• Ensure all projects stay on scope and schedule
• For additional scope, ensure the new work is evaluated and does not affect the agreed upon scope of work
• Ensure all production updates are communicated and to the proper audiences
• Identify and escalate risk
• Direct financial planning, representing the department's budget and changes during quarterly estimates

Requirements

• 7+ years project management experience
• 5+ years team leadership experience
• Familiarity with animation production processes and pipelines
• Industry experience in video games, film, or television
• Effective communication skills across all levels and organizations
• Experience in several project management methodologies, such as Waterfall and Agile
• Familiar with project management tools, such as JIRA, Shotgrid

City:

State:

Community / Marketing Title: Animation Department Director

Company Profile:

We are a global team of creators, storytellers, technologists, experience originators, innovators and so much more. We believe amazing games and experiences start with teams as diverse as the players and communities we serve. At Electronic Arts, the only limit is your imagination.

EEOText:

About Electronic Arts

Everything we do is designed to inspire the world to play. Through our cutting-edge games, innovative services, and powerful technologies, we bring worlds with infinite possibilities to millions of players and fans around the globe.

We’re looking for collaborative and inclusive people with diverse perspectives who will enrich our culture and challenge us. We take a holistic approach with our benefits program, focusing on physical, emotional, financial, career, and community wellness to support our people through every chapter of life. Our goal is to provide a safe and respectful workplace that empowers you to thrive in both work and life.

Electronic Arts is an equal opportunity employer. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, genetic information, religion, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, marital status, family status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We will also consider employment qualified applicants with criminal records in accordance with applicable law. EA also makes workplace accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities as required by applicable law.

Days Open: 54

Can this position be remote?: 0

EEO Employer Verbiage:

About Electronic Arts

We exist to inspire the world to play. Through innovative technology and immersive storytelling, we deliver new ways of experiencing worlds of interactive entertainment for our millions of players worldwide. Our strength lies in the diversity of our people, combining creativity, innovation and passion. We fully champion inclusive culture, and provide opportunities for growing, learning, and leading that allows for the most impactful and rewarding work of our teams’ careers. 

 

We put our people first, and we make sure they’re taken care of both in and out of the office. As we reflect on our learnings and successes from remote work, we aim to provide dynamic, collaborative and flexible work environments for our teams. Our employees connect through our Employee Resource Groups, which are actively involved in driving business decisions every step of the way. But our support doesn’t end at the workplace—we also encourage a balanced lifestyle with paid time off and new parent leave, free video games, fitness reimbursement and more. 

 

Our goal is to provide a safe, respectful and inspiring workplace for all of our employees. Through our diversity, equity, inclusion and social responsibility programs, we’re doing the work to give everyone the space to be their full selves while giving back to our community. We’re looking for problem-solvers, game-changers, innovators, dreamers, doers—people that are ready to move the needle and build on our success. As our industry accelerates, we aren’t just keeping up—we’re staying ahead of the game.

 

Electronic Arts is an equal opportunity employer. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, genetic information, religion, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, marital status, family status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Electronic Arts also makes workplace accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities as required by applicable law.