Director, Development Production - Netflix Animation Studios

Netflix Animation Studios is on a mission to entertain the world with bold, immersive animated films that are timeless and impactful. We are paving the way for the future of animation by building a community of amazing artists and talent across three vibrant locations globally. Come join us!

We are seeking a Director, Development Production to lead the operational and financial strategy for our early-stage slate of animated films. This key leadership position within the Netflix Animation Studios (NAS) team bridges the gap between creative vision and physical production reality. Navigating the healthy tension between the creative and the studio, you will oversee a fast-moving, high-volume portfolio of 15+ simultaneous projects, ensuring they are strategically planned, budgeted, and resourced to transition successfully into greenlight and full production.

You will be instrumental in the ongoing integration of our end-to-end studio model, managing the delicate balance between internal growth and the limited, purposeful use of external vendor partnerships. As the majority of the slate is focused on 3D animation, a deep understanding of CG-heavy pipelines is essential.

What You’ll Do

Slate Strategy & Leadership

• Slate Formation: Partner with production and Creative Leadership to define and execute the operational strategy for early-stage animated features across a high-volume slate of 15+ concurrent projects.

• Stakeholder Diplomacy: Foster honest, transparent, and collaborative relationships with Filmmakers, Content and Production Executives, and broader leadership; serve as a trusted, objective resource for exploring viable solutions and providing constructive observations and feedback on development talent and project challenges.

• Milestone Support & Problem Solving: Partner with Content Leads to support, nurture, and guide projects to reach key milestones in the development process, leveraging bespoke approaches and offering highly creative solutions to key production and pipeline challenges.

• Team Growth & Culture: Manage, mentor, and guide the Manager and Coordinator of Development Production. Hold regular team meetings to assess the health of the floor, fostering a supportive environment that values diverse perspectives, cascades critical studio information, provides purposeful work, and proactively addresses performance management and professional development.

Financial Planning & Execution

• Budgeting & Cost Reporting: Partner regularly with Finance and Production Accounting to build, maintain, and actualize development phase budgets and monthly cost reports, ensuring updates are communicated dynamically to relevant teams.

• Workflow & Schedule Oversight: Oversee the Development Production team’s workflows to achieve overall studio objectives, including customizing, maintaining, and supervising development milestone schedules.

• Executive Reporting: Track and communicate key milestones to provide bi-weekly project trajectory updates directly to the Content Team, COO, and Head of Production.

• Resource Projections & Talent Optimization: Build comprehensive staffing projections by identifying exact deliverable needs required to reach crucial development milestones. Partner closely with Artist Management to leverage internal studio talent as a primary source for fulfilling development needs, supporting our end-to-end studio model.

• Freelance & Short-Term Hiring: Partner with the Talent Acquisition team to address short-term and freelance hiring needs for development projects, including reviewing and approving deal terms and hires.

Studio Tech & Workflows

• Studio Technology Incubation: Partner with Studio Technology and R&D teams to serve as a primary incubator and testing ground for new operational tools and technological initiatives (e.g., pipeline upgrades, enterprise database migrations) before full studio rollout.

• Studio Agility: Maintain flexibility and openness to take on unique, specialized projects as necessary or assigned by senior leadership.

What You’ll Bring

• Deep Feature Animation Expertise: 10+ years of feature animation production experience, including 5+ years in a senior leadership role (e.g., Director of Production, Head of Production, or equivalent).

• Development-to-Production Track Record: Demonstrated expe