Animation Developer Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

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.

Job Summary: Are you passionate about building the software and tools that power worldclass animation. Netflix Animation Studios is seeking a Senior Project Manager for Global Technology to lead the planning, execution, and delivery of innovative technology solutions. In this role, you'll partner closely with Software Engineers, Technical Directors, Technical Supervisors, Production, and Program Managers to ensure our tools and platforms support both the creative vision and operational needs of our animated films.

software or pipeline projects in animation or VFX studio environments, particularly within preproduction. You're skilled at driving crossfunctional initiatives from concept through release and are comfortable working at the intersection of technology and artistdriven workflows. Familiarity with creative preproduction workflows (such as art, story, editorial, and previs) and how they connect into the broader animation pipeline is required and will allow you to be immediately impactful in this role.

At Netflix, we strive to be both great and always better. You'll be empowered to set a high bar for yourself and your teams, constantly looking for ways to improve our technology, our workflows, and the way we collaborate. In this role, you will become a trusted partner to production, ensuring technology empowers our creative teams to tell their best stories.

What You'll Do: Project Ownership & Execution Lead software, pipeline, and tool development efforts from concept to delivery, ensuring they meaningfully improve how artists and production teams work. Develop and maintain clear, focused project plans-breaking down complex, ambiguous problem spaces into concrete milestones and driving them to completion. Proactively surface and resolve risks, dependencies, and blockers, using sound judgment to keep work moving.

Apply Agile practices (Scrum, Kanban, Lean, etc.) in a way that serves the team Partner closely with engineering, technical, and creative stakeholders to ensure tools transition smoothly from development into production use. Build trust with production by developing a deep understanding of show needs, anticipating problems, and reliably following through on commitments. Strategic Thinking & Collaboration Operate effectively in high ambiguity-creating clarity of goals, scope, and priorities where it doesn't yet exist

Prioritize and balance multiple requests by weighing business impact, creative needs, technical constraints, and global timelines. Partner with Program Managers to align project plans and tradeoffs with the broader technology roadmap and studio strategy. Share learnings openly, contributing to studiowide workflow and process improvements for distributed teams.

Collaborate with other project managers to align on standards, support each other's efforts, and collectively maximize impact. Communication & Stakeholder Management Communicate project status, priorities, and risks with candor and clarity-tailoring the level of detail for different audiences and locations. Build strong, trustbased relationships with engineers, technical directors, artists, and production leaders; you listen well and seek dissenting views.

Facilitate discussions that navigate differing perspectives, drive alignment across time zones, and keep the focus on what's best for the studio and the work. Problem Solving & Continuous Improvement Tackle hard, ambiguous problems with resilience-digging into root causes, exploring options, and making thoughtful, timely calls. Use metrics, analytics, and experimentation to define success, understand impact, and iterate on solutions.

Document and share practical best practices, helping others avoid repeat issues and enabling the team to move faster over time. Model a growth mindset by seeking feedback, reflecting on misses as well as wins, and continuously raising your own bar and the team's. What You'll Need: Experience in Software/Tool Development Projects Proven project or program management experience in technologydriven environments, with significant time spent on software, pipeline, or tool development.

Comfort taking endtoend ownership of complex initiatives, using modern project management tools (e.g., Jira, Confluence) as helpful context-not as rigid process. Knowledge of Animation Pipelines or Production Experience Familiarity with animation pipelines, or direct experience partnering with production teams in animation, VFX, games, or media technology. Strong intuition for how technology choices show up on the stage: creative quality, artist productivity, and overall studio outcomes

Project Ownership & Autonomy Demonstrated ability to take initiative. Spot problems or opportunities and drive them through to resolution Comfortable working with minimal direction in ambiguous environments; you create clarity, propose options, and move forward without waiting to be told what to do Strong sense of ownership and follow through. You reliably close the loop with stakeholders, keep them informed, and ensure commitments are met without heavy oversight Global Collaboration Demonstrated success working with distributed teams across multiple locations and time zones, building strong partnerships without relying on colocation.

Strong Interpersonal & Communication Skills A track record of being the trusted "goto" partner for production and technical stakeholders-balancing selflessness with clear perspective. Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to be direct, concise, and transparent about tradeoffs, risks, and decisions. Attention to Detail Consistently delivers thorough, accurate project plans and communications-spotting inconsistencies early, clarifying ambiguity, and ensuring nothing critical falls through the cracks.

Growth Mindset Evident curiosity and eagerness to learn-about new tools, workflows, crafts, and points of view. Welcomes feedback, adjusts quickly, and sees change and challenge as opportunities to get better rather than sources of friction. Bonus Points Experience as part of a highperforming team of project managers, openly sharing context, feedback, and best practices to help each other excel.

Handson application of Agile methodologies (Scrum, Kanban, Lean, etc.) in a way that empowers teams and owners rather than enforcing bureaucracy. Use of metrics, analytics, and thoughtful postmortems to learn from bets-whether they succeed or fail-and to inform the next iteration. This role is based in the US

At NAS, we carefully consider a wide range of compensation factors to determine your compensation. We rely on market indicators and consider your specific job family, background, location, skills, and experience. The overall market range for this role is typically $99,000 - $165,000 USD.

This reflects total compensation; we do not have bonuses. NAS benefits can include medical/dental/vision plans, mental health support, retirement programs, Stock Option Program, and family-forming benefits, paid leave of absence programs, and paid time away programs to be used for vacation and sick paid time off. See more detail about our benefits here.

Inclusion is a Netflix value and we strive to host a meaningful interview experience for all candidates. If you want an accommodation/adjustment for a disability or any other reason during the hiring process, please send a request to your recruiting partner. We are an equal-opportunity employer and celebrate diversity, recognizing that diversity builds stronger teams.

We approach diversity and inclusion seriously and thoughtfully. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, ancestry, national origin, caste, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, age, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic makeup, marital status, or military service.