Production Systems Lead

About us: 

Glitch Productions is an independent animation studio based in Australia making original, long form animated shows distributed on Youtube. Our channel has over 22 million subscribers, tens of millions of views per episode and is still growing strong. Our studio is filled with incredibly talented and passionate artists that are determined to change the way animation is produced and treated in the industry. Our biggest IP; Digital Circus, has amassed over 350 million views on the pilot alone and we have a lot more still to come.

About the role:

We're looking for a Production Systems Lead to own how our production systems are designed, maintained, and adopted across our shows. This is a systems role rather than a production management role. You'll sit within the Business Systems department, reporting to the Head of Business Systems, and work day-to-day with the Head of Production, Associate Producer, and the production teams on each show.

You'll be the bridge between what production needs and what our systems do. This includes gathering and shaping requirements, designing production workflows and data structures in tools like ShotGrid and Airtable, writing clear specifications for our Production Technology team to build, and making sure what ships is actually adopted. You'll also be the steward of production data across the studio: setting standards, keeping it clean, and making sure it can be trusted for scheduling, capacity planning, and reporting.

This role is ideal for someone with deep production experience who enjoys bringing structure to production data and turning production needs into systems that artists and producers actually use.

What you'll do

• Partner with the Head of Production and Associate Producer to gather, prioritize, and document production system requirements, including feature requests from production, and run a regular intake and review cadence with them.
• Design production data structures (entities, fields, statuses, pipeline steps, and naming conventions) that meet show requirements and align with studio-wide standards.
• Write clear specifications and acceptance criteria for the Production Technology team, and verify what's built before it reaches a show.
• Co-own ShotGrid governance with Production Technology. You'll own the schema, statuses, naming conventions, and permission model, while they own the technical implementation and integrations. All schema changes go through you.
• Define and maintain production data standards and a production data dictionary, so production data can be trusted and rolls up cleanly into studio-wide reporting, resourcing, and capacity planning.
• Run regular data quality audits across shows, and work with production teams to fix root causes, not just symptoms.
• Own show setup and wrap from a systems standpoint. This includes templates for new productions, standardized pipeline steps and statuses, and a clean closeout at the end of each project.
• Build and maintain standard production reporting (progress, throughput, capacity, and bid vs. actual) for the Head of Production, Producers, and department Leads, working with the wider Business Systems team.
• Plan and drive rollouts of new production workflows, including training, communication, and following up to confirm adoption.
• Onboard new hires onto our production software and workflows, and create role-based guides, training, and reference materials for production management, leads, and artists.
• Triage and resolve production system requests and tickets assigned to you.

What we're looking for

• Deep hands-on experience in animation production, with exposure to both 2D and 3D pipelines and expert-level knowledge of at least one.
• Expert working knowledge of ShotGrid, including schema, pipeline steps, statuses, permissions, and how they're actually used on a show.
• Strong working knowledge of Google Sheets or Excel: able to model, reconcile, clean, and report on production data, and to recognize when a spreadsheet is the wrong tool for the job.
• Relational data thinking: able to design an entity model, trace a data problem to its source, and explain the trade-offs to non-technical people.
• Experience gathering requirements from busy production teams and turning them into specifications and plans a technical team can build from.
• Experience rolling out a new workflow or system to a production team and getting it adopted, including training and documentation.
• Strong judgement about what to standardize, and the ability to keep solutions proportionate to the problem being solved.
• Clear written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong interpersonal skills and confidence working with everyone from production assistants to department heads.
• Able to work independently and take ownership of ambiguous or evolving work.
• An engaging personality, willingness to learn, and a genuine enthusiasm for making things happen.

Nice to have

• Experience working with Airtable or similar low-code database tools.
• Experience working with Asana or similar task management tools.
• Experience working in a fast-growing studio where systems and processes are still being developed and refined.
• An understanding of or interest in the arts, animation, gaming, and/or 'internet nerd' culture.

• A flexible working environment.
• A creative and collaborative office environment where individual input is valued.
• Regular company functions and free entry to conventions and industry events.
• Offices close to public transport in the heart of Parramatta and Melbourne CBD.
• Regular company breakfasts and lunches.
• A diverse team that values independent thinking, professional development and career growth.
• Access to an Employee Assistance Program (EAP), confidential mental health and well being support, for you and your family

Glitch Productions has an art-first mindset. Regardless of which team we're in, every single team member's core mission is to create the best art possible and delight the audience that has given us so much.

We achieve this mission through our values:

Passion: First and foremost, every team member has a passion for the work we do and why we do it. It's what allows us to contribute our creative energy, pitch new concepts, and give everything we make a personal touch that resonates with our fans.

Innovation: From cobbling together sets in a living room to inventing new pipelines using breakthrough technology, we have always focused on innovation and new ideas. We always try to push the boundaries of our industry and keep things fresh and exciting for both the team and our audience.

Teamwork: Animation takes a big team of incredibly talented people, and everyone is always ready to pitch in and lend a hand. We believe our diversity and range of skills allow us to create works none of us could do on our own.

Integrity: Our integrity is at the heart of our core mission. It's what allows us to do right for our projects and for each other.

At Glitch Productions, we're passionate about fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace that reflects our values as a creative studio. We hire based on skills, passion and potential, and celebrate the diverse perspectives that make our team stronger. We welcome people of all races, genders, sexual orientations, gender identities, ages, educational backgrounds, abilities and experiences.

Simply put, if you're a good person and share our passion for animation, we want to hear from you!