Technical Operations Specialist - Animation Production

About Our Company

VIZ Media has been bringing the finest in manga, anime, and global entertainment to English-speaking fans across the world for nearly 40 years. From classic series like Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, and Naruto to current hits like My Hero Academia, Demon Slayer, and Chainsaw Man, we continue to offer the best in action, romance, fantasy, and adventure stories for fans of all ages.

Our critically acclaimed manga, graphic novels, and books have won Eisner, YALSA, and Hugo awards and are available in both print and digital editions, and our premier catalog of anime titles can be seen on TV and via streaming and digital download, as well as in collectible Blu-ray and DVD sets at major retailers.

Learn more about VIZ Media, anime, and manga at www.viz.com.

Job Summary

VIZ Media, the world leader in English-language versions of manga and anime (Japanese comics and animation), is looking for a Technical Operations Specialist to join our Animation Production team. The Technical Operations Specialist will be responsible for and contribute to the management and production of Animation assets for television, home video, and digital life cycles. 

The core duties include monitoring and guiding assets end-to-end through production, maintaining accurate guidelines and specifications for asset production, conformance, routing, tracking, and QC of all materials. You will be responsible as a go-to expert and point-of-contact for technical asset needs within Animation Production, working closely with the Production Manager to meet the material needs of all teams for production. The ideal candidate has a strong eye for detail, excellent project management and organizational skills, immense technical prowess, and a passion for post-production and animation.

What you’ll do:

1. Understand, support, and manage asset production across TV, Home Video (DVD, BD), digital (AVOD, SVOD, TVOD), simulcast, and localization production and distribution workflows.
2. Manage, track, and communicate the status and routing of assets along the production and post-production pipelines with vendors, licensors, licensees, and cross-functional teams.
3. Serve as the subject matter expert for asset production, conformance, QC, and the content distribution supply chain.
4. Contribute and adhere to SOP's (Standard Operating Procedures) and best practices to maintain consistency across projects and assets.
5. Work closely with other members of the production team to shape, define, implement, and support efficient workflows and communication for department and company needs.
6. Communicate, guide, and support vendors to meet asset production specifications.
7. Conform, edit, convert, and troubleshoot assets (Audio, video, timed text, metadata, art) to meet various production and distribution needs.
8. Own scheduling, delivery, and receipt of assets from vendors and partners daily across multiple projects and IPs under strict deadlines.
9. Drive material archiving, backups, screeners, and overall asset organization for long term production needs as well as asset transfers/asset shares to key stakeholders.
10. Evaluate, troubleshoot, and validate assets with a high level of detail at receipt to ensure they meet all industry and regulatory standards for broadcast and distribution.
11. Maintain detailed records of technical issues and develop solutions to solve ongoing problems that impact production and processes.

The ideal candidate has:

• Minimum 5 years working in post-production, home video & streaming, creative advertising, Media & Entertainment operation environments
• Minimum 5 years of project management, asset management, and QC experience in the Media & Entertainment industry
• Strong production knowledge and experience with video, audio, metadata, and timed-text (subtitles, closed captions, forced narratives, SDH) technical specifications and formats
• Expert knowledge of common interchange formats and codecs (DNxHD, ProRes, .MXF, etc.)
• Proficiency in Post-Production editorial tools and services (Avid Media Composer, Adobe Premiere, DaVinci Resolve)
• Proficiency in Subtitling/Caption & QC software (EZTitles, CaptionMaker, OOONA, Switch)
• Experience with industry delivery tools and cloud-based asset management systems (Aspera, MediaShuttle, Flow Capture, Frame.io or similar)
• Knowledge of EST, AVOD/SVOD, and streaming platform requirements (Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, iTunes, etc.)
• Interest in latest trends and technologies in post-production, with an emphasis on innovation and efficiency
• Experience working with/at authoring houses, post-production facilities, creative agencies, and/or Media & Entertainment studios in a fast-paced, high-volume environment
• Knowledge of post-production standards and practices related to broadcast and streaming
• Proficiency with productivity and collaboration tools (i.e., Microsoft Office Suite, Google Workspace, Slack, Enchant, Asana, or similar)
• Strong project management and prioritization skills, able to effectively multitask and work under extremely tight deadlines
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited college or university in Film Production, or equivalent experience, with a record that demonstrates suitable preparation for this position

Additional preferred skills:

• Ability to speak, read, and write in Japanese
• Familiarity with anime and manga titles

Work Environment & Schedule

Location: The Technical Operations Specialist position is open to candidates local to the San Francisco Bay Area or remote candidates within California, Oregon, Texas, or New York. If local to the Bay Area, the Technical Operations Specialist will be expected to work onsite 1 day per week at our San Francisco office. If working remotely, the Technical Operations Specialist should expect to travel to the San Francisco Bay Area a few times a year. 

Schedule: This is a Regular Full-Time 40 hour per week position with core hours of 10 am to 4 pm Pacific Time with some flexibility in scheduling outside core hours.

Compensation: $70,000 - $85,000 annually, depending on experience, with additional variable compensation

VIZ Media offers the following benefits to its eligible employees:

• Partially subsidized Health, Dental, and Vision insurance
• 401(k) savings plan – including employer matching
• Flexible Spending – health and dependent care
• Commuter stipend for in-office work
• Life Insurance/AD&D/STD/LTD
• Legal & ID Theft insurance
• Group Pet insurance rates
• Paid holidays, vacation, and sick time - plus your birthday is a holiday!
• Philanthropy program, including paid time off for volunteer work
• Wellness program, including fitness membership discounts and reimbursement
• Full time casual dress
• Flexible work hours

As part of a multi-media entertainment company, employees may be subjected to work-related content such as: sexually explicit images, nudity, and graphic violence. Applicants should be willing to work with this type of content. 

VIZ Media is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based on race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, national origin, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, marital status, or any legally protected status.

Please beware of recent scams to online job seekers. Any email from the VIZ Media recruiting team will come from an @viz.com email address (for example, janedoe@viz.com) or from our recruiting system Greenhouse (for example, no-reply@greenhouse.io). If the email is not from one of these addresses, it is not from VIZ Media.

VIZ Media respects applicants' privacy rights. To review VIZ Media's Privacy Policy, please visit VIZ Media Applicant Privacy Policy - CA.