Head of Department Management

Company Description

Moving Picture Company (MPC) is a global VFX studio with decades of storytelling experience across the feature film and episodic industries, with award-winning highlights including The Lion King, 1917, The Mandalorian, and Wandavision.

MPC’s global network of artists is constantly innovating to bring unimaginable ideas to life through cutting-edge technology and boundless creativity. Part of the Technicolor Creative Studios network, MPC continues to lead the visual arts industry, building authentic and long-lasting connections with audiences across screens worldwide.

**Job Description**:
We are looking for an experienced leader to join our ranks to influence and shape our next-gen pipeline and toolkit for Layout and Realtime Visualisation content creation. You would participate in the exciting effort to bridge gaps between the many stages of production (pre, post and sequence visualisation.)

**Purpose**

Head of Department Management provides a service to the Studio and Creative Production, managing the Department and artists stream of the business. The Head of Department Management leads the Department teams, ensuring the effective supply of labour to shows.

**Position Summary**:
Reporting to the Head of Studio, the Head of Department Management is responsible for the team managing the artists, their work-in-progress, and resources to deliver successful projects on time, within budget, and to our demanding standards of quality. They are a point of escalation for the efficiency, overall people performance, combine with WFP on resource utilisation. The Head of Department Managers will carefully monitor progress and compliance towards operational KPIs. They will be a strong support and escalation point for any Department Manager, show, team, or individual within Production Operations.

As part of the Production Operations leadership team, this role will partner across MPC, to inform and implement change programmes and drive performance and culture - fostering a healthy, positive, and inclusive environment.

An oversight role, the Head of Department Management is accountable for smooth operational excellence in production within the site.

**Key responsibilities**
- Contribute to innovative Department and Production ways of working, collaborating with Production Governance, Process and Training to help create the learning and development agenda to drive successful project deliveries and support creative workflow changes globally
- Ensure the roles and responsibilities for all Department and artistic teams are followed and adhered to, according to the KPIs in place
- Utilise production reports, and escalation processes to ensure the business is always a step ahead of looming issues, course-correcting before any delivery problem gets out of hand.
- Collaborate with Production Governance, which monitors delivery progress, drives escalations, and ensures that all Department Management-related tasks are completed to the timings and quality expected.
- Partner with Recruitment and Learning & Development to ensure a sufficient flow of high-calibre new recruits at all levels. Where experience in the talent market is lacking, develop strategies to quickly and efficiently train and support career-changers into high-performing team members.
- Lead the Department Management team, nurturing, championing and empowering line managers in their professional growth and individual performance, and instilling with and through them the culture of a high-performing, resilient, collaborative and inspiring global discipline.
- Support organizational changes and their implementation - including the focus on Department run production and efficiencies
- Monitor the performance of our most critical and/or challenging projects; provide support, escalation, and expertise where required.
- Champion company policies and values; foster communication and collaboration; and lead, teach, and inform generously.
- Mentor key more junior members of the Department Management team when possible, to motivate and focus promising talent.

***Key Performance Indicators**

**Oversight of operational department schedules across all shows***
- Within compliance measures
- Allocated artists are effectively tasked across all departments
- Schedules maintained and task statuses correct

**Resource Management**
- DL show spend within agreed budgets
- DSS - Maintain agreed average salaries
- Utilisation - headcount assigned to shows - above 80%
- EFF% - Bid Vs Actual - above 85%
- Timesheet compliance - 100%

**Operations & Studio Culture**:

- Operational process approvals
- Monthlies / End of Month Studio updates
- Active involvement with local townhalls
- Local leadership meetings & updates
- Studio culture - Christmas parties, induction swag, etc
- New role approvals in collaboration with finance - before vacancies are raised

**Head of Production Operations governance checklist**

**Demand Management**
- Is the resource forecast a