The IT Manager is responsible for leading and managing the studio's technology infrastructure, ensuring reliable, secure, and high-performance IT services that support the production of animated feature films and series. This role oversees enterprise IT operations, production technology infrastructure, cybersecurity, cloud services, storage, networking, and end-user support while working closely with production, pipeline, engineering, and facilities teams.

The ideal candidate combines strong technical expertise with leadership skills and understands the unique demands of an animation and visual effects (VFX) production environment, where uptime, performance, scalability, and data security are critical to successful delivery. Being familiar with TPN Assessments / MPA best practices will be advantageous.

Key Responsibilities

- IT Infrastructure & Operations:
- Manage the studio's enterprise IT infrastructure, including servers, storage, virtualisation, networking, cloud services, and endpoint devices.
- Ensure high availability, reliability, and performance of all production and business systems.
- Develop and maintain disaster recovery, backup, and business continuity strategies.
- Monitor infrastructure health and proactively resolve issues before they impact production.
- Manage software licensing, hardware lifecycle planning, and asset management.
- Partner with Production, Pipeline, and Engineering teams to deliver reliable technology solutions supporting feature film and series production.
- Support artist workstations, render infrastructure, storage systems, and production collaboration tools.
- Plan and implement infrastructure required for new productions, scaling resources as projects grow.
- Coordinate technology requirements across departments including Asset, Animation, Lighting, FX, Compositing, Editorial, and Production Management.

Cybersecurity & Compliance

- Develop and maintain security policies, standards, and best practices.
- Ensure compliance with industry security frameworks and studio partner requirements, including content protection standards.
- Manage identity and access management, endpoint security,



vulnerability management, and incident response.
- Conduct regular security assessments and user awareness training.
- Familiarity with TPN assessments / MPA best practices.

Cloud & Infrastructure Strategy

- Manage hybrid cloud environments supporting rendering, storage, collaboration, and remote production workflows.
- Evaluate emerging technologies to improve efficiency, scalability, and cost-effectiveness.
- Optimise cloud resource utilisation and infrastructure costs.

Service Delivery & User Support

- Lead the IT support team to deliver responsive, customer-focused technical support.
- Establish service level expectations and continually improve service quality.
- Oversee onboarding, offboarding, hardware deployment, software provisioning, and user account management.
- Maintain documentation, knowledge bases, and operational procedures.
- Manage relationships with hardware, software, cloud, and telecommunications vendors.
- Negotiate contracts and oversee procurement activities.
- Develop and manage departmental budgets, forecasting infrastructure investments and operational expenses.
- Monitor vendor performance and service agreements.

Leadership

- Recruit, mentor, and develop IT staff.
- Establish priorities and allocate resources across operational and production initiatives.
- Foster collaboration between IT, Production Technology, Pipeline, Engineering, and Business Operations.
- Drive continuous improvement initiatives and promote best practices throughout the studio.

Required Qualifications

- Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent professional experience.
- 7+ years of progressive IT experience, including leadership responsibilities.




- Experience managing enterprise infrastructure in a creative, media, animation, VFX, or post-production environment.
- Strong knowledge of Windows, Linux, and macOS administration.
- Experience with enterprise networking, VPNs, firewalls, wireless infrastructure, and network security.
- Experience managing virtualisation platforms, storage systems, backup technologies, and cloud infrastructure (AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud).
- Strong understanding of cybersecurity principles and contemporary IT governance.
- Experience with identity management, Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Active Directory, and endpoint management platforms.
- Excellent troubleshooting, communication, and project management skills.

Preferred Qualifications

- Experience supporting animation, VFX, or digital content production pipelines.
- Knowledge of render farms, high-performance storage, GPU infrastructure, and production asset management systems.
- Familiarity with production tracking platforms such as Flow (ShotGrid) or similar tools.
- Experience supporting hybrid or fully remote production teams.
- ITIL Foundation, CISSP, CCNP, VMware, AWS, Azure, or other relevant certifications.
- Experience with automation, scripting (PowerShell, Python, Bash), and infrastructure-as-code.
- Strategic thinking
- Technical leadership
- Problem solving and analytical thinking
- Project and resource management
- Communication and stakeholder management
- Team leadership and mentoring
- Adaptability in fast-paced production environments

Success Measures

- High availability and reliability of production-critical systems.
- Minimal production downtime attributable to IT services.
- Strong cybersecurity posture and compliance with client security requirements.
- Timely delivery of infrastructure projects supporting productions.
- High user satisfaction with IT support services.
- Effective budget management and technology planning.
- Continuous improvement of infrastructure performance, scalability, and operational efficiency.

Reporting Relationship

Reports to the Head of Technology and studio owners.

#J-18808-Ljbffr

📌 IT Manager (Queensland)
🏢 Cosmic Dino Studio
📍 Queensland