Director, Brand Studio Live Action & Photo (Hybrid)

A+E Global Media offers a work environment where employees collaborate in office 3 times per week. New hires must be commutable to one of our current office locations in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Stamford, CT. Please refer to the job description for any specific division requirements.

Division Story

The Marketing division is an in-house, full-service B2C/B2B brand and marketing team of talented, curious, and purpose-driven members with diverse skill sets and backgrounds. We work on interesting and varied projects across multiple disciplines. As an employee of A+E Global Media, you'll be part of a global media and entertainment company that values diversity, representation, flexibility, and kindness. Our commitment to fostering an exceptional workplace has been recognized through multiple accolades: Forbes named us one of America's Best Midsize Employers. Newsweek included us in their lists of America's Most Loved Workplaces for 2021 and 2022, and America's Greatest Workplaces for Diversity in 2023. Inc. recognized A+E Global Media as one of the Best Workplaces of 2025.

Job Description

THE ROLE:

The Director, Brand Studio Live Action & Photo Production oversees the day-to-day operation of live action and photo productions within Marketing Production. Working in partnership with the Sr. Executive Producer, the Director provides production leadership across Brand Studio and Storyground initiatives, translating creative and business priorities into efficient, high-quality execution while ensuring work is strategically planned, appropriately resourced, financially managed, and delivered on time while maintaining creative excellence and operational discipline.

Reporting to the Sr. Executive Producer, Storyground & Brand Studio Live Action & Photo Production, the Director leads, coaches, and develops the Brand Studio Live Action & Photo Production team while establishing priorities, allocating resources, and reinforcing accountability and collaboration. The Director partners with the Sr. Executive Producer to assess organizational capacity, support resource planning, and escalate strategic risks, decisions, and opportunities.

The Director serves as the primary operational production partner across Production Operations, Design Management, Creative, Account Management, Talent, Legal/Business Affairs, Risk, Finance, Post-Production, and external production partners, aligning cross-functional teams and ensuring productions balance creative quality, budget, schedule, rights, delivery, usage, and archive needs.

The ideal candidate brings deep experience across live action, video, and photo production; strong production and creative judgment; a broad and inclusive production services network; and the ability to identify the right production strategy, production model, and resources for each assignment. They demonstrate the leadership to connect day-to-day execution with department priorities and broader campaign objectives while developing high-performing teams, continuously improving production operations, and implementing scalable production practices that support evolving business needs.

MORE ABOUT WHAT YOU'LL DO:

• Oversee the day-to-day operation of the Brand Studio Live Action & Photo Production team, ensuring work is prioritized, resourced, budgeted, produced, delivered, and archived effectively.

• Lead, coach, and develop team members through clear expectations, accountability, prioritization, feedback, and performance management; partner closely with Sr. EP to assess capacity, align production priorities, resolve operational issues, and escalate risks or opportunities.

• Oversee live action and photo production from creative brief through final delivery, ensuring each project has the right production approach, budget, schedule, staffing plan, vendor model, workflow, and asset-management path.

• Lead production across talent, photo, marketing, social-first, digital and Storyground shoots, press/PR needs, behind-the-scenes capture, pickups, and broader organizational initiatives.

• Serve as the primary operational production partner to cross-functional teams, translating creative ambition and business priorities into practical, executable production plans while protecting the creative goal and quality of the final output.

• Establish communication mechanisms across teams so issues, questions, dependencies, and decisions are surfaced and resolved quickly, and elevate recommendations to the EP as needed.

• Develop scalable and inclusive production models and maintain a trusted network of production partners, including freelance producers, line producers, photographers, directors, DPs, crews, production service companies, agencies, post partners, and specialty vendors. Ensure production models match the creative need, budget, timeline, platform, rights considerations, audience needs, and business priority.

• Own live action and photo production budget oversight, including bids, estimates, actuals, cost tracking, vendor negotiations, and budget recommendations in partnership with Finance and Production Operations. Ensure resources are planned and used strategically, responsibly, and transparently.

• Lead workflow optimization and asset-management practices across live action and photo production, including planning, approvals, documentation, asset handoffs, media transfers, transcripts, releases, post-production coordination, delivery, backup, and archive. Identify and implement workflow improvements that increase efficiency, scalability, visibility, and operational effectiveness.

• Partner with Legal/Business Affairs, Risk, Finance, Talent, Standards & Practices, and other internal teams to ensure contracts, releases, insurance, vendor paperwork, compliance requirements, and production documentation are handled accurately and on time. Identify new partners, tools, workflows, and production models that improve creative quality, speed, efficiency, and flexibility while supporting A+E's commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and representation.

BASIC REQUIREMENTS:

• At least 10 years of relevant production experience leading live action, video, and photo production within entertainment, media, creative services, marketing, or related industries.
• At least 5 years of direct people management experience: leading, coaching, and developing direct reports, production teams, and/or freelance and vendor partners, including setting priorities, giving feedback, managing performance, and building team accountability.
• At least 5 years experience successfully managing multiple concurrent productions from creative brief through delivery.
• At least 5 years experience overseeing production planning, budgeting, scheduling, staffing, vendor sourcing, negotiation, logistics, post-production, delivery, asset management, and archive.
• At least 5 years experience working across the full production lifecycle, including creative brief, bidding, production, post-production, delivery, rights/usage considerations, asset management, and archive.
• At least 5 years experience owning production budget oversight, including bids, estimates, actuals, cost tracking, budget recommendations, vendor negotiations, and resource planning.
• At least 5 years experience collaborating across Creative, Marketing, Finance, Legal, Production Operations, Talent, and external partners.
• Able to travel and work occasional nights or weekends when production needs require.

The Ideal Candidate Will also Have:

• Experience producing branded content, creator-led content, influencer campaigns, or client-facing productions is strongly preferred.
• Strong creative judgment and understanding of what it takes to produce high-quality live action, video, and photo marketing assets across platforms and campaign needs.
• Working understanding of post-production workflows and how production decisions impact edit, design, retouching, finishing, delivery, usage, rights, and asset management.
• Strong understanding of video and photo asset-management workflows, including media transfers, transcripts, releases, delivery specs, backup, archive, and cross-functional handoffs.
• Ability to identify the right production model for each project based on creative need, budget, timeline, platform, rights considerations, audience need, and business priority.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to align cross-functional partners, communicate clearly with senior leadership, and surface issues, options, decisions, and recommendations with clarity.
• Strong organizational, analytical, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to anticipate issues, establish controls, adapt plans as priorities shift, and resolve operational challenges while escalating strategic risks appropriately.
• Proficiency with Airtable, Microsoft Office, related project-management tools, and AI-powered productivity tools for drafting, organizing information, improving workflow efficiency, and increasing visibility preferred.

Compensation

Annual Pay Range: $145,993 - $170,812

Annual Incentive Target: 17.50%

The annual/hourly pay range displayed serves as a good faith estimate of the

minimum and maximum base pay range for this role. Compensation for the role will

be based on a number of different factors such as a candidate's qualifications, skills,

competencies, location, and experience. A+E offers a competitive total compensation

package, which includes healthcare coverage, 401k matching, and a range of other benefits. Learn more at www.aegm.com/careers.

A+E Global Media proudly provides equal employment opportunity for all employees and job applicants, and makes employment decisions consistent with this principle. The company's employment actions and decisions - including recruitment, hiring, training, promotion, demotion, compensation, transfer, layoff, and termination - are made without regard to an employee's race, color, religion, creed, age, national origin, ancestry, sex (which includes pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, and related medical conditions), gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, alienage or citizenship status, physical and/or mental disability, medical condition, family and medical leave status, genetic information, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

A+E Global Media is a joint venture of the Hearst Corporation and The Walt Disney Company.

We are proud to be an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer/Disabled/Veterans.