Director of Engineering

Company Description

We create world-class content, which we distribute across our portfolio of film, television, and streaming, and bring to life through our theme parks and consumer experiences. We own and operate leading entertainment and news brands, including NBC, NBC News, MSNBC, CNBC, NBC Sports, Telemundo, NBC Local Stations, Bravo, USA Network, and Peacock, our premium ad-supported streaming service. We produce and distribute premier filmed entertainment and programming through Universal Filmed Entertainment Group and Universal Studio Group, and have world-renowned theme parks and attractions through Universal Destinations & Experiences. NBCUniversal is a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation.

Here you can be your authentic self. As a company uniquely positioned to educate, entertain and empower through our platforms, Comcast NBCUniversal stands for including everyone. Our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives, coupled with our Corporate Social Responsibility work, is informed by our employees, audiences, park guests and the communities in which we live. We strive to foster a diverse, equitable and inclusive culture where our employees feel supported, embraced and heard. Together, we’ll continue to create and deliver content that reflects the current and ever-changing face of the world.

Job Description

Director of Engineering a senior technical leader for Stamford Studios and is responsible for managing the strategic direction and day-to-day oversight of the development and operation of Studios, Post and Digital Operations and all related systems.

Qualifications

Responsibilities:

Team Leadership

• Provide strategic leadership and oversight for long-term and short-term planning.  Manage the Operational and Facility Technical Budgets for Syndication Studios shows and clients.
• Build/maintain a strong engineering support team of full-time and freelance employees that provide a good mix of managerial support and innovative engineering support.
• Provide regular employee feedback and performance reviews.
• Develop partnerships across NBCU engineering teams with cross-facility support and engagement.
• Work with leadership team from each production that business objectives are being met and that technical deliverables align with business needs.
• Assume leadership responsibility for the technical performance of Studios, Control Rooms, and associated systems for all Stamford Studios facilities.

Television Production Technology Support and Maintenance

• Develop processes to ensure all systems have proper disaster recovery and resiliency and that development practices are aligned with ensuring maximum uptimes for all services and applications.
• Manage the support operational environment, including both remote on-call and onsite technical support teams where necessary.  Manage vendor relationships, support contracts and spares.
• Lead the design, development, and ongoing maintenance of all supported technology platforms.  Develop conceptual designs and technology architecture vision.  Manage on-going projects, including budgets, scheduling, design and integration, system commissioning and training.  Maintain system documentation.  Engage with system integrators as needed on large scale projects.
• Ensure around-the-clock technical support and maintain complex broadcast production environments consisting of multiple studios, production control rooms and remote locations.
• Monitor and oversee operational readiness of current facilities, maintaining in-depth understanding of all relevant technical systems.
• Lead the coordination of activities of teams involved in the maintenance, support, deployment, and configuration of broadcast equipment.

Facility Technical Upgrades and Strategy

• Collaborate closely with Production Operations senior management and key staff to assess the facility’s ability to provide service based on a dynamic production schedule.
• Collaborate with Stamford Studios leadership and operational clients to develop both short- and long-range strategic technology planning and budgeting.
• Lead corporate driven enterprise initiatives and endeavor to align strategies and develop synergies across all NBCU production locations with Stamford Studios.
• Develop conceptual designs and technology architecture vision, assign project work to team members with clear direction.
• Oversee on-going projects, including budgets, timelines, design and integration, application commissioning and training. Maintain application documentation.

Client Management

• Interface directly with senior client leadership on all projects and act as the engineering leadership client interface, working both formally and informally with operations teams, clients, and executive management.
• Ensure that effective timeline tracking, priority management and scheduling is taking place, and meeting client expectations.
• Guide the engineering team in capturing technical requirements and providing solutions while ensuring resources are available to hit required timelines.

Monitoring and Security

• Collaborate closely with the NBCU cyber security team senior leadership to guide the Production Engineering team in building repeatable systems with security best practices.
• Heavy focus on standard security logging and reporting of all systems.
• Champion the build out of enterprise-wide monitoring systems with automated alerting and dashboarding interfaces for easy troubleshooting

Required Technical Skillsets:

• Post systems design, integration, and support.
• Post-production workflows and operational processes
• Enterprise file storage and virtual computing
• Understanding of IP networking and IP media standards
• Broadcast and IT cabling standards (copper and fiber)
• Understanding of codecs and file formats (SD, HD, 4K, UHD)
• Environments – 2 Studio Production Facilities, 35+ Post-Production Platforms, 3 Graphics Platforms and Network Systems.
  • Avid Interplay, Media Central UX, Media Composer (On-Prem & Cloud)
  • Avid Nexis Storage Platforms (On-Prem & Cloud)
  • Adobe Creative Cloud, BorisFX Sapphire
  • Sony Cameras/Switchers, Evertz & Miranda Routers & Multiviewers, Telex Intercom, Sennheiser/Shure wireless mics, SSL C100/C10 audio consoles, Riedel Wireless Intercom
  • VMWare Virtualized Services at Englewood Cliffs
  • Synology NAS Storage Platforms
  • SGL/FlashNet – Spectra T380 Archive/Restore LTO7 Library
  • Signiant – Media Shuttle
  • Cisco Networking – Routers and Switches

Requirements:

• Strong customer service skills and professionalism
• Close collaboration with both third-party clients and peers across NBCU.
• Strong written and verbal communication, as well as presentation skills for both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Ability to provide clear, decisive direction while being prepared to pivot or change course when appropriate.
• Be the leader that your team is excited to follow, both through regular and planned activities, but also when plans change unexpectedly due to outside influence.
• Demonstrate a high tolerance for stress, work well with others, and provide a supportive attitude for all colleagues.
• Bachelor’s degree in Broadcast Engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology, or a relevant field
• Minimum twelve (12) years’ experience preferred in a role demonstrating strong technical, quantitative, and analytical skills.
• Ability to integrate into a large agile development project and manage rapid development cycles. 
• 7+ years of management experience, including performance evaluation, hiring and disciplinary action.
• Must be willing to work evenings, weekends, holidays depending on production schedule.

Additional Information

As part of our selection process, external candidates may be required to attend an in-person interview with an NBCUniversal employee at one of our locations prior to a hiring decision.

NBCUniversal's policy is to provide equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, gender identity or expression, age, national origin or ancestry, citizenship, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy, veteran status, membership in the uniformed services, genetic information, or any other basis protected by applicable law. 

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