- Oficina en Cape Town
About the Studio
Squint/Opera is Journey's immersive design studio, bridging the digital and physical worlds through groundbreaking storytelling and emerging technologies such as Unreal Engine and virtual twins.
We're the innovators behind the Empire State Building Observatory's digital reinvention, creating over 40 unique exhibits that transform 10,000 square feet into an interactive journey through history and architecture. At Battersea Power Station, we designed Lift 109, an immersive ascent experience that melds cutting-edge animations, interactive elements, and spatial soundscapes to breathe new life into London's iconic landmark. For Qiddiya City, we pushed the boundaries of virtual production, crafting a revolutionary campaign that ignited global excitement for Saudi Arabia's visionary sports and entertainment mega-development.
We're at the forefront of a new era in experiential multidimensional design (MDX) and an integral part of Journey’s Experience Stack. Inspired by the concept of a tech stack, our Experience Stack draws on decades of cumulative expertise from our physical, lighting, live & immersive, and emerging technology studios to produce magical, meaningful, original work. This integration propels our partners into new realms of growth and delivers multidimensional experiences that are not just consumed but that are lived and felt through every dimension of human interaction.
Role Overview
The Studio Manager (South Africa) is a pivotal leadership role responsible for the operational success, technical excellence, and strategic growth of our South African studio. This is a multi-disciplinary position requiring a blend of high-level studio vision, hands-on production expertise in 3ds Max and Unreal Engine, and superior people management.
As the primary lead for the region, you will ensure the studio operates at peak efficiency, maintaining the highest standards of creative and technical quality while serving as a bridge between the South African team and the wider Journey global infrastructure.
You will also be deeply embedded in production, dedicating a significant portion of your time to working directly on project deliverables.
Key Responsibilities
Studio Operations & Infrastructure
- Take full responsibility for the day-to-day management of the studio, ensuring a professional, organized, and high-productivity environment.
- Standardize project initiation, tracking, and delivery across the studio using Journey infrastructure (e.g., OpenAir, Ftrack).
- Act as the central point for daily activities, including team availability, attendance, and workload balancing.
- Proactively identify and resolve logistical or operational issues that impact delivery or team morale; escalate personnel or resourcing concerns to global leadership when necessary.
Team Leadership & Strategic Growth
- Manage the well-being and professional needs of the South African staff, ensuring they have the tools and support required to work efficiently.
- Act as the primary escalation point for blockers, assisting with task handovers and ensuring consistency across multiple artists.
- Define the studio’s "Training and Growth" roadmap. Lead the onboarding of new talent, including pipeline training and workflow best practices.
- Partner with resourcing departments to lead the hiring process and define the long-term growth strategy for Journey within South Africa.
Delivery & Quality Control
- Work closely with Producers to track project progress, identify risks early, and provide realistic input for scheduling decisions.
- Align with Journey Producers to match project demands with team availability and achievable milestones.
- Maintain ownership of both creative and technical Quality Control (QC), ensuring all deliverables meet Journey’s visual benchmarks and are performant/production-ready.
- Enforce global pipeline standards, ensuring versioning, dependencies, and publishing workflows are strictly followed.
- Act as a process owner, constantly seeking ways to refine workflows and improve production efficiency.
Production & Execution
- Maintain a significant "hands-on" presence in the production pipeline, dedicating a substantial portion of time to creating project-ready deliverables.
- Take an active role in producing high-quality assets, populating complex scenes, and lighting environments to a photorealistic standard.
- Utilize Substance Painter and other toolsets to create bespoke textures and materials for specific project assets.
- Ingestion of Architectural assets into the relevant DCC
- Serve as a subject matter expert in 3ds Max and Unreal Engine, setting the technical standard for the rest of the team through direct output.
Minimum Qualifications (Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities)
- At least 5 years of relevant experience with team management within a creative industry. Basic working knowledge of Unreal Engine, 3DsMax, Houdini, and Nuke.
- Working understanding of Production Workflows for Unreal Applications, Architectural Visualisation, and Visual Effects
- Architectural Visualisation experience required
- Strong creative background
- Strong communication skills, keeping in touch with colleagues across multiple sites
- Able to confidently communicate creative needs to technical personnel and vice versa
- Experience in scoping projects and reliably estimating required production time
- Passionate about real-time 3D, AR, and VR
- Ability to understand conflicting viewpoints and resolve issues
- Approachable, flexible, adapts well to changing priorities
- Perseverance when faced with difficulties
- Deep understanding of traditional CG workflows and how they integrate with real-time tools.
- Strong familiarity with version control systems.
Production & People
- Experience working closely with producers and project managers.
- Experience with projects and team management
- Practical experience tracking tasks, shots, and deliverables.
- Experience supporting and coordinating artist teams.
- Comfortable with balancing problem-solving with people and schedule management.
Desirable Experience
- Background in VFX, animation, advertising, virtual production, or cinematics.
Desired Soft Skills
- Highly organised and detail-oriented.
- Calm, pragmatic, and solutions-focused under pressure.
- Strong communicator across technical, creative, and production disciplines.
- Natural sense of ownership and responsibility for delivery quality
