Distribution Operations Billing Manager-Mastering

Job Summary:

On any given day at Disney Entertainment & ESPN Technology, we’re reimagining ways to create magical viewing experiences for the world’s most beloved stories while also transforming Disney’s media business for the future. Whether that’s evolving our streaming and digital products in new and immersive ways, powering worldwide advertising and distribution to maximize flexibility and efficiency, or delivering Disney’s unmatched entertainment and sports content, every day is a moment to make a difference to partners and to hundreds of millions of people around the world.

Here are a few reasons why we think you’d love working here:

• Building the future of Disney’s media business: DE&E Technologists are designing and building the infrastructure that will power Disney’s media, advertising, and distribution businesses for years to come.
• Reach & Scale: The products and platforms this group builds and operates delight millions of consumers every minute of every day – from Disney+ and Hulu, to ABC News and Entertainment, to ESPN and ESPN+, and much more.
• Innovation: We develop and execute groundbreaking products and techniques that shape industry norms and enhance how audiences experience sports, entertainment & news.

Content Operations is ultimately responsible for successfully delivering Disney’s entertainment and sports content to millions of people every day. This involves developing, operating, and managing a global content supply chain – the myriad of steps involved from taking a finalized TV show/movie, or live piece of content, from inside Disney to audiences around the globe, in their preferred language and format. This team also manages technology operations in Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific.

The Distribution Operations Mastering department are responsible for the mastering of all titles produced by 20th Television, ABC Signature Studios, Freeform, FX Productions, Disney Branded Television, Hulu, and other production entities, including content acquired for Disney+ and Hotstar. The Distribution Operations Mastering department liaise with studios, production companies, post-production, third party audio and QC vendors to acquire, QC, prepare and transform both preliminary and final materials for localization, servicing, and global archival purposes. The Mastering department are the gateway between production and consumption of over 300 television series enjoyed by global audiences on multiple platforms including Disney+, Hulu, Hotstar, FX, ABC Network, Disney Channels, and Freeform.

Job Summary:

The Distribution Ops Billing Manager – Mastering is responsible for overseeing the financial operations of the mastering workflow, including budget tracking, forecasting and development and maintenance of the Estimated Final Cost (EFC) projections across a portfolio of titles. This role partners with the Director of Mastering, Finance, Production and vendor teams to ensure accurate cost planning, real time visibility into spend and alignment between operational delivery and financial commitments.

The role manages the full lifecycle spend, including third party purchase orders, reconciliation and closeout, while proactively identifying risks, variances and opportunities for cost efficiency.  Through consistent tracking and reporting, this position ensures financial accountability across mastering activities and supports executive-level reporting and decision making.  

This individual will also support process improvements related to billing workflows, reporting accuracy and financial systems, helping scale operations in a high-volume, fast paced environment. They’ll need to have a core understanding of the mastering workflow, provide insight into efficiencies and over all tracking of the health of a title in current systems.

Responsibilities and Duties of the Role:

• Create, update, and close mastering third-party purchase orders, ensuring services, rates, deliverables, and title-specific mastering requirements are accurately reflected and aligned with post-production delivery schedules and operational milestones.
• Manage budgeting, forecasting, and Estimated Final Cost (EFC) projections for mastering activities, providing visibility into title-level costs, workflow risks, and resource requirements throughout the content lifecycle
• Develop and maintain Estimated Final Cost (EFC) reports for assigned titles, ensuring financial data accurately reflects mastering progress, vendor commitments, and evolving production and delivery schedules.
• Create, update, and close mastering third party purchase orders, ensuring services, rates, and deliverables are accurately reflected and aligned with approved schedules.
• Partner with Finance, post-production teams, and third-party vendors to resolve billing discrepancies, address workflow impacts, and support accurate financial, operational, and executive reporting.
• Monitor vendor performance, milestone completion, and mastering deliverables to ensure work is completed on schedule, approved for payment, and aligned with title launch and distribution requirements.
• Ensure third party billing transaction status's are captured accurately at all times to ensure real time dashboarding for Executive level view.
• Lead or support cross-functional initiatives focused on improving mastering workflows, vendor management processes, financial controls, operational efficiency, and reporting accuracy.
• Process Improvement & Innovation: perform ad hoc Mastering administrative tasks, including, but not limited to SOP documentation, metrics gathering, weekly report, creation of presentations
• Oversee applicable workflows, ensuring all deliveries have been completed and material has been received in Disney’s archival inventory.
• Communicate deadlines and delivery expectations across functional teams for downstream workflow needs.
• Escalate delivery delays to appropriate teams, inclusive of contingency plan(s).
• Partner with other stakeholders to ensure accurate readiness of assets (rights, plans, components, artwork, metadata, etc. depending on specific vertical).
• Documenting, troubleshooting, and escalating issues - ultimately driving to resolution through collaboration of internal or external partners.

Required Education, Experience/Skills/Training:

• 5 years of digital media/content production and/or distribution experience at a Studio, Network, Streaming Platform, or Post House.
• Advanced technical knowledge and understanding of video and audio file formats including Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, UHD, HDR, SDR and digital media codecs (eg. ProRes, IMF, MXF, XDCAM, etc)
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal are essential, as is the ability to advocate and negotiate diplomatically within a matrixed organization. Strong collaboration and interpersonal skills.
• Strong project management skills with ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously against short deadlines and minimal lead time.
• Must be an expert organizer with superb time management skills.
• 5 years experience reading and understanding video and audio QC reports and is capable of conveying issues to post production and technical teams to resolve a variety of issues at once; takes a new perspective on existing solutions.
• Works independently while receiving minimal guidance.
• Exercises judgment based on the analysis of multiple sources of information.
• Must be a master of workflow diplomacy; consistently auditing and analyzing localization and global launch plans and timelines against constantly evolving post production delivery schedules.
• Must understand television postproduction and delivery schedules.
• Metric, data analysis and financial acumen
• Must be able to create concise, executive-friendly presentations.
• Must have strong Microsoft Excel and Google Doc skills.
• Strong computer skills with Microsoft Office Suite, experience using MAC, PC, iOS, Android, Web based applications and services.
• Ability to make decisions with assistance from manager
• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent years of experience

The hiring range for this position in Glendale, CA is $95,600 to $116,800 per year. The base pay actually offered will take into account internal equity and also may vary depending on the candidate’s geographic region, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience among other factors. A bonus and/or long-term incentive units may be provided as part of the compensation package, in addition to the full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits, dependent on the level and position offered.