Lead Animation Director / Series Director for Anime Production Studio

About the Role

We are hiring a Lead Animation Director / Series Director to lead the creation of an original anime IP for an Australia-based company. You will help build a fully remote animation studio from the ground up, set the visual standard for the series, and guide the team from pre-production through final composition and post-production. This role is best suited for a highly skilled animation leader who can direct a distributed creative team with clarity, consistency, and strong visual judgment.

Responsibilities

• Direct the full animation pipeline, from storyboarding and animatics through final composition and post-production.
• Set and maintain the visual quality standard for the entire series.
• Ensure strong character acting, fluid movement, cinematic staging, and consistent art direction across episodes.
• Build, manage, and critique a remote team of key animators, inbetweeners, background artists, compositors, and other production artists.
• Collaborate with producers and writers to translate scripts into compelling visual storytelling.
• Establish efficient workflows for a globally distributed, fully remote animation team.
• Review animation work regularly and provide clear, actionable feedback to maintain quality and production speed.
• Create standards, references, style guides, and processes that allow the team to scale without losing quality.
• Own the creative and technical execution of the animation pipeline from start to finish.
• Help shape the creative foundation, production culture, and long-term standards for an original anime IP.

Qualifications

• Proven experience as an Animation Director, Episode Director, Series Director, Lead Key Animator, or similar senior role on high-quality 2D animation or anime-style projects.
• Strong portfolio or showreel showing animation direction, storyboarding, visual storytelling, and technical animation ability.
• Deep understanding of professional 2D animation pipelines, from storyboard to final composition.
• Working knowledge of tools such as Clip Studio Paint, TVPaint, Toon Boom Harmony, After Effects, or related production software.
• Solid understanding of anime, manga, webcomics, and webtoons.
• Ability to lead, critique, and organize a fully remote creative team.
• Clear, direct communication and the ability to give useful creative feedback.
• Reliable, consistent, and able to keep production moving.
• Available at least 5 days per week and comfortable working in an output-focused remote production environment.

Additional Information

• Nice-to-haves: experience building or scaling an animation team from scratch, creating production workflows for remote or globally distributed teams, familiarity with project management tools for creative production, original IP development experience, working knowledge of AI-assisted creative tools, experience adapting or working with webtoon, manga, or comic-style storytelling formats.
• To apply: describe how you can help build a high-quality original anime series and lead a remote animation team. Please write the word "seesaw" in your response to the first screening question on the application page.

Benefits

• Fully remote work
• Pay raises and bonuses for strong performance
• Australia-based company with PH-friendly hours and no graveyard shifts
• Long-term role with full-time potential
• Opportunity to lead the visual direction, animation standards, and remote production systems for an original anime IP