Managing Director: Next-Gen AI Creative Production Studio
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Our client is a creative studio built at the intersection of AI, VFX, and production. Part production company, part innovation lab — powered by AI and elevated by artists. As an AI-native production company, the company's co-founders bring decades of creative leadership from MPC, Alkemy X, and Taylor James — serving current clients like, Apple, Netflix, Adobe and Hilton.
The seek a Managing Director to act as a commercial leader to match the company’s growth as its creative output and reputation accelerates
Responsibilities:
New Business
-Develop and execute a proactive new business strategy targeting brands and agencies.
-Build and manage a healthy pipeline of inbound and outbound opportunities across live action, animation/VFX, and AI-driven production
-Lead all pitch activity — from briefing the creative team to presenting credentials and negotiating contracts
-Cultivate and maintain relationships with brand-side marketing leaders, agency production heads, and creative directors
-Identify high-value categories and verticals where Elevado's AI + production model creates a clear competitive advantage
-Represent Elevado at industry events, festivals, and forums to build visibility and generate opportunities
-Partner with reps (Minerva, CCCo) to align outreach and avoid channel conflict
Strategic and Operational Leadership
-Translate the studio's creative vision into a coherent commercial narrative and market positioning
-Build scalable systems for quoting, scoping, and converting opportunities — from first contact through signed SOW
-Partner with the EP and CCO to ensure new business commitments are production-ready and margin-sound
-Set and track revenue targets, conversion rates, and pipeline health on a regular cadence
-Identify partnership opportunities — co-production, technology, or platform deals — that expand Elevado's reach
Financial Performance
-Own revenue forecasting in partnership with the EP and founding team
-Monitor project margins and flag resourcing or pricing misalignments early
-Support pricing strategy across project types — ensuring rates reflect both market positioning and studio economics
-Help define and track KPIs that measure both commercial and creative health
Client Success and Retention
-Ensure a seamless handoff from sale to production — setting clear expectations and maintaining client confidence throughout
-Develop account expansion strategies for existing clients, identifying upsell and repeat opportunities
-Serve as a senior point of contact for key client relationships when needed
-Gather market intelligence — client feedback, competitive positioning, industry trends — and feed it back into studio strategy
Studio Leadership and Culture
-Serve as a key member of the leadership team alongside the CCO and Executive Producer
-Help shape a high-performance, high-care studio culture that attracts and retains exceptional talent
-Collaborate with the CCO on the studio's long-term vision, ensuring commercial strategy is in service of creative ambition
-Maintain operational oversight that allows the founding team to focus on creative leadership and innovation
Requirements:
- 8+ years of experience in business development, executive producing, or commercial leadership within a production company, creative agency, or post/VFX studio
-A track record of building and winning new client relationships at the brand and agency level
-Deep understanding of the commercial production landscape — how brands buy, how agencies work, how projects get greenlit
-Fluency in AI-driven production, emerging content formats, and the evolving brand content ecosystem
-Strong financial acumen — comfortable with project economics, margin analysis, and revenue forecasting
-Exceptional communication and presentation skills — you can walk into any room and make Elevado's case compellingly
-Entrepreneurial mindset — you're comfortable building from a strong but early foundation
-Based in or willing to relocate to Los Angeles
Apply Now
Send your resume to jodi@trurecruitment.com.