Head of AI Workflows / Lead Architect

Head of AI Workflows / Lead Architect Reports to: CEO Location: Los Angeles, New York or London (Hybrid) Type: Full-time | $150-200k and Meaningful Equity About Wonder Studios Wonder Studios is an AI-native film and creative studio redefining how stories are told. We partner with global brands, artists, and studios to create award winning campaigns, films, and experiences that merge cinematic craft with cutting-edge AI technology. We've raised more than $15 million from some of the world's best investors including LocalGlobe, Atomico and Adobe as well as angels from the leading AI companies including OpenAI, ElevenLabs, Google DeepMind. We're now a team of 35+ based around the world with offices in London, LA, NYC and SF. You can read more about our mission and vision here: https://wonderstudios.substack.com/p/wonder-studios-what-were-building The Role We need a data driven, creative and technical leader to turn rapidly evolving generative technology into practical techniques that help filmmakers make more ambitious work. This role sits across filmmakers, Wonder's go-to-market organization, model partners, the Wonder community, product, and engineering to turn emerging capabilities into production-ready workflows. This is a filmmaker-first role. The goal is not to replace directors, artists, or production teams; it is to give them new creative options, remove technical friction, and apply AI intentionally where it strengthens the story and the filmmaking process. You'll be responsible for developing and hardening our institutional knowledge base and working with engineering to turn this into proprietary technology. You'll work directly with Wonder's engineering leadership, studio partners, filmmakers, artists, and production teams to own meaningful workflow decisions from day one and help architect how Wonder creates (what tools we use and what blueprints we follow). What You'll Own • Partner with Wonder's GTM team and leading generative model providers, including Google, Kling, ByteDance, Magnific, and others, to test early access to upcoming models through APIs, assess creative and production readiness, and identify where new capabilities can create value for filmmakers and partners • Work with the Wonder community to discover emerging techniques, identify workflows with real production potential, and develop the strongest experiments into repeatable studio capabilities • Build and maintain a shared library of AI filmmaking techniques, reference workflows, model evaluations, and production playbooks that equips creative technologists and AI production teams across Wonder and its community • Read and break down scripts with filmmakers to identify scenes, sequences, and production challenges where AI can expand creative options, accelerate iteration, or solve practical constraints, always in service of the filmmaker's intent • Turn proven techniques into dependable production workflows by leading prototypes and deployments, integrating established creative tools and infrastructure, defining quality, cost, and reliability benchmarks, and translating recurring needs into product and engineering priorities What You'll Bring • Significant experience in VFX, post-production, animation, creative technology, or production engineering; a blend between an engineering first-principles mindset and a passion for film and creativity • Hands-on knowledge of generative and traditional VFX image and video systems, APIs, node-based workflows, and platforms such as ComfyUI, Stable Diffusion, Flux, Runway, Veo, Luma, Adobe Creative Cloud, DaVinci Resolve, Unreal Engine, Nuke, or Maya • A demonstrated track record of taking emerging technology from early evaluation and prototyping through to a dependable workflow used on a real production • Comfort working directly with directors, producers, production designers, VFX supervisors, editors, artists, engineers, model partners, customers, and senior executives • Strong technical and product judgment across creative quality, controllability, infrastructure cost, reliability, security, licensing, production deadlines, and operational risk • Excellent communication and teaching skills, with the ability to turn complex techniques into clear documentation, demonstrations, workshops, and reusable learning resources • High ownership, bias to action, intellectual honesty, and a filmmaker-first mindset — you move quickly, communicate limitations clearly, and believe AI should amplify creative teams rather than replace them Why Wonder • Own a function at a company at a real inflection point, helping define how Wonder turns emerging AI capabilities into production systems, with direct access to leadership and real ownership from day one • Work at the forefront of AI-native filmmaking, developing the workflows behind award-winning content that is genuinely changing how stories get made and who gets to make them • Work across the worlds of film, technology and AI, working alongside partners including Google DeepMind, Universal Music Group and Adobe • Join at the moment it matters: $15M raised, $1M+ revenue in year one, on target to hit $10M this year, and the most exciting part of building still ahead • Competitive compensation: $150-200k and meaningful equity, based on experience and scope