Manager, Operations

The Walt Disney Company; Burbank (CA); On-site; USD 105,000 - 141,000; Full time

Job summary

The Walt Disney Company in Burbank, CA seeks an Operations Manager, Infrastructure Services, to lead day-to-day infrastructure operations, maintenance, and reliability across campus building systems, utilities, and grounds.

This role oversees a large multi-trade workforce, union labor, capital planning, safety and risk management, and collaboration with Studio Operations, Production Services, and FP&A to sustain production and corporate functions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, facilities management, construction management, business, or related field; equivalent work experience may be considered.
• 7+ years of experience in facilities operations, infrastructure services, or related field.
• Strong working knowledge of building infrastructure systems (HVAC, electrical, plumbing, controls, life safety).

Responsibilities

• Lead day-to-day infrastructure operations for the Burbank Studio Lot, including maintenance and operation of building systems and utilities.
• Manage multi-trade operations across Electrical, HVAC, Plumbing, Landscaping, and other trades.
• Maintain operational reliability of critical infrastructure systems and life safety systems.
• Drive preventive, predictive, and corrective maintenance programs using CMMS data and asset condition assessments.
• Coordinate emergency response activities related to infrastructure failures and outages.
• Perform site walks to identify deficiencies, maintenance gaps, and renewal opportunities.
• Balance daily reactive work with preventive maintenance and project-related tasks to sustain service levels.
• Maintain documentation for assets, drawings, and operating procedures.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Safety culture

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Facilities Management, Construction Management, Business, or related field

Tools

CMMS/EAM systems

Job description

The Operations Manager, Infrastructure Services – Burbank Studio Lot, is responsible for the day-to-day operation, maintenance, and reliability of infrastructure systems supporting one of The Walt Disney Company’s most complex studio campus environments. This role leads a large multi-trade operation responsible for maintaining critical building systems, utilities, grounds, hardscapes, and trade services that support active studio production, corporate operations, executive offices, and business partners.

What You Will Do

Infrastructure Operations & Maintenance Leadership

• Lead day-to-day infrastructure operations for the Burbank Studio Lot, including maintenance, repair, and operation of building systems, central utility infrastructure, grounds, hardscapes, and campus trade services.
• Manage multi-trade operations across Electrical, HVAC, Plumbing, Landscaping, Utility Workers, Paint, Mill/Carpentry, and support staff.
• Maintain operational reliability of critical infrastructure systems, including electrical distribution, emergency power, HVAC, plumbing, building automation/controls, site utilities, stormwater systems, life safety systems, and other campus support infrastructure.
• Drive preventive, predictive, and corrective maintenance programs using CMMS data, asset condition assessments, work order trends, field inspections, and operational metrics.
• Coordinate emergency response activities related to infrastructure failures, utility outages, weather events, life-safety conditions, production impacts, and other operational disruptions.
• Conduct routine field assessments and site walks to identify asset deficiencies, deferred maintenance, operational risks, customer service needs, and capital renewal opportunities.
• Balance daily reactive work, preventive maintenance, production support, client service requests, and project-related work while maintaining service levels and infrastructure reliability.
• Maintain documentation related to infrastructure assets, drawings, as-builts, single-line diagrams, maintenance records, work order history, and operating procedures.

Union Workforce & Labor Leadership

• Lead a large multi-trade workforce that includes directly represented union employees, foremen, gang bosses, supervisors, support personnel, contractors, and third-party service providers.
• Provide day-to-day leadership and direction to trade leadership teams across HVAC, Electrical, Plumbing, Utility, Landscaping, Paint, and Mill/Carpentry functions.
• Partner with Labor Relations, Human Resources, and union leadership to support contract administration, workforce planning, employee relations, grievance resolution, and a productive labor-management environment.
• Ensure work is assigned and executed in alignment with applicable collective bargaining agreements, company policies, jurisdictional requirements, safety standards, and operational priorities.
• Manage labor utilization, staffing plans, overtime requirements, contracted services, workload balancing, and resource allocation across multiple trades.
• Develop foremen, gang bosses, and emerging leaders through coaching, mentoring, performance management, succession planning, and training.
• Promote a culture of safety, accountability, professionalism, teamwork, customer service, and continuous improvement.

Financial & Strategic Management

• Own development and management of campus operating budgets, ensuring alignment with service levels, labor strategies, maintenance requirements, asset reliability needs, and operational performance targets.
• Partner closely with FP&A teams to prepare Annual Operating Plan expense budgets, monthly forecasts, quarterly forecasts/reforecasts, variance explanations, and financial updates.
• Manage labor forecasting, overtime planning, material spending, service contracts, repair costs, and other operating expenditures while identifying opportunities for cost control and service improvement.
• Partner with the Capital Planning team to develop recurring annual capital plans, incorporating asset condition, lifecycle replacement needs, maintenance trends, operational risks, client impacts, and long-range campus requirements.
• Support development of 1–5 year capital maintenance plans by identifying infrastructure deficiencies, end-of-life assets, deferred maintenance exposure, reliability risks, and business continuity needs.
• Use CMMS data, maintenance history, failure trends, field assessments, asset condition information, and operational feedback to prioritize capital investments and justify funding requests.
• Partner with Engineering Services, Capital Planning, Design & Delivery, FP&A, Finance, and Sourcing to develop scopes of work, cost estimates, project justifications, lifecycle analyses, and investment recommendations.
• Support capital project intake, prioritization, forecasting, and closeout activities to ensure completed work aligns with operational needs and asset records are updated.
• Establish and manage operational KPIs focused on reliability, maintenance effectiveness, labor productivity, work order performance, customer service, backlog, asset availability, safety, and cost performance.
• Partner with Sourcing and Procurement to develop scopes of work, support bid evaluations, manage vendor performance, and negotiate maintenance/service contracts that achieve operational and financial objectives.

Capital Projects & Engineering Coordination

• Partner with Engineering Services and Design & Delivery teams during planning, design, construction, commissioning, turnover, and post-project operational support.
• Review proposed infrastructure designs for constructability, maintainability, operational requirements, code compliance, safety, access, shutdown requirements, lifecycle cost, and long-term serviceability.
• Provide operational input into capital projects, tenant improvements, infrastructure upgrades, production support projects, and campus modernization efforts.
• Coordinate with operating teams to plan outages, temporary services, access requirements, labor support, safety controls, and stakeholder communications.
• Support commissioning, punch list resolution, asset turnover, documentation updates, and transition of completed projects into maintenance programs.
• Identify opportunities to improve reliability, resiliency, energy efficiency, maintainability, and operational performance through capital projects and repair programs.

Studio Operations & Client Partnership

• Support active studio production, corporate operations, executive spaces, events, and business partners by ensuring infrastructure services are responsive, reliable, and coordinated.
• Partner with Production Services, Studio Operations, Security, Client Services, Safety, Engineering, and business stakeholders to coordinate maintenance activities, utility outages, repairs, special events, and operational support.
• Balance client service needs with infrastructure reliability, safety requirements, trade availability, labor agreements, and financial discipline.
• Communicate clearly with technical and non-technical stakeholders regarding infrastructure work, outages, repair plans, risks, timelines, and business impacts.
• Provide practical solutions to complex operational issues while minimizing disruption to production operations, employees, guests, executives, and business partners.
• Maintain high standards of customer service, workplace readiness, safety, and campus appearance.

Safety, Compliance & Risk Management

• Champion a strong safety culture across all trades, vendors, contractors, and operational teams.
• Ensure compliance with company safety programs, OSHA requirements, applicable building codes, fire/life safety requirements, environmental standards, and other regulatory obligations.
• Partner with Safety, Security, Fire/Life Safety, Engineering, Risk Management, and AHJs as needed to resolve issues and maintain compliance.
• Ensure teams follow appropriate job hazard analysis, lockout/tagout, hot work, confined space, fall protection, electrical safety, and other required safety protocols.
• Identify operational and infrastructure risks and develop mitigation plans to reduce exposure to business interruption, safety incidents, asset failures, and service disruption.

Basic Qualifications

Technical

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Facilities Management, Construction Management, Business, or a related field; equivalent work experience may be considered where appropriate.
• 7+ years of experience in facilities operations, infrastructure services, engineering operations, building operations, or a related field.
• Strong working knowledge of building infrastructure systems, including HVAC, electrical distribution, plumbing, building automation/controls, emergency power, utility infrastructure, central plant systems, grounds/hardscape, and life safety systems.
• Experience operating facilities within a large campus, studio, entertainment, production, healthcare, manufacturing, higher education, municipal, or similarly complex operating environment.
• Experience using CMMS/EAM systems to manage work orders, asset data, maintenance programs, labor productivity, backlog, and operational performance.
• Ability to assess operational risks, asset condition, maintenance trends, and infrastructure reliability issues and develop practical solutions.
• Working knowledge of applicable codes and standards, including OSHA, NFPA, building codes, environmental compliance requirements, and general workplace safety requirements.

Leadership

• Demonstrated experience leading directly represented union trades in a multi-trade operating environment.
• Experience managing foremen, gang bosses, supervisors, skilled trades, support staff, contractors, and third-party service providers.
• Strong understanding of labor relations practices, workforce planning, overtime management, staffing models, and collective bargaining environments.
• Proven ability to lead teams in a fast-paced operational environment with competing priorities, critical issues, and high client expectations.
• Demonstrated ability to coach, mentor, develop, and hold teams accountable while maintaining a respectful and collaborative work environment.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to translate technical issues into clear business impacts for non-technical stakeholders.
• Ability to collaborate with internal business partners, senior leaders, vendors, union leadership, and cross-functional support teams.

Financial

• Experience managing multi-million-dollar operating budgets, labor budgets, maintenance contracts, material expenditures, and service agreements.
• Experience partnering with FP&A and Finance teams on AOP expense budgets, monthly forecasts, quarterly forecasts, variance analysis, and financial reporting.
• Experience supporting recurring capital planning, lifecycle replacement programs, infrastructure renewal, and capital investment prioritization.
• Strong analytical skills related to labor utilization, maintenance performance, work order trends, asset lifecycle planning, cost control, and service-level performance.
• Experience developing scopes of work, cost estimates, business cases, funding requests, and vendor bid evaluations.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting studio, entertainment, media, production, or active campus environments.
• Direct experience working with unionized trade teams and collective bargaining agreements.
• Professional certifications such as CFM, FMP, PMP, LEED AP, RPA/FMA, SMA, or trade-related certifications.
• Advanced degree in Engineering, Business Administration, Facilities Management, Construction Management, or related discipline.
• Experience supporting central plant operations, critical infrastructure, utility distribution, emergency response, and business continuity planning.
• Experience developing recurring capital plans, preventive maintenance strategies, reliability-centered maintenance programs, or enterprise asset management improvements.
• Experience partnering with Capital Planning, FP&A, Sourcing, Labor Relations, Engineering, Design & Delivery, and Safety teams in a matrixed organization.

The hiring range for this position in Burbank, CA is $105,100 to $140,900 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.