3D Cinema 4D Expert / Drone Show Designer

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Nova Sky Stories

2 months ago

On‑Site

Contractor

Intermediate or Experienced

About Nova Sky Stories

At Nova Sky Stories, we empower artists and producers to bring awe and wonder to live audiences around the world. As the global leader in drone entertainment, we’ve been redefining live shows for over a decade—merging cutting‑edge drone technology with imaginative artistry.

With a veteran team of engineers and creatives, we design and operate lightweight, small, precise, and safe drones that perform in the most demanding environments—urban centers, extreme temperatures, and high winds. The result? Sky Stories that inspire, captivate, and transform the sky into a canvas of imagination.

Headquartered in the U.S. With teams across Europe and the UAE, Nova Sky Stories works with the world’s leading brands, venues, and events.

📱 Follow us: @NovaSkyStories

About the job

The Nova Sky Stories Utrecht team is a passionate group of people with a hands‑on approach collaborating closely to keep improving and bring awe to live audiences.

As part of Nova Sky Stories we work together with other Nova designers and colleagues around the world. Sharing creativity, technical knowledge and the passion for storytelling.

We are seeking a talented and imaginative Drone Sky Story Designer to contribute their expertise in designing and orchestrating captivating drone light shows. As an integral member of our team, you'll collaborate with skilled professionals to bring imaginative concepts to life through drone displays that astonish and inspire audiences. Your creative flair, combined with your experience in 3D design, will shape unforgettable experiences for our audiences.

As a Drone Sky Show Designer, you will be responsible for:

• Ideate and conceptualize innovative 3D graphics, animations, and visual narratives
• Collaborate with cross‑functional teams to generate concept sketches, designs, and prototypes
• Develop expressive 3D animations that convey a wide range of emotions
• Work on the creation of drone shows, from the initial concept to designing and animating show elements and scenes
• Demonstrate ownership of your work and actively contribute creative ideas to enhance our offerings and processes
• Collaborate with our creative team to expand animation capacity by recruiting and managing external resources

You’ll need to have:

• 3+ years of experience in 3D asset creation using Maxon Cinema 4D
• Proficiency in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects and other digital art production tools
• Ability to craft low‑poly assets and experience working with MoGraph tools

How to be successful in this role:

• Enthusiastic about the creative potential of drone technology
• Effective communication skills to articulate ideas and collaborate within teams
• Strong interpersonal skills with a team‑oriented approach
• Capacity to manage priorities, multitask, and meet deadlines in a dynamic environment
• Having an efficient and structured workflow
• Strong drive to experiment and innovate
• Quick learner with agility in adapting design approaches
• A results‑oriented, "can-do" attitude with a focus on creative solutions
• Ability to provide and receive constructive, creative feedback across teams
• Willingness to collaborate closely with team members, clients, and external partners

*If you're ready to play a key role in supporting the operational backbone of a company redefining storytelling in the sky, we’d love to hear from you. Apply now to help keep Nova Sky Stories flying high.*

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Senior Production Manager

As a Senior Production Manager you are a show owner, accountable for the end‑to‑end success of Nova’s most complex, high‑profile, and non‑repeatable productions — including marquee global events and brand activations. This role owns productions from early concept development and client alignment through final delivery and closeout, serving as Nova’s primary production authority across creative, operational, logistical, financial, and client‑facing dimensions. Senior Production Managers lead multidisciplinary teams, mentor and direct Junior Production Managers, and serve as the ultimate escalation point for production execution. Senior Production Managers also act as Remote Production Owners for touring shows, providing strategic oversight and guidance while Junior Production Managers lead onsite execution.

As a Senior Production Manager, you will be responsible for:

• Production Ownership (Marquee & Ticketed Shows) – Own end‑to‑end delivery of productions ranging from complex marquee shows to high‑volume, repeatable ticketed experiences, from concept through closeout. Serve as Nova’s primary production counterpart to clients, venues, promoters, and partners. Establish clear scope, expectations, schedules, and success criteria with senior stakeholders while balancing scale, efficiency, and quality across multiple concurrent shows.

• Budget & Commercial Accountability – Build, manage, and close production budgets across both large‑scale marquee events and high‑frequency ticketed productions. Track estimates vs. Actuals and ensure cost control, financial accuracy, and margin discipline at both show and portfolio levels. Partner with Finance and leadership on approvals, reconciliations, and post‑show financial reporting.

• Creative & Technical Leadership – Partner with Creative, Design, Flight Operations, and Engineering to translate creative intent into executable production plans that can scale across multiple shows. Lead production trade‑off decisions balancing creative ambition, safety, cost, schedule, and repeatability. Oversee technical integration of drone choreography with audio, lighting, staging, broadcast, and experiential elements.

• Logistics, Risk & Compliance – Coordinate with Nova and client logistics teams on international and domestic logistics, including shipping, customs, power, labor, and vendor coordination — often across multiple shows simultaneously. Lead risk planning and contingency strategies for weather, airspace, regulatory constraints, safety, and site complexity. Ensure compliance with aviation regulations, permitting requirements, and Nova safety standards across all productions.

• Team Leadership & Oversight – Direct Junior Production Managers and onsite teams across both marquee and ticketed productions. Serve as escalation point for touring and fever productions as needed. Lead internal and external production planning meetings (PPMs), kick‑offs, and debriefs.

• Reporting & Continuous Improvement – Own post‑show reporting, lessons learned, and after‑action reviews for both one‑off and recurring shows. Ensure production data, documentation, and reporting are completed accurately and on time. Contribute to the evolution of Nova’s production systems, standards, and global best practices — particularly around scalability and repeatable show models.

Required Qualifications: 8+ years of experience in large‑scale event production, live entertainment, or experiential production. Proven ability to deliver complex, non‑repeatable, client‑facing productions from concept through close. Demonstrated experience managing senior creative and brand stakeholders. Strong operational expertise across logistics, permitting, vendor management, and onsite execution. Advanced production budgeting and financial management experience. Comfortable operating in high‑pressure, high‑visibility environments. Ability to travel extensively (domestic and international) and work flexible schedules. Valid international driver’s license.

What defines you: A calm, decisive leader who thrives in complexity. Equally fluent in creative, technical, and operational conversations. Highly organized, systems‑minded, and accountable. Collaborative, clear communicator with strong client presence. Willing to roll up your sleeves while maintaining strategic oversight.

Junior Production Manager

As a Junior Production Manager at Nova Sky Stories, you will be an onsite executor and owner of show execution. This role is responsible for delivering production plans in the field, primarily for repeatable touring productions, while supporting Senior Production Managers on larger, marquee shows. You will serve as the onsite Production Manager for touring productions, ensuring Nova’s production systems, safety standards, and execution plans are implemented accurately and consistently. This is a hands‑on, detail‑oriented role for someone who thrives in live environments and takes pride in precise, reliable execution.

As a Junior Production Manager, you will be responsible for:

Touring Show Execution – Serve as onsite Production Manager for repeatable touring productions. Execute pre‑defined production plans, schedules, and logistics with consistency and precision. Manage onsite crew coordination, callsheets, load‑in, strike, and daily show operations.

Onsite Operations & Safety – Conduct site arrival checks, perimeter verification, and support airfield setup. Coordinate onsite with security, labor, power vendors, and venue contacts. Enforce exclusion zones, safety buffers, and show‑day safety procedures. Support front‑of‑house (FOH) operations and show calling in coordination with Pilots in Command (PICs) and Flight Operations.

Process & Documentation Discipline – Maintain accurate and up‑to‑date project documentation across Notion, Google Drive, Slack, and reporting tools. Ensure call sheets, reports, expense tracking, and post‑show documentation are completed accurately and on time. Provide clear, timely updates and elevate issues to Senior Production Managers as needed. Support on Marquee Productions – Assist Senior Production Managers on complex or large‑scale productions with scoped ownership of logistics, documentation, or onsite execution. Assist with planning, vendor coordination, and onsite execution as assigned. Reporting & Continuous Improvement – Submit post‑show reports, onsite observations, and lessons learned. Contribute feedback to improve touring systems, templates, and execution standards.

Required Qualifications: 4+ years of experience in live event production, touring, or comparable onsite production environments. Demonstrated onsite operational experience, including logistics coordination and crew management. Strong organizational skills with exceptional attention to detail. Comfortable executing within established systems, processes, and safety standards. Willingness and ability to travel extensively and work flexible schedules, including nights, weekends, and holidays. Valid driver’s license.

What defines you: Highly reliable, organized, and execution‑focused. Calm under pressure and effective in an onsite operating environment. A clear, proactive communicator who escalates issues early and appropriately. Team‑oriented, humble, and eager to learn. Motivated by operational excellence, consistency, and continuous improvement. Interested in growing into increased production ownership over time.

Test Engineer

Zusammenfassung der Rolle: Als Test Engineer bei Nova Sky Stories verantwortest du das Design, die Entwicklung und die Wartung unserer manuellen und automatisierten Testinfrastruktur. Du arbeitest eng mit Software‑, Hardware‑ und Produktionsteams zusammen, um sicherzustellen, dass Firmware‑ und Softwarekomponenten unseres Drone Light Show Systems den höchsten Standards an Zuverlässigkeit und Leistung entsprechen.

As a Test Engineer at Nova Sky Stories, you will own the design, development, and maintenance of our manual and automated testing infrastructure. You will work closely with software, hardware, and production teams to ensure that our flight‑control software, creative tools, and show‑orchestration systems meet the highest standards of reliability and performance.

As a Test Engineering, you’ll be working on: Creating and maintaining automated tests (unit, integration, system‑level) for our drone light show applications built with C++, Qt, and Dear ImGui. Designing test frameworks, mock environments, and test utilities that help validate critical real‑time and UI‑driven functionality. Building and improving our CI/CD test pipelines, ensuring fast, reliable, and repeatable verification for every code change. Collaborating with software engineers, designers, and drone operators to understand feature behavior and translate it into effective test strategies. Testing components involving real‑time data processing, mission‑critical control interfaces, and operator tools used in live drone show production. Investigating issues, reproducing complex edge cases, and providing detailed feedback to help engineers maintain the highest level of software reliability.

You will be responsible for:

• Develop and maintain manual and automated unit tests, integration tests, and end‑to‑end test suites.
• Build and optimise test pipelines to support continuous integration and delivery.
• Collaborate with developers to identify, diagnose, and resolve software defects.
• Design test strategies for new features and system components.
• Contribute to improving internal QA processes, tooling, and best practices.
• Work with C++ and Qt/QML codebases to write effective, maintainable test code.
• Ensure test coverage and reliability for mission‑critical systems used in large‑scale drone show productions.

You’ll need to have:

• Strong experience in C++ development.
• Hands‑on experience with automated testing (unit, integration, CI pipelines).
• Ability to design clear, reliable test cases and frameworks.
• Familiarity with modern development workflows (Git, CI/CD, code review culture).
• Experience with Qt/QML, especially for UI‑driven testing.
• Strong problem‑solving skills and attention to detail.
• Ability to communicate fluently in German and English.

It’s a plus if you have:

• Knowledge of testing embedded, real‑time, or robotics systems.
• Experience in the entertainment tech, UAV, or simulation domains.

Why you’ll love working with us: Be part of something innovative: Work on projects that combine cutting‑edge technology and creativity to deliver one‑of‑a‑kind visual experiences. Creative freedom: Have the autonomy to take on challenges, propose solutions, and see your ideas implemented in real‑world applications. Direct impact: Your work will have a real and visible influence on the execution of massive, high‑profile visual events across the globe. Supportive environment: We’re a fun, forward‑thinking team that loves solving big problems and working together to create something magical. Exciting perks: Competitive salary, flexible hours, and front‑row access to the incredible visual experiences you help bring to life. 🌟

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