Performance & Directing Supervisor

Full job description

Join a leading AI lab's cutting-edge GenAI team to be at the core of the AI revolution, where your expertise fuels the development of the most advanced AI models.

1. Overview

A leading AI lab is building generative video models that aim to capture human performance and staging faithfully: acting realism, blocking, screen direction, eyelines, continuity and emotional nuance, carried into a new output. We're looking for experienced directors, assistant directors, animation supervisors and performance specialists to help define what a convincing, well staged performance looks like, and to judge where the models get it right or wrong. This is a full-time role of approximately 40 hours per week.

This is a W-2 employment position with Cincinnatus LLC, with the opportunity to be placed at a leading AI Lab as part of their extended workforce.

2. Key Responsibilities

• Set the quality bar: Define clear standards for acting realism, blocking, screen direction (the 180-degree rule and eyelines) and continuity, critique current evaluations, and help build a taxonomy of the ways generated performances fail.
• Curate benchmarks: Identify, generate and curate strong examples of excellent and genuinely hard dramatic performances and staging, and test early model capabilities against them.
• Critique model outputs: Review generated scenes the way you would in dailies, and write precise, actionable notes on performance, staging and continuity.
• Shape the reviewer pool and captions: Help define how human reviewers are vetted and calibrated, and review captioning guidelines so performance and directing nuance is described accurately.
• Collaborate with other experts to keep evaluations consistent and accurate.

3. Core Qualifications

• 7+ years of professional experience in film, television, theater or animation.
• Credits on 2+ professional films.
• A background in at least one of: Film or Television Director or 1st Assistant Director; Animation Director or Character Animation Supervisor; Script Supervisor; or Performance Capture Director, Acting Teacher or Coach (film or theater).
• A meticulous eye for micro expressions, emotional beats, eyelines, continuity and staging.
• Hands-on use of generative image and video tools (e.g., Runway, Midjourney, Sora, Kling) to create your own samples for testing and comparison.
• Nice to have: reliable access to a 4K display for pixel-level review.
• Ability to engage reliably for approximately 40 hours/week during weekdays.
• Strong written communication and the ability to turn acting, blocking and directing detail into precise language for captions and evaluation templates.

About Cincinnatus LLC: Cincinnatus LLC is an enterprise staffing company that partners with leading technology companies to source and employ highly skilled professionals for contingent and contract-based opportunities. Cincinnatus serves as the employer of record for these engagements, providing W-2 employment, payroll, benefits, and compliance, while placing employees directly within client teams to work on high-impact initiatives.

Equal Employment Opportunity: Cincinnatus is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, reproductive health decisions, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, genetic information, political views or activity, or any other legally protected characteristic.

Last checked open on Oct 28, 2026. Job description provided by Mercor.