Rodolfo Baez

Creative Director | 3D Generalist | Animator

Emeryville, California, United States

About

Visionary design leader with 15 years of experience in 3D art, animation, game design, and UX/UI across gaming, advertising, and film. Proven ability to lead multidisciplinary teams, develop immersive interactive experiences, and optimize creative workflows that drive engagement. Adept at cross-functional collaboration, managing high-impact projects, and aligning creative strategies with business goals. Passionate about game art, world-building, and interactive storytelling.

Experience

  • Moloco ()
    • Director of Creative Strategy and Operations
      Sep 2025 - Present · 11 mos

      Leading the global creative function at Moloco Studios, driving operational excellence, creative innovation, and scaled production across multiple regions. I oversee creative strategy, systems, and execution to ensure our clients receive world-class advertising solutions. Built and scaled a global creative organization, spanning the U.S., EMEA, and APAC, with specialized pods for video, playables, and static formats. Designed and implemented operational systems (workflow management, asset storage, creative tagging, and reporting structures) to increase speed, efficiency, and quality across creative output. Spearheaded the development of in-house playable ad infrastructure, establishing pipelines for multi-interaction playables, video-based playables, and interactive formats. Drove the adoption of AI-powered creative tools for production, resizing, performance analysis, and automated tagging, enabling faster iteration cycles and actionable insights. Partnered with GTM, Sales, and Data Science teams to connect creative performance with measurable business outcomes, driving ROAS and scaling client growth. Oversaw creative strategy and production for top global clients across gaming, entertainment, and tech sectors.

    • Consulting Director, Creative Systems & Team Performance
      May 2025 - Present · 1 yr 3 mos

      Leading a 6-month engagement to audit and optimize creative workflows, team structure, and system tools. Evaluating ad output and designer performance to drive operational efficiency, upskill talent, and support scalable growth. Delivering strategic recommendations on infrastructure, team development, and org design.

  • AppLovin (7 yrs 7 mos)
    • Senior 3D Design Manager
      Jan 2023 - Jan 2025 · 2 yrs 1 mo

      Owned end-to-end comprehensive design strategy for video and playable ad creatives, including building foundational workflows for designers and setting high-quality standards for user experience, resulting in producing 68% of the top performing ads at AppLovin for 4 years in a row Led a talented team of 13 2D/3D artists, nurturing professional growth, ensuring design excellence, and cultivating a collaborative team culture. Set clear goals, success metrics, and roadmaps in close partnership with the business development team and data science teams to deliver seamless and positive user experiences for a global audience. Partnered with product managers, engineers, and researchers to optimize design processes, and planned roadmaps for global campaign launches Delivered impactful design presentations to executive leadership, ensuring alignment with strategic goals and vision. Key Achievements: Emphasized data driven practices to help my team comprehend creative performance, which resulted in a significant increase in user engagement by 88.8% and increased campaign lift by 67.6%. Developed templates and workflows that empowered the team to create high-quality creatives in 50% of the time, improving efficiency and output. Implemented a learning culture and adopted cutting-edge design practices, resulting in consistently higher upward performance evaluation and feedback from direct reports.

    • 3D Design Manager
      Jan 2020 - Jan 2023 · 3 yrs 1 mo

    • Design Lead
      Jan 2019 - Jan 2020 · 1 yr 1 mo

  • Animator Designer at Univision Communications Inc.
    Jan 2017 - Jun 2017 · 6 mos

    Created high-quality motion graphics for Sports Dailies and projects, ensuring engaging visuals and timely delivery under tight deadlines. Collaborated with producers, directors, and designers to seamlessly integrate assets and refine designs based on feedback. Utilized Adobe After Effects, Photoshop, Illustrator, and Cinema 4D to craft compelling visual narratives while managing multiple projects within budget. Acknowledged by the head of all departments in the studio as one of the top designers on the team, demonstrating consistent excellence and leadership in creative projects.

  • Adjunct Instructor at Miami international university of art and design
    Oct 2015 - Jun 2017 · 1 yr 9 mos

    I was an adjunct professor and had the opportunity to educate my students advanced character animation in Maya. Intro to 3D. I also teach vector graphics, matts, maps, mask, and photo manipulation through Photoshop and Illustrator. And film editing in Avid and After Effects.

  • Tutor at Miami Dade College
    Mar 2017 - May 2017 · 3 mos

    I tutored students in animation for the MAGIC program at Miami Dade Wolfson Campus. I help the students in Maya and Motionbuilder to model, texture, light, rig, animate, and motion capture. I also work with them in after effects.