More Recently,
Vanderlei has played a key leadership role at Invisible Universe, a venture-backed media company supported by some of the world's most influential investors across Silicon Valley and the media industry. As a founding member, he helped shape and scale a first-of-its-kind global animation studio–designed for speed and flexibility–capable of delivering premium content for today's platforms. He led production across expansive, international teams, building clear processes, well-defined pipelines, and structured workflows that enabled high-quality animation to move at the pace of modern media while operating far more efficiently than traditional studio models.
Later, operating in a hybrid role across Production Leadership and Product Manager, Vanderlei collaborated closely with technologists to help build Invisible Studio, an AI-driven creative tool for short-form content. His approach is deeply hands-on: testing tools in real production environments, understanding where AI accelerates creativity–and where it breaks.
Invisible Studio Sizzle
Invisible Studio Sizzle
Invisible Universe Sizzle
Boltie Joins the Playdate
Halloween
Before Expanding
into AI production, Vanderlei spent over 12 years producing high-end 3D animation and post-production, beginning his career as a Motion Designer and quickly advancing into leadership roles including Head of Motion and Director. During this time, he led complex and international projects across advertising, entertainment, and digital platforms, while also driving R&D initiatives in workflows using Unreal Engine for video and animation content, as well as motion capture processes adopted to improve speed, consistency, and overall production efficiency.
Alongside his production work, he developed and curated a broad network of artists, animators, technical directors, and creative technologists–relationships built through years of collaboration and hands-on execution at scale. Known for bringing clarity and organization to ambitious creative challenges, he consistently built strong teams, structured workflows, and adaptable production models capable of evolving alongside new technologies while maintaining high creative standards and reliable delivery.
Awards
✹ 42 artists
✹ 19 weeks
✹ Roof Studio
+
✹ 11 artists
✹ 6 weeks
✹ Lobo.cx
Awards
✹ 48 artists
✹ 16 weeks
✹ Roof Studio
Awards
✹ 69 artists
✹ 16 weeks
✹ Zombie Studio
+
✹ 27 artists
✹ 13 weeks
✹ Roof Studio
+
✹ 18 artists
✹ 7 weeks
✹ Zombie Studio
+
✹ 14 artists
✹ 10 weeks
✹ Alton
+
✹ 21 artists
✹ 7 weeks
✹ Roof Studio
✹ 3 artists
✹ 5 weeks
✹ Flux.work
The MESA Experience
is a specific 5-day intensive work model designed to solve complex problems with a small, skilled team formed by some of the most accomplished doers of our time.
Vanderlei was fortunate enough to work with Mesa on a project commissioned by Kobe Bryant, who hired Mesa to create an efficient NGO in which at least 70% of the funds raised would go to concrete actions. Within five days, Kobe had in his hands a clearly defined operational system for the organization. Seeing Kobe on the first and last day of the Mesa, deeply touched by the prospect of developing a meaningful project, became the fuel for that unforgettable week.
Beyond this engagement, Vanderlei continued collaborating with Mesa on projects involving Marina Abramović, Google, and GNT.
