Creative Operations Manager

Creative Operations Manager –
The Hillman Group

Job Summary

The Creative Operations Manager brings structure, clarity, and operational excellence to an in‑house marketing and creative team. This role owns the systems, processes, and workflows that enable designers, photographers, videographers, and cross‑functional partners to work efficiently and consistently across multiple channels. Acting as a key partner and advocate, the manager helps manage workload, prioritises requests, and removes operational obstacles so the team can perform at their best.

Essential Job Functions

• Creative Workflow & Process Management
  • Audit, map, and optimise existing workflows, identifying bottlenecks.
  • Build and document scalable processes for intake, scoping, routing, approvals, revisions, and delivery.
  • Establish a centralised request system with clear forms, briefs, and templates.
  • Prioritise and route requests based on business priorities and team capacity.
  • Balance standardisation with flexibility to support efficiency without hindering creativity.
• Project Management & Delivery
  • Manage end‑to‑end creative project life cycles across digital, print, packaging, photography, video, social, and integrated campaigns.
  • Partner with creative and marketing leadership to refine briefs, clarify requirements, and translate objectives into actionable production plans.
  • Track timelines, dependencies, and milestones, proactively removing roadblocks.
  • Lead kickoff meetings, brief reviews, and ongoing status updates, ensuring cross‑functional clarity and alignment.
• Resource Planning & Capacity Management
  • Monitor team bandwidth to ensure equitable, sustainable work distribution.
  • Plan resources based on marketing calendars, product launches, and seasonal priorities.
  • Identify gaps and coordinate freelance, contractor, or vendor support.
  • Provide leadership visibility into workload, constraints, and resourcing recommendations.
• Creative Review, QA & Brand Governance
  • Own the review and approval workflow, ensuring actionable stakeholder feedback.
  • Manage version control, asset organisation, and proof tracking throughout the creative lifecycle.
  • Serve as the final quality checkpoint, ensuring accuracy, consistency, and compliance with guidelines.
• Systems, Tools & Operational Infrastructure
  • Act as system administrator for project management platforms, proofing tools, and workflow systems.
  • Drive adoption of tools through training, documentation, and ongoing support.
  • Identify automation and technology improvements to increase team efficiency and scalability.
• Reporting, Insights & Continuous Improvement
  • Track operational KPIs such as project volume, turnaround time, revision cycles, utilisation, and stakeholder satisfaction.
  • Use data to inform resource planning, process improvements, and workload management.
  • Conduct retrospectives and process reviews to optimise workflows and operational health.
  • Develop dashboards to communicate team capacity, constraints, and priorities.
• Cross‑Functional Collaboration
  • Serve as the operational liaison between the creative team and marketing, product, sales, e‑commerce, and other partners.
  • Ensure stakeholders understand timelines, requirements, and approval responsibilities.
  • Maintain open communication to ensure transparency, streamline handoffs, and avoid rework.
• Other duties as assigned.
• Duty scope may change over time; the role is intentionally flexible to adapt to evolving needs.

Safety Commitment
:
Employees must participate in safety and health program activities, report hazards and unsafe practices, wear required PPE, and support safety committee initiatives.

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in marketing, project management, communications, business operations, or equivalent experience.
• 4+ years in creative operations, design operations, project management, or in‑house/agency creative production.
• Strong understanding of digital, print, packaging, photography, video, and integrated creative workflows.
• Proficiency with project management and proofing tools (, Asana, Workfront, Power
  
  BI, DAM platforms, etc.).

Competencies – Knowledge,

Skills and Abilities

• Expert organisational and project management skills, handling competing priorities and multiple deadlines.
• Excellent communication skills for collaborating with creatives, cross‑functional partners, and all levels of leadership.
• Ability to translate business needs into operational workflows and actionable creative plans.
• High attention to detail with a strong sense of brand integrity and creative quality.
• Ability to evaluate and optimise processes, uncover inefficiencies, and implement scalable solutions.
• Skilled at managing feedback loops, approval cycles, and stakeholder expectations.
• Comfortable working in fast‑paced environments with shifting priorities.
• Tech‑forward mindset with the capacity to learn and champion new systems and tools.