Creative Ops Specialist

Senior Specialist, Marketing Operations & Creative Production

The Senior Specialist, Marketing Operations & Creative Production is responsible for leading the planning, coordination, and execution of campaign photo and video shoot production for the Express brand. This role plays a critical part in bringing brand campaigns to life, managing production timelines, key milestones, asset workflows, and cross-functional coordination from pre-production through final delivery.

This role oversees day-to-day photo shoot production across campaign and marketing content, partnering closely with internal Creative, Brand Marketing, Styling, Merchandising, and post-production teams, as well as external creative agencies, production partners, and talent representatives. The Senior Specialist serves as a key operational lead throughout the production process, ensuring all shoots are executed efficiently, aligned to creative objectives, and delivered on time and within budget.

In addition to production execution, this role supports budget oversight for photo shoot production, including tracking estimates, managing invoices, monitoring usage terms, and helping ensure projects remain within approved budget parameters. This is a highly collaborative role that requires strong project management, excellent communication, operational rigor, and the ability to manage multiple moving parts in a fast-paced creative environment.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead project timelines, calendars, and key milestones related to campaign photo and video shoots across Express marketing channels
• Serve as a primary point of contact for photo shoot production planning, ensuring timelines, deliverables, dependencies, and approvals are clearly communicated and managed from kickoff through final asset delivery
• Coordinate all phases of production, including pre-production, shoot execution, and post-production follow-through
• Partner with internal creative leaders and cross-functional stakeholders to align on production needs, timing, deliverables, and execution plans
• Coordinate with external creative agencies, production partners, and talent representatives to support smooth planning and execution of shoots
• Build and maintain detailed production timelines that account for concepting, casting, sample management, logistics, shoot dates, retouching, editing, asset delivery, and channel-specific deadlines
• Manage project tickets, asset requests, approvals, and delivery deadlines to ensure all required deliverables are completed accurately and on time
• Schedule and lead Creative Operations and production status meetings to review milestones, identify risks, and keep work moving across teams
• Facilitate asset review and approval meetings with internal and external stakeholders
• Partner with cross-functional teams to flag upcoming deadlines, risks, and dependencies, and proactively recommend solutions to maintain momentum
• Support sample ordering, packing, shipping, and tracking for shoots, ensuring product readiness and timely arrival for production needs
• Organize and maintain production documentation, including deal memos, contracts, talent agreements, music licensing, usage rights, and related approvals
• Track asset usage by channel and monitor compliance with signed contracts and usage agreements
• Assist in the coordination of shoot logistics, including schedules, call sheets, vendor communications, and on-set support as needed
• Partner with post-production teams to ensure photo retouching, video editing, selects, and final asset routing are completed according to deadlines and brand standards
• Route final assets to internal and external partners and help ensure proper organization, naming, and storage of deliverables
• Support budget oversight for photo shoot production, including estimate tracking, invoice management, and monitoring spend against approved budgets
• Partner with team leadership and Finance as needed to ensure production costs are aligned to budget parameters and properly reconciled
• Maintain organized records and filing systems for production materials, contracts, approvals, and asset usage documentation
• Contribute to process improvement efforts that enhance production efficiency, visibility, and communication across teams
• Support additional production and operational needs as assigned

Required Experience &

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience in Production, Operations, Traffic, Creative, Marketing, or a related field
• 3-5 years of experience in creative production, campaign production, creative operations, or marketing project management
• Experience supporting or leading photo and video shoot production in a brand, retail, fashion, or agency environment
• Strong understanding of creative marketing workflows, production timelines, and asset delivery processes
• Experience managing multiple projects simultaneously in a deadline-driven environment
• Proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, and project tracking tools
• Strong organizational skills and exceptional attention to…