Creative Resource Manager

john st.; Toronto; On-site; CAD 80,000 - 95,000; Full time

Job summary

john st. is seeking a Creative Resource Manager to act as the central hub for staffing our diverse creative projects.

You will balance workloads, optimize utilization, and ensure deliverables meet timelines by analyzing briefs and asset types across channels. You will collaborate with account services, production, and department heads to forecast capacity, onboard talent, and manage the freelance lifecycle.

Qualifications

• 4+ years of experience in creative resource management, traffic, or creative operations within an advertising agency.
• Strong understanding of the creative process and how workflow management impacts the agency's bottom line.
• Experience with resource planning tools and AI-driven workflow efficiencies.
• Experience managing end-to-end freelance processes including budgeting and contracting.

Responsibilities

• Review, prioritize, and assess incoming briefs & resource request forms, matching the right creative teams to projects.
• Lead regular status check-ins with account groups to track project progress and timelines.
• Forecast resource capacity weekly, monthly, and quarterly based on the pipeline of work.
• Analyze utilization and timesheet data against budgets to optimize agency profitability.
• Onboard all new full-time and freelance creatives, guiding them through processes and best practices.
• Source, negotiate, contract, and onboard freelance talent; manage lifecycle from outreach to invoicing.
• Maintain and champion resource management systems and ensure clean data and visibility.
• Drive timesheet completion and train teams on time-tracking best practices.

Skills

People management

Negotiation

Communication

Attention to detail

Job description

Our philosophy is simple: in a world fast approaching commoditization, our job is to make clients' brands unignorable. We believe creating unignorable brands begins with putting the consumer at the center of our thinking. We believe that people are smart and respond to brands that speak to them with intelligence, insight and purpose. Because when people don’t have to engage with your work anymore, you have to make them want to.

We believe in diversity and inclusion. We believe diversity drives better thinking, creativity, and innovation, and we are working to build a culture that includes and values different voices and perspectives. We also recognize that we’re still learning. To support an inclusive environment where employees feel empowered to share their experiences and ideas, we have a diversity and inclusion team, and mandatory Unconscious Bias Training, and rigour in our recruitment process.

About the Role:

As a Creative Resource Manager, you will play a pivotal role in ensuring our creative projects are staffed with the optimal mix of talent. You are the central hub of the department, a proactive, forward-thinking leader who ensures projects are properly staffed, workloads are balanced, and teams run efficiently to meet deliverables.

Rather than just moving names on a spreadsheet, you have the ability to deeply analyze incoming briefs, understanding the nuances of different asset types, formats, and deliverables across channels. You can critically assess proposed project timelines knowing when to push back, when to optimize, and how to accurately scope the time needed for exceptional creative execution.

You have an exceptional understanding of each creative’s unique strengths and development goals. In this role, you will anticipate incoming pipeline needs, implement resource changes against evolving priorities, and work closely with account services, production, and department heads to optimize utilization.

What You’ll Do:

Resource Planning & Allocation

• Review, prioritize, and assess all incoming creative briefs & resource request forms, partnering with Client Services and Production to match the right creative teams to the right projects.
• Lead and attend regular status check-ins with account groups to track project progress, monitor timelines, and stay ahead of shifting resource needs.
• Proactively plan resource capacity on a weekly, monthly, and quarterly basis, forecasting future needs based on the pipeline of incoming work.
• Analyze employee utilization and timesheet data against project budgets, identifying trends to help optimize overall agency health and profitability.

Talent & Relationship Management

• Check in frequently with our copywriters, art directors, and designers to ensure workloads are manageable, engaging, and aligned with their career growth.
• Analyze the health of the department to ensure an equal distribution of work, managing vacation requests and facilitating smooth project handovers.
• Onboard all new full-time and freelance creative hires, setting them up for success with agency processes, tools, and best practices.

Freelance & Operations Management

• Source, negotiate, contract, and onboard freelance talent. Manage the freelance lifecycle from initial outreach and rate negotiation (in collaboration with Finance) through to system setup and invoice approval.
• Maintain and champion our resource management systems and project management tools, ensuring clean data and clear capacity visibility.
• Support the agency’s operational health by driving timesheet completion, onboarding teams on time-tracking best practices, and following up on outstanding submissions.

What You Bring:

• A genuine passion for working with people, with the ability to understand diverse skill sets, personalities, and needs, treating everyone with respect.
• A "solution-first" attitude. You don't just identify friction points; you actively propose creative ways to resolve them before they impact the work.
• The ability to maintain composure, flexibility, and patience in a fast-moving, deadline-driven environment where priorities pivot quickly.
• Superb communication and negotiation skills. You know how to balance firmness with empathy when managing multiple stakeholders and competing demands.
• A strong understanding of the different skills and tempos required for various types of creative outputs (from high-level conceptual creative to social, production, and rapid adaptation).
• Laser-sharp attention to detail. You are a multi-tasking expert who ensures no detail slips through the cracks.

The Ideal Candidate Will Possess:

• 4+ years of experience in creative resource management, traffic, or creative operations within an advertising agency.
• Deep understanding of the creative process and the business acumen to understand how workflow management directly impacts the agency's bottom line.
• Proven expertise in resource planning tools and a natural curiosity for adopting new systems and AI-driven workflow efficiencies.
• Experience managing the end-to-end freelance process, including budget tracking, contracting, and vendor relations.
• A collaborative, agile mindset ready to champion both the creative product and the people who make it.

The base salary for this position at the time of this posting may range from CA$80,000 to CA$95,000. Individual compensation varies based on job-related factors, including location, business needs, level of responsibility, experience, and qualifications.

john st. is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to particular characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers