Creative Services Director London / Dublin

Verve; Dublin; On-site; EUR 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Great Place to Work certified

Commitment to sustainability

Diversity and inclusion initiatives

Job summary

Verve is seeking a Creative Services Director to lead the creative teams effectively. This strategic role involves managing resources, ensuring optimal project delivery, and maintaining team wellbeing. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in resource management within a creative environment, excellent communication skills, and the ability to thrive in fast-paced settings.

The position offers opportunities for collaboration with various teams and the chance to contribute to Verve's commitment to sustainability and diversity.

Qualifications

• Proven experience in a creative agency, ideally live events.
• Strong organisational and prioritisation skills.
• Ability to make confident decisions under pressure.

Responsibilities

• Manage resource planning and allocation for creative teams.
• Drive project collaboration and effective processes.
• Maintain clear view of team utilisation and resource gaps.
• Build and manage freelance networks.

Skills

Resource management

Organisational skills

Stakeholder management

Decision making under pressure

Attention to detail

Collaborative

Education

Experience in resource/studio/traffic management

Tools

Resource planning tools (e.g. Float, Resource Guru)

Job description

Do you seek an opportunity to thrive in a European based event agency, working with some of the biggest brands in the world? Are you comfortable working in the fast-paced world of experiential events? If so, this role could be for you!

The Creative Services Director is responsible for ensuring the agency's creative talent is effectively deployed across projects—balancing workload, capability, and wellbeing to enable the delivery of exceptional live experiences.

Sitting at the intersection of creative, production and operations, this role is both strategic and hands-on: orchestrating resource across fast-moving projects while maintaining visibility of team capacity, skills and future needs.

Building effective systems to support agency efficiencies and linking 'traffic' to both external quotes and billings is a longer term but key part of this role.

Here’s what you’ll do:

1. Resource Planning & Allocation

• Own the day-to-day and long-term scheduling of creative teams (designers, creatives, writers, artworkers, etc.)
• Match the right talent to the right projects based on skillset, experience, creative chemistry & development goals
• Balance workloads across the team to maximize efficiency and avoid burnout
• React quickly to shifting project demands, deadlines and priorities
• Build efficient communications internally with all active parties to ensure the smooth running of the internal Creative operation

2. Project Collaboration

• Partner closely with: Senior Creative Team, Senior Management Team, Finance Director, Creative Directors, Account Teams & Producers to understand project scopes, timelines and resource requirements
• Drive project kick-offs and status meetings to anticipate needs early
• Drive effective processes (scoping, briefing, check-ins, timelines)
• Ensure creative teams are set up for success with clear briefs, realistic timelines & appropriate support

3. Capacity & Forecasting

• Maintain a clear view of team utilisation, upcoming demand, resource gaps & freelance support
• Produce weekly/monthly reports on capacity, utilisation rates, freelance needsSupport leadership with forward planning for peak periods, hiring decisions & freelance strategy

4. Freelance & External Resource Management

• Build and maintain a strong network of freelance creatives
• Source and onboard freelancers as required
• Negotiate rates and manage bookings
• Manage effective invoicing and payments
• Ensure consistency of quality and integration with internal teams

5. Process & Tools

• Own and optimise resource management tools and systems
• Continuously improve ways of working across briefing, scheduling & workflow visibility
• Introduce smarter, more efficient processes that support both creative excellence & operational clarity

6. Team Wellbeing & Development

• Advocate for sustainable working practices
• Support individual development by identifying stretch opportunities & enabling exposure to different project types

7. Creative Understanding

• Develop a strong understanding of creative disciplines, design workflows & live event production cycles
• Act as a translator between creative ambition and operational reality

We're looking for someone who has:

• Proven experience in resource management, studio management or traffic management within a creative agency (ideally live events, experiential or production)
• Strong organisational and prioritisation skills in fast-paced environments
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills
• Ability to make confident decisions under pressure
• High attention to detail with a proactive mindset

Desirable

• Experience working in live events or experiential marketing
• Familiarity with creative workflows (concept, design, production)
• Experience using resource planning tools (e.g. Float, Resource Guru, Monday, etc.)
• Understanding of freelance market and creative specialisms

Key Skills

• Calm under pressure
• Solutions-focused
• Highly collaborative
• Commercially aware
• Empathetic but decisive
• Passionate about creative work and the people behind it

Great Place To Work

Verve has always believed that exceptional work is rooted in an exceptional workplace. We proudly became Great Place To Work certified in September 2025. This certification is based entirely on employee feedback and a review of our culture, affirming the environment we’ve built at Verve, grounded in trust, inclusion and genuine care for our people.

Sustainability

We believe that businesses have a crucial role to play in addressing global challenges, and we are deeply committed to driving positive change through our work and our values. Verve is proudly ISO 20121, ISO 14001 and B-Corp certified, and is one of few event agencies to hold all of these certifications. We work hard to retain this certification and are always looking for new ways to be more sustainable in our workplace and in our events.

Diversity & Inclusion

We are committed to an active Inclusion, Diversity and Equal Opportunities Policy. Celebrating our inclusive and diverse culture is integral to Verve. We know that for our business to thrive and to realize its ambition, we depend on having diverse talent with a range of backgrounds, skills and capabilities. Together, we continue to build a culture that encourages, supports and empowers our employees.