Creative Ops Manager

Something Special Studios; New York (NY); On-site; USD 92,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

A creative agency located in New York seeks a Creative Operations Manager to enhance operational excellence, foster team culture, and ensure scalability. You will manage resource allocation, oversee talent recruitment, and improve creative workflows to ensure high-quality output. The ideal candidate will have over 8 years of experience in creative operations, a deep understanding of creative processes, and excellent communication skills. The salary range for this role is $92,000 - $130,000 annually.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in creative operations or resource management.
• Deep knowledge of creative workflows in an agency or studio.
• Ability to manage across all levels of an organization.

Responsibilities

• Manage staffing plans across integrated teams.
• Oversee recruitment pipelines and coordinate hiring needs.
• Audit and standardize creative workflows for efficiency.

Skills

Creative operations management

Resource management

Creative workflows knowledge

Communication skills

Problem-solving

Tools

Resource management tools

Recruiting platforms

Job description

Overview

We’re looking for a Creative Operations Manager to drive operational excellence, healthy team culture, and scalability across our agency. Sitting at the intersection of agency and talent operations, enabling cross-disciplinary collaboration, this role is both traffic controller and strategic partner—balancing immediate project needs with long-term growth and sustainability.

You’ll be responsible for building scalable systems, managing resourcing across teams, cultivating talent pipelines, and designing workflows that enable high-quality creative output at pace. Success in this role means balanced utilization across teams, streamlined workflows, faster project throughput, and improved staff satisfaction through stronger cultural health and growth opportunities. Just as importantly, you’ll help foster a collaborative environment where people feel supported and empowered to do their best work.

Responsibilities

Resource & Capacity Management

• Partner with discipline leads and manage the master staffing plan across integrated teams (strategy, creative, production, design, spatial).
• Monitor utilization and capacity, ensuring projects are staffed appropriately against scope, deliverables, and timelines.
• Partner with leadership on forecasting and scenario planning, identifying risks and staffing recommendations.
• Work with the Talent Ops Associate to implement and maintain resourcing tools, producing weekly reports for leadership.

Talent Recruitment & Development

• Partner with discipline leads to define hiring needs across full-time, freelance, and contract roles.
• Build and manage a vetted freelance roster for rapid response to specialized or high-volume needs.
• Oversee recruitment pipelines through Greenhouse, coordinating job postings, candidate vetting, and interview processes.
• Ensure seamless onboarding and offboarding for new hires and freelancers.
• Support leadership in tracking career development, identifying skill gaps, and building training/mentorship opportunities.
• Champion a culture of growth and well-being by helping staff feel supported, valued, and set up for success.

Creative Workflow & Operations

• Audit and standardize creative workflows from intake through review and delivery.
• Develop playbooks and documentation to establish best practices.
• Partner across departments to ensure seamless handoffs between creative and production.
• Identify and resolve operational bottlenecks to improve speed and quality.
• Track lessons learned to refine processes over time.
• Embed cultural best practices into workflows, making sure processes serve creativity as much as efficiency.

Who You Are

• 8+ years of experience in creative operations and/or resource management within an agency or production studio.
• Deep knowledge of creative workflows (strategy, concepting, design, production, experiential).
• Strong understanding of resource management tools, reporting systems, and recruiting platforms.
• Excellent communicator with the ability to manage across all levels of an organization.
• Comfortable balancing day-to-day execution with long-term strategic planning.
• Skilled at spotting bottlenecks, balancing workloads, and creating clarity across teams.
• A problem-solver who thrives in fast-paced, evolving environments.
• Someone who cares about people as much as process, with a passion for cultivating a healthy creative culture where teams feel supported and able to grow.

Salary Range: $92,000 - $130,000 annually. Salary for the prospective employee is determined by a combination of factors that include qualifications, applicable skills, relevant experience and other budgetary considerations such as location/geography.