Director, Creative Resource Planning & Operations

SEPHORA; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 160,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Sephora seeks a contract-driven Director of Resource Planning & Marketing Operations to lead capacity planning and workflow optimization for the North America marketing organization. You will coordinate with Creative, Brand Marketing, Production, Project Management, and external agencies to ensure optimal staffing and efficient delivery of high-quality marketing at scale.

You will drive visibility into demand, utilization, and governance, shaping the future operating model for Sephora’s creative

Qualifications

• 10+ years in resource management, workforce planning or related fields.
• Experience leading resource planning across large marketing/creative teams.
• Strong understanding of creative development processes and marketing workflows.

Responsibilities

• Own enterprise-level resource planning across multiple marketing and creative functions.
• Develop and maintain capacity forecasts and allocation plans across teams.
• Translate business priorities into staffing and resourcing strategies.
• Identify capacity risks, skill gaps, and workload imbalances before delivery.
• Partner with team leaders to adjust resources based on demand.
• Create dashboards and reporting to track workload, throughput, and capacity.

Skills

Resource planning

Marketing operations

Creative operations

Forecasting

Capacity planning

Stakeholder management

Data analysis

Tools

Monday.com

Workfront

Asana

Smartsheet

Job description

(Contract) Director, Creative Resource Planning & Operations

Position Overview

Sephora is looking for an experienced, strategic Director of Resource Planning & Marketing Operations to join us on a contract basis for up to one year. You will lead resource management, capacity planning, and workflow optimization across our North America Marketing organization. In this contract role, you will be the connective tissue of our growing creative ecosystem. You will partner with Creative, Brand Marketing, Production, Project Management, and external agency teams to make sure the right work is done by the right resources at the right time.

You will bring operational rigor and strategic thinking to a large, fast-paced, multi-brand retail environment. You will balance internal teams, agency partners, freelancers, and emerging technology to deliver high-quality marketing at scale. You will also help shape the future operating model for our creative ecosystem by giving the organization clearer visibility into demand, capacity, utilization, and workflow decisions.

You will implement and optimize the technology and workflow solutions that improve planning, visibility, and execution. You will work closely with internal teams, external agencies, and technology vendors to make sure Sephora has the capabilities, processes, and tools to deliver world-class creative work with greater speed, quality, and efficiency. The ideal candidate has deep experience in workforce planning, creative resourcing, and marketing operations. Retail or beauty experience is a plus.

Key Responsibilities

Resource Planning & Capacity Management

• Own enterprise-level resource planning across multiple marketing and creative functions.
• Develop and maintain capacity forecasts, utilization models, and resource allocation plans across teams.
• Translate annual and quarterly business priorities into actionable staffing and resourcing strategies.
• Identify capacity risks, skill gaps, and workload imbalances before they impact delivery.
• Partner with team leaders to proactively adjust resources based on changing business demands.

Creative Ecosystem & Work Allocation

• Serve as the central point of coordination for work allocation across internal creative teams, production resources, agencies, contractors, and specialized partners.
• Develop frameworks that determine where work should live based on business impact, complexity, speed, cost, and required expertise.
• Balance in-house, agency, freelance, and emerging AI-enabled solutions to optimize outcomes.
• Establish scalable resourcing models that support both iconic brand-building work and high-volume business needs.

Workflow & Marketing Operations

• Evaluate and optimize end-to-end marketing and creative workflows.
• Identify process inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and unnecessary handoffs that slow execution.
• Partner with Project Management and cross-functional leaders to improve intake, prioritization, planning, and governance processes.
• Develop reporting and operational dashboards that provide visibility into workload, project health, throughput, and capacity.

Agency & External Partner Management

• Partner closely with agency and production partners to understand capabilities, availability, and resource needs.
• Support agency staffing discussions, scope planning, and resource forecasting.
• Recommend internal versus external solutions based on business objectives, timelines, and cost considerations.
• Ensure external resources are integrated seamlessly into the broader operating model.

Strategic Planning & Organizational Effectiveness

• Lead workforce planning efforts in partnership with Marketing and Creative leadership.
• Use resource and workflow data to inform organizational decisions, investment strategies, and future capability development.
• Establish measurement frameworks that connect resource utilization and operational efficiency to business outcomes.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives that enhance speed, quality, and effectiveness across the marketing organization.

Qualifications

Required Experience

• 10+ years of experience in resource management, workforce planning, marketing operations, creative operations, or related functions.
• Experience leading resource planning across large-scale marketing, creative, production, or agency organizations.
• Strong understanding of creative development processes, marketing workflows, and production operations.
• Proven experience managing internal and external resource ecosystems, including agencies, freelancers, and contractors.
• Demonstrated success building forecasting, capacity planning, and utilization models.
• Advanced analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to translate data into actionable recommendations.
• Experience operating in fast-paced, highly matrixed retail, consumer, or multi-brand environments.

Preferred Experience

• Beauty, fashion, retail, specialty retail, luxury retail, or consumer brand experience.
• Experience supporting large in-house creative organizations.
• Familiarity with resource management, project management, and workflow platforms such as Monday.com, Workfront, Asana, Smartsheet, or similar tools.
• Experience leading operational transformation or organizational redesign initiatives.
• Systems thinker who can see connections across teams, processes, and workloads.
• Skilled influencer capable of aligning diverse stakeholders without direct authority.
• Highly proactive and comfortable navigating ambiguity.
• Strong business acumen balanced with operational discipline.
• Able to move seamlessly between strategic planning and hands‑on execution.
• Exceptional communicator who can translate complex operational challenges into clear, actionable decisions.

What Success Looks Like

• Create a clear, enterprise-wide view of marketing and creative capacity.
• Improve predictability of resource needs across the organization.
• Establish consistent frameworks for internal versus external work allocation.
• Reduce workflow inefficiencies and unnecessary handoffs.
• Improve team utilization and resource flexibility.
• Help build a scalable creative ecosystem capable of delivering iconic brand experiences while increasing speed, efficiency, and operational effectiveness.

Sephora values a diverse and inclusive workplace and considers all applicants without regard to sex, pregnancy, race, color, national origin, gender (including gender identity and gender expression), age, religion, sexual orientation, military/veteran status, disability, or any other protected category. Sephora is committed to providing reasonable accommodation ta applicants with disabilities or other medical conditions.

Sephora will consider all qualified applicants, including those with arrest and conviction records in a manner consistent with the requirements of all applicable laws, including the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, and the New York City Fair Chance Act.

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