Director of Creative Operations

Calder News LLC; Rockford (MI); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Wolverine Worldwide, Inc. is seeking a Director of Creative Operations to lead The Agency, the in-house creative operation, ensuring demand to delivery with clear priorities, resources, and disciplined budgeting.

You will partner with Creative Leadership to raise standards, drive efficiency, and align work across Brand Marketing, Finance, Procurement, Legal, and IT, while managing internal teams and external agencies.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Communications, or Operations.
• 10+ years of experience in creative operations and project management within an advertising or agency environment.
• Proven ability to build resource plans, manage capacity, and balance competing priorities.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop the Creative Services team.
• Establish and maintain project management standards and tools.
• Ensure projects are scoped, planned, and tracked from intake through delivery.
• Drive operational excellence and scalable processes across brands.
• Manage agency contracts, budgets and external partners.
• Develop dashboards and reporting for workload and utilization.
• Partner with Finance, Procurement, Legal, Brand Marketing, IT to align priorities.

Skills

Creative operations leadership

Project management

Agency operations

Resource planning

Budgeting

Stakeholder management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Communications, Operations

Job description

Wolverine World Wide, Inc. (NYSE: WWW) is a global footwear and apparel company driven by a vision to Make. Every Day. Better. Founded in 1883, the Company builds and grows iconic brands including Merrell®, Saucony®, Wolverine®, Sweaty Betty®, Chaco®, Hush Puppies®, Stride Rite®, HYTEST®, and Bates®, along with footwear licenses for Cat® and Harley-Davidson®. Headquartered in Rockford, Michigan, the Company’s products are sold in approximately 170 countries and territories worldwide. For more information, visit www.wolverineworldwide.com. In 2025, the Company was recognized by Footwear News as Company of the Year, by Forbes as one of America’s Dream Employers, America’s Best Employers for Women, and America’s Best Employers for Company Culture, and by Inspiring Workplaces as one of the Most Inspiring Workplaces Globally.

Wolverine Worldwide is a Certified™ Great Place To Work®.

The Director of Creative Operations owns the operational backbone of The Agency, Wolverine Worldwide’s in-house creative agency, ensuring creative work moves from intake through delivery with clear priorities, the right resources, disciplined financial management, and consistent ways of working. Turns creative demand into an actionable operating plan and provides leaders with the visibility needed to make informed decisions.

In this role, you will lead the Creative Services and Project Management function, establishing standards and best practices for how work is planned, prioritized, staffed, and delivered. Responsible for building team capabilities, driving operational excellence, and ensuring a consistent level of service across the organization. The Director of Creative Operations partners closely with Creative Leadership to continuously improve the systems, processes, tools, reporting, and workflows that enable the agency to deliver high-quality work with greater speed, transparency, and efficiency. Acts as a key connector across Brand Marketing, Finance, Procurement, Legal, IT, and external partners.

Primary Duties

• Operations works to bring work from the project level up to the business level by designing and implementing business strategies.

Creative Services Leadership

• Lead and develop the Creative Services team.
• Establish and maintain project management standards, tools, and best practices.
• Ensure projects are appropriately scoped, planned, prioritized, and tracked from intake through delivery.
• Foster a high-performing team culture focused on accountability, collaboration, and service excellence.

Operational Excellence & Process

• Design, implement, and continuously improve operational processes across The Agency.
• Audit and optimize core ways of working to drive efficiency, consistency, and scalability across brands.
• Maintain intake, briefing, review, approval and delivery workflows.
• Develop and maintain templates, playbooks, and operational standards that support efficient execution.
• Lead change management efforts and drive adoption of new processes and ways of working.

Resource & Capacity Management

• Own resource allocation across The Agency, ensuring the right talent is assigned to the right work at the right time.
• Develop and maintain capacity planning, utilization reporting, and demand forecasting.
• Partner with creative and marketing leaders to prioritize work and align resources against business needs.
• Identify resource gaps and recommend staffing solutions, including hiring, contractor, freelance, and agency support.
• Lead portfolio and staffing reviews to ensure team workload is balanced and sustainable.

Agency & Freelance Management

• Oversee relationships with external agencies and freelance resources supporting The Agency.
• Manage agency contracts, Statements of Work (SOWs), purchase orders, and vendor budgets in partnership with Procurement, Legal, and Finance.
• Ensure agency scopes, estimates, timelines, and deliverables align with business objectives, budgets, and operational standards.
• Track agency and vendor spending, forecast resource investments, and provide regular reporting on budget utilization and performance.
• Evaluate agency and freelance effectiveness, identifying opportunities to improve quality, efficiency, capabilities, and cost management.
• Establish clear engagement models and operating standards for external partners.
• Help determine when work should be completed internally versus externally based on capacity, expertise, timelines, and business priorities.
• Ensure external partners are effectively integrated into Agency workflows and ways of working.

Financial Operations

• Manage Agency budget planning, forecasting, and financial reporting.
• Partner with Finance and Procurement to ensure compliance with company processes and controls.
• Provide visibility into Agency financial performance, spending, utilization and resource investments.
• Identify opportunities to optimize costs.

Tools, Systems & Reporting

• Own the operational systems that support Agency workflows, resource management, project tracking, and reporting.
• Ensure data integrity and consistent use of operational tools across teams.
• Develop dashboards and reporting that provide visibility into workload, utilization and operational health.
• Identify opportunities to streamline workflows through automation, improved tools, and emerging technologies.
• Performs duties consistent with the Company’s AAP/EEO goals and policies.
• Performs Other Duties As Required/assigned By Manager.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities Required: Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Marketing, Communications, Operations.

• 10+ years of experience in creative operations, project management, agency operations in an advertising agency environment.
• Experience leading operational functions.
• Strong understanding of the creative process from project intake through delivery.
• Proven experience building resource plans, managing capacity, and balancing competing priorities.
• Strong financial acumen, including budgeting, forecasting, vendor management, and operational reporting.
• Experience managing and developing high-performing teams.
• Experience implementing and optimizing workflow, resource management, and project management tools.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and organizational skills.
• Strategic thinker with the ability to translate business objectives into operational solutions.
• Self-directed leader who thrives in a fast-paced, evolving environment.

Working Conditions

• Normal office environment. Some travel may be required.
• Wolverine Worldwide has a flexible, hybrid work schedule, with three days in office and two days remote.

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed and are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills which may be required. Wolverine Worldwide, Inc. is committed to creating a company that is as diverse as our consumers. We value the differences in one another and believe our differences make us stronger. Our diverse and inclusive corporate culture starts with the recruitment process. We are committed to being an equal opportunity employer. We aim to create equal opportunities for our associates, customers, and suppliers regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other legally protected characteristic.