Hybrid Design Operations Lead — Resource & Studio Manager

Something Special Studios; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive health coverage

401(k) with company contribution

Company-paid life insurance

Generous paid time off

Summer Fridays

Hybrid working – 4 days in office / 1\

Employee referral bonuses

Profit sharing program

Performance-based bonus

Job summary

Something Special Studios is seeking a Design Operations Manager to oversee day-to-day operations for Spatial and Visual Design teams in New York. You will partner with department heads, Creative Directors, Client Services, Production, Finance and Resourcing to ensure staffing, scheduling and process improvements support on-time delivery of exceptional work.

You will balance workloads, implement studio processes, monitor utilization and help teams focus more on creating impactful designs while

Qualifications

• 5-8+ years of experience in design operations, creative operations, project management or studio management.
• Experience working within a creative agency, design consultancy, architecture practice or experiential agency.
• Strong understanding of both graphic and spatial design workflows.
• Excellent resource planning and scheduling skills.
• Exceptional organizational and communication abilities.
• Experience managing multiple concurrent projects.
• Comfortable balancing competing priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong problem-solving mindset.
• Proficiency with project management and resource planning tools (Harvest, Smartsheet, Float or similar).
• Experience working with cross-functional creative teams.
• Team management experience is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Own day-to-day resourcing across the Spatial and Graphic Design teams.
• Balance workloads, allocate designers, and identify future staffing needs.
• Partner with leadership on freelance support, hiring, and team capacity planning.
• Attend weekly resourcing and Operations meetings.
• Manage operational workflows across both design disciplines.
• Maintain visibility across active design work and ensure timelines are clearly communicated.
• Identify delivery risks early and propose solutions.
• Coordinate internal reviews, milestones and approvals.
• Establish and continuously improve studio processes and ways of working.
• Partner with Client Services, Production, and Creative leadership to translate project scopes into resource plans and delivery timelines.
• Ensure strong communication across teams and support projects from kickoff through completion.
• Escalate resource, timeline, or operational challenges and help identify solutions.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives across design verticals.
• Support onboarding, training, and knowledge sharing across the design team.
• Monitor team utilization and operational performance, using insights to improve how the studio works.
• Foster an environment where designers can focus less on operations and more on producing exceptional creative work.

Skills

Resource planning

Cross-functional collaboration

Organizational skills

Communication

Multi-project management

Problem-solving

Team leadership

Forecasting capacity

Stakeholder management

Budget awareness

Tools

Harvest

Smartsheet

Float

Job description

Something Special Studios is seeking a Design Operations Manager to oversee day-to-day operations for Spatial and Visual Design teams in New York. You will partner with department heads, Creative Directors, Client Services, Production, Finance and Resourcing to ensure staffing, scheduling and process improvements support on-time delivery of exceptional work.

You will balance workloads, implement studio processes, monitor utilization and help teams focus more on creating impactful designs while