Senior Traffic Manager

Schlemmer; Durban North; On-site; ZAR 600,000 - 850,000; Full time

Job summary

Schlemmer in Durban North seeks a Senior Traffic Manager to establish and lead a centralised traffic function, coordinating across creative, social and client service teams. You will own traffic processes, plan forward, allocate resources and drive improvements in project management systems.

You will monitor workloads, capacity and delivery risks, ensuring projects are properly briefed, scoped and scheduled while balancing competing priorities and tight deadlines.

Qualifications

• Minimum 5 years' relevant experience in traffic management, resource management or agency project operations.
• Proven experience in a senior traffic or resource management role within a creative, advertising, digital or integrated agency.
• Experience establishing, improving or independently managing traffic processes.
• Strong understanding of multidisciplinary agency workflows and production requirements.
• Experience managing shared resources across multiple clients, teams and simultaneous projects.
• Proficiency in agency project management and resource scheduling systems.
• Excellent planning, organisational and problem-solving skills.
• Confidence in managing competing priorities and challenging unrealistic deadlines constructively.
• Strong communication and relationship-building skills.
• A structured, proactive and solutions-focused approach, with the ability to work independently.

Responsibilities

• Establish and implement centralised traffic management processes across the agency.
• Develop consistent procedures for job intake, prioritisation, scheduling, resource allocation and escalation.
• Manage resource allocation and capacity planning across creative, social and specialist teams.
• Maintain visibility of current workloads, resource availability and upcoming project requirements.
• Ensure projects are appropriately briefed, scoped, scheduled and prioritised before entering production.
• Work with client service and project owners to establish realistic timelines and resource requirements.
• Monitor project progress, identify potential delays and manage changes to schedules and priorities.
• Improve the use and consistency of project management and resource scheduling systems.
• Identify workflow inefficiencies, resource bottlenecks and delivery risks, recommending practical solutions.
• Facilitate communication and decision‑making across departments.
• Provide leadership with regular reporting on capacity, workloads, scheduling and operational risks.

Job description

ABOUT THIS ROLE

Are you an experienced traffic management professional who enjoys creating structure, improving workflows and ensuring teams deliver projects efficiently?

Our client, an independent creative agency based in Durban North, is seeking a Senior Traffic Manager to establish and lead a centralised traffic management function across multidisciplinary teams. This is a hands‑on role focused on improving how work is planned, scheduled, prioritised and resourced across the agency.

The successful candidate will take ownership of traffic processes, improve forward planning and provide clear visibility of workloads, capacity and delivery risks. This opportunity is ideal for someone who can build effective processes, manage competing priorities and work confidently with creative, social and client service teams.

WHAT YOU WILL DO

• Establish and implement centralised traffic management processes across the agency.
• Develop consistent procedures for job intake, prioritisation, scheduling, resource allocation and escalation.
• Manage resource allocation and capacity planning across creative, social and specialist teams.
• Maintain visibility of current workloads, resource availability and upcoming project requirements.
• Ensure projects are appropriately briefed, scoped, scheduled and prioritised before entering production.
• Work with client service and project owners to establish realistic timelines and resource requirements.
• Monitor project progress, identify potential delays and manage changes to schedules and priorities.
• Improve the use and consistency of project management and resource scheduling systems.
• Identify workflow inefficiencies, resource bottlenecks and delivery risks, recommending practical solutions.
• Facilitate communication and decision‑making across departments.
• Provide leadership with regular reporting on capacity, workloads, scheduling and operational risks.

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

• Minimum 5 years' relevant experience in traffic management, resource management or agency project operations.
• Proven experience in a senior traffic or resource management role within a creative, advertising, digital or integrated agency.
• Experience establishing, improving or independently managing traffic processes.
• Strong understanding of multidisciplinary agency workflows and production requirements.
• Experience managing shared resources across multiple clients, teams and simultaneous projects.
• Proficiency in agency project management and resource scheduling systems.
• Excellent planning, organisational and problem‑solving skills.
• Confidence in managing competing priorities and challenging unrealistic deadlines constructively.
• Strong communication and relationship‑building skills.
• A structured, proactive and solutions‑focused approach, with the ability to work independently.

Advantageous:

• Experience establishing a centralised traffic management function.
• Experience with Magnetic or comparable agency management platforms.
• Understanding of agency time tracking, utilisation and scoped versus actual hours.
• Exposure to integrated campaign production, social content operations and digital delivery.