Creative & Commercial Ops Lead, XCM Global Studio

Amazon•Santa Monica, CA

About The Position

Are you a strategic operator who excels at bringing together creative teams, business partners, and operational systems? XCM's Global Studio has successfully completed its first year of operations, establishing foundational workflows and partnerships. Now we're seeking an exceptional leader to drive financial discipline and resource efficiency as we scale sustainably. As the Creative Operations Manager, you'll contribute to the operational backbone of Global Studio. This role uniquely combines budget management, financial reporting, and strategic resource planning with creative operations expertise—ensuring every project is delivered with excellence while maintaining financial accountability and optimal team utilization. You'll coordinate between creative teams, XCM operations, and external agency partners, ensuring that projects are delivered efficiently while maintaining sustainable resourcing. You'll partner with marketing, finance, and legal stakeholders as needed for specific project requirements. This role combines operational rigor, vendor management experience, financial literacy, and strategic program management, with the opportunity to: • Build and evolve: Take proven processes and scale them strategically while identifying opportunities for innovation and efficiency gains • Drive financial and operational excellence: Own both the budget and the resource strategy, giving you end-to-end visibility into studio performance • Influence program strategy: Present financial insights and capacity recommendations directly to finance and program teams, shaping Global Studio's growth trajectory • Bridge creative and commercial: Translate creative needs into financial models and resource plans that enable sustainable scale • Partner operationally: Work with creative and production leads, agency partners, and external vendors to ensure smooth project execution. Collaborate with marketing and finance teams on resource planning and budget tracking.

Requirements

8+ years of professional non-internship marketing experience
Experience using data and metrics to drive improvements
Experience with Excel or Tableau (data manipulation, macros, charts and pivot tables)
Experience building, executing and scaling cross-functional marketing programs
Experience in capacity planning and resource allocation for creative or professional services teams
Good financial acumen with experience in budget management, forecasting, and cost allocation
Experience with project management tools and workflow systems
Experience with vendor management, PO processing, and contract negotiations

Nice To Haves

MBA
Experience communicating results to stakeholders
Experience in creative agency operations or studio management
Experience with capacity planning and resource allocation frameworks
Background in chargeback model development and implementation

Responsibilities

Own budget tracking, forecasting, and variance analysis for Global Studio operations
Oversee vendor management, PO processing, and invoice reconciliation
Partner with Finance teams on cost allocation methodologies and internal chargebacks
Drive toward and maintain cost steady state for Global Studio operations
Provide regular reporting on studio metrics, KPIs, and financial performance to leadership
Create financial performance reports and present insights to senior stakeholders
Lead quarterly and annual planning processes for both operations and finance
Support financial analysis for expansion decisions and efficiency initiatives
Develop and execute comprehensive resourcing allocation plans for Global Studio operations
Develop capacity planning frameworks that optimize workload distribution between internal creative teams and agency partners, with guidance from operations leadership.
Build resource forecasting frameworks that inform hiring decisions, agency scaling, and workflow optimization
Monitor utilization metrics and recommend adjustments to optimize team efficiency and prevent burnout
Partner with creative leadership to align capacity with business demand and strategic priorities
Develop contingency plans for peak periods and resource constraints
Manage badging, access provisioning, and systems training for new hires from agency partners or freelance
Partner with HR and IT on credential management and workspace setup

Benefits

health insurance (medical, dental, vision, prescription, Basic Life & AD&D insurance and option for Supplemental life plans, EAP, Mental Health Support, Medical Advice Line, Flexible Spending Accounts, Adoption and Surrogacy Reimbursement coverage)
401(k) matching
paid time off
parental leave

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