Creative Operations Lead

UMT - Internal•New York, NY

8d•$140,000 - $165,000

About The Position

The Creative Operations Lead is a critical operational leader at Translation, responsible for ensuring the right people are on the right work at the right time across every active account and initiative. This role sits at the center of the agency's capacity ecosystem, partnering closely with the Program Management team to keep delivery on track, talent balanced, and the business protected. As Translation scales its resource planning capabilities — including the rollout of a new, intuitive staffing and capacity platform, this lead will serve as both the operational owner of that tool and the strategic steward of how people are planned, protected, and prioritized across billable and non-billable work.

Requirements

6+ years of experience in resource management, project management, creative operations, or a related function within a creative agency or marketing organization.
Deep understanding of how creative agencies work, the rhythms of production, the difference between billable and non-billable time, and how to protect both.
Freelance recruiting experience and negotiation skills.
Proven track record managing complex, multi-account staffing in a fast-paced environment where priorities shift quickly.
Strong command of resource management tools and platforms; experience leading a tool rollout or system migration is a plus.
Experience managing or willing to learn managing awards submissions and/or case study development, with a clear understanding of how agency recognition supports business development.
A systems thinker who is equally comfortable in the weeds of a staffing grid and in a strategic conversation about organizational design.
Clear, confident communicator who can translate operational complexity into simple, actionable recommendations for senior leadership.
A natural collaborator who builds trust quickly and maintains it under pressure.
High integrity around people data: this role has visibility into utilization and performance-adjacent information and must handle it with discretion.

Nice To Haves

Experience managing and enhancing a product or platform.
A strong network of freelance talent relationships.

Responsibilities

Own and manage staffing allocations across all active client accounts, ensuring people are planned accurately and updated in real time.
Lead the rollout and ongoing adoption of Translation's new resource management platform, serving as the primary administrator and internal champion.
Surface capacity conflicts, volume pressure points, and over-allocation risks proactively — before they become delivery problems.
Partner daily with the PM team to align headcount plans with project timelines, scope changes, and shifting client demands.
Develop and maintain clear visibility into who is available, who is over-committed, and where gaps exist across all functions.
Track talent skills and passions.
Balance competing demands across billable client work, proactive creative opportunities, new business pitches, and internal initiatives.
Make and communicate clear recommendations on when and how to pull staff from non-billable work in service of billable priorities.
Establish and enforce workload thresholds that protect talent from burnout while maintaining agency output and quality.
Build frameworks for how to triage competing requests, ensuring leadership has the right information to make fast, informed staffing calls.
Proactively source and pipeline freelance talent in advance of high-volume periods, ensuring the agency is never caught flat-footed when capacity spikes.
Manage first holds on preferred freelancers across disciplines, maintaining relationships so Translation has priority access when demand peaks.
Negotiate freelance rates with an eye toward engagement length securing better terms for longer commitments while staying within agency margin thresholds.
Vet new freelancers in partnership with relevant discipline leads and key creative, strategy, and production leaders before adding them to the approved roster.
Own and maintain a current, organized freelancer database including rates, availability windows, past project history, and performance notes so the agency can move quickly when a need arises.
Own the end-to-end process for awards submissions tracking eligible work, managing timelines, coordinating materials, and submitting entries across relevant shows.
Build and maintain a living library of agency case studies, ensuring work is documented accurately and kept current across accounts.
Partner with Business Development, Business Leadership, Strategy, and Creative to capture the story behind Translation's best work in a format ready for new business, press, and agency promotion.
Develop a calendar and workflow for proactive awards planning to avoid last-minute scrambles.
Serve as a key operational partner to the PM team, creating tight alignment between resource plans and delivery commitments.
Act as a trusted advisor to Business Leadership and Client Engagement teams on capacity and staffing strategy, translating data into actionable recommendations.
Collaborate with People Operations on headcount planning, open role identification, and freelance needs driven by capacity gaps.
Represent resource management in agency planning conversations, including scoping, new business, and organizational design discussions.