Temporary Senior Manager, Creative Operations

The Knot Worldwide•Austin, TX

4d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Knot Worldwide is seeking a seasoned Creative Operations Senior Manager to oversee the day-to-day operations of its in-house Creative Team. This role is crucial for supporting creative production, refining operational processes, managing team capacity, overseeing budget, and exploring future capabilities like AI and external partnerships. The ideal candidate will possess a blend of strategic foresight and hands-on execution. Reporting to the Director, Strategy & Operations, Global Content & Creative, this individual will collaborate with key stakeholders across Marketing, Product, Editorial, and Channel Leads to innovate and fulfill creative needs across all platforms. This role is designed for someone adept at logistics, aiming to transform the creative concept-to-production pipeline to meet business demands and elevate the creative group to a best-in-class standard.

Requirements

6+ years of experience working in a Creative Operations role in-house or at a creative agency
Ideally has had creative agency experience and understands the nuanced differences in creative orgs, skill sets, and specific disciplines.
Experience working in a fast-paced environment, especially on multiple brands at one time
Detailed understanding of design, copy, video, and digital best-practice guidelines.
Strong understanding of different marketing platforms with regards to creative deliverables
Budget management and optimization experience.
Social Media and Digital first production expertise is highly desired.
The desire to build strong relationships across the organization and with external partners/agencies; demonstrates solid interpersonal and intrapersonal skills
Expert level communication and problem solving skills
Leads as a team player, with the ability to manage projects aligned with cross-functional departmental goals
Growth mindset ready to take on new challenges and opportunities as the marketing and editorial landscapes continue to evolve
Must have the ability to thrive in ambiguity, viewing it as an opportunity to problem solve rather than a challenge
Fun attitude and sense of humor—you can’t take the job too seriously!

Responsibilities

Co-architect and implement scalable creative operations systems that streamline end-to-end workflows across design and marketing stakeholders.
Lead the transformation of creative process maturity, establishing clear intake, prioritization, feedback loops, and measurement frameworks.
Proactively identify and eliminate bottlenecks, inefficiencies, or redundancies in creative delivery.
Own and manage creative production timelines, trafficking, and deliverables, rolling up sleeves to support execution.
Serve as operational support to the in-house creative team, ensuring smooth daily execution while planning for long-term scale.
Oversee the effective execution of creative productions, shoots, and events, and ensure maximum usage, creative asset production, and value is extracted from productions.
Build and maintain robust capacity and resource planning models that align team bandwidth with business priorities.
Partner with creative and marketing leads to forecast needs and adjust in real-time based on shifting demand.
Develop and manage a flexible network of freelance talent, production vendors, and creative agencies to augment internal capabilities.
Evaluate and implement right-fit partnership models based on creative complexity, speed, and scale.
Partner with the Director on driving innovation in creative operations by identifying and piloting AI tools and automation solutions to improve output, speed, and quality.
Stay ahead of emerging tech and trends to build a future-forward creative infrastructure.
Support the Director with managing creative operations budget, including forecasting, vendor management, and spend accountability.
Monitor cost efficiency and operational ROI across all creative workflows and tools.
Act as a connective tissue between creative, channels, editorial, and finance - translating creative needs into operational plans.
Champion transparency and alignment across teams through documentation, shared roadmaps, and reporting dashboards.
Operate from a place of unified problem solving as opposed to creative protection. Your north stars are the business goals.