Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. Toptal is a global network of talent in business, design, and technology that enables companies to scale their teams on demand. The Creative Operations Manager will manage creative projects from intake through delivery, coordinate stakeholders and priorities, monitor project health, and improve workflows and operational efficiency across the Creative Team.
Responsibilities
- Serve as a primary operations partner for complex creative projects, including advertising campaigns, video, podcasts, social, and other creative initiatives across channels
- Own project planning and execution from intake through final delivery, developing project plans, roadmaps, timelines, and milestones while maintaining accurate project information and status within project management tools
- Review incoming creative briefs and partner with the Director of Creative Operations to manage the Creative Team’s weekly intake process, ensuring projects are clearly defined, appropriately scoped, prioritized, and ready for the Creative Team before kickoff. Identify and resolve gaps or questions early while helping evaluate timelines, team capacity, and appropriate project assignments
- Partner with Creative Leads and cross-functional stakeholders to balance needs, business priorities, resources, and deadlines, while proactively identifying and resolving risks, capacity constraints, dependencies, and potential timeline impacts
- Facilitate project kickoffs and weekly status meetings, ensuring deliverables, owners, timelines, decisions, and next steps are clearly documented and communicated
- Provide regular project updates and reporting to maintain visibility into priorities, project health, as well as overdue, at-risk, blocked, or otherwise impacted work
- Escalate complex or high-impact issues to the Director of Creative Operations with clear context and recommended solutions
- Proactively identify risks, capacity constraints, dependencies, and potential timeline impacts, and develop solutions to keep projects on track
- Identify opportunities to streamline workflows, improve processes, and increase operational efficiency across the Creative Team
- Contribute to a culture of accountability, collaboration, transparency, and continuous improvement
- Meet key Creative Team members, leads, and cross-functional partners
- Gain an understanding of Toptal, our business, and what sets us apart
- Become familiar with our brand strategy, guidelines, messaging, and governance processes
- Learn the team structure, roles, priorities, and ways of working
- Develop a strong understanding of incoming creative briefs and project requirements
- Independently create project timelines and establish clear milestones for deliverables
- Coordinate and facilitate project kickoffs, including documenting key decisions and next steps
- Become proficient in our project management tools and processes
- Establish a regular cadence for tracking and communicating project status with the Creative Team
- Independently manage multiple creative projects from intake through delivery. Exercise discretion and independent judgment
- Build strong working relationships with Creative Leads and key stakeholders
- Proactively identify workflow challenges and recommend opportunities for improvement
- Establish a strong understanding of team capacity, priorities, and project dependencies
- Effectively plan and manage timelines across multiple projects and quarterly priorities
- Take ownership of increasingly complex and cross-functional projects
- Contribute to improving and documenting Creative Operations processes
- Help develop scalable onboarding resources and processes for future Creative Operations team members
- Take a strategic view of Creative Operations processes and identify opportunities to streamline and optimize how the team works
- Implement improvements that increase efficiency, clarity, and predictability across the creative workflow
- Build strong partnerships across Creative and cross-functional teams
- Take on additional operational responsibilities and contribute to the continued evolution of the Creative Operations function
- Regularly and reliably attend scheduled virtual team meetings on camera
- Work independently with minimal supervision
- Use all required digital collaboration tools
- Prioritize and self-manage workflows and deadlines
Skills
- Applicants must be authorized to work in the US at the time of hire
- Resumes and communication must be submitted in English
- Bachelor's degree is required
- 5+ years of project or creative operations experience within an advertising agency, design studio, creative department, or similar environment
- Demonstrated experience managing multiple creative projects with competing priorities and deadlines
- Strong understanding of creative workflows and the ability to translate business needs into clear, actionable project plans
- Experience working with project management platforms such as Asana, Jira, Trello, Monday.com, or similar tools
- Outstanding written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to clearly communicate project requirements, status, risks, and decisions
- Strong organizational skills and exceptional attention to detail
- Ability to remain calm, resourceful, and solutions-oriented when managing tight deadlines or shifting priorities
- Strong relationship-building and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively across Creative and non-Creative teams
- A proactive mindset and demonstrated ability to identify opportunities for process improvement and operational efficiency
- Ability to work independently, exercise sound judgment, and take ownership in a fast-paced, highly collaborative environment
- Ability to work in a fast-paced, rapidly growing company and handle a wide variety of challenges, deadlines, and a diverse array of contacts
- At Toptal, you'll be expected to be a world-class individual contributor
- Work independently with minimal supervision
- Use all required digital collaboration tools
- Prioritize and self-manage workflows and deadlines
Benefits
- Remote position
- Participation in a 401(k) retirement plan
- Medical, dental, and vision health insurance plans
- Basic life insurance coverage
- Short-term and long-term disability coverage
- Access to flexible spending, dependent care, and health savings accounts
- Access to telehealth virtual doctors
- An employee assistance program
- Flexible paid time off
Company Overview