Job Title:
Sr Manager, Brand & Creative Ops Lead

Role Overview:

You'll join a team that's reimagining how a legacy brand operates with strategic vision, operational excellence, and scalable systems. Here, operations leaders have a real seat at the table: shaping how creative work flows through the organization, influencing resource strategy, and building the infrastructure that enables world-class creative output.

You'll be part of a collaborative, forward-thinking creative group that values smart systems, continuous improvement, and a culture of operational excellence. If you're excited by building best-in-class creative operations, meaningful mission, and the opportunity to architect how a creative team scales, this is a place where your leadership will truly matter.

You will play a central role in defining and executing the multi-year roadmap for creative operations-owning creative workflows, stakeholder engagement, organizational design, capacity planning, technology ecosystem decisions, process governance, and budget accountability. You'll architect how creative operations integrates with Marketing, Brand, Product, Legal, and other departments, while mentoring and managing the BAU Campaign Coordinator.

This role requires a leader with exceptional strategic and operational dexterity: someone who can switch fluidly between long-term capacity forecasting, vendor contract negotiations, workflow automation strategy, and cross-functional process integration. You are as comfortable building predictive demand models and analyzing operational KPIs as you are establishing governance standards and driving team efficiency.

You will collaborate closely with creative leadership, designers, producers, strategists, and cross-functional partners to enable the creative team to do their best work. The ideal candidate is a proactive, strategic operator with strong leadership skills, data-driven decision-making instincts, and a track record of building and scaling creative operations functions.

This is a hybrid role based within the commutable distance of one of our hubs i.e. Frisco, TX, San Jose, CA, New York, NY or Newport Beach, CA. You will be required to be onsite on an as-needed basis; when not working onsite, you will work remotely from your home location.

What You Will Do

Creative Operations Strategy & Roadmap

• Define the multi-year roadmap for creative operations capabilities, aligning with business growth objectives.

• Set operational vision and strategic direction for the creative operations function.

• Continuously evolve operations and brand operating system/ team processes and structure to meet changing business needs.

Organizational Design & Resourcing Model

• Architect the creative team resourcing structure and determine build vs. buy vs. outsource decisions for creative capabilities to optimize resourcing budget.

• Partner with brand and creative leadership on headcount planning and talent/ agency

• Provide financial reporting and forecasting for operations expenses.

• Track freelance/ agency overages/ underages to flag any cost issues in a timely manner.

Oversee creative workflow & cross-functional briefing & review process

• Owns and oversees creation of GANTS and workbacks

• Ensures intake of requests is streamlined - correct process, templates etc,

• Oversee project management to schedule workflow meetings, reviews and reporting meetings in a timely manner

• Integrate key required gates - e.g. eyetracking testing or legal review within creative workflows as required

• Own process-oriented stakeholder management and communication

• Continuously optimize workflows across internal and external design partners inclusive of AI

Capacity Planning & Demand Forecasting

• Build predictive models for creative demand and resource allocation across quarters and years.

• Forecast and plan team capacity at the portfolio level.

• Establish tools and systems to provide accurate insights into real-time capacity across design resources.

Technology Ecosystem Ownership

• Own selection, implementation, and governance of all creative operations technology (DAM, project management, review tools).

• Make technology stack decisions that enable efficiency and collaboration.

• Ensure systems integration and data integrity across platforms.

Process Governance & SLA Standards

• Establish, document, and enforce standardized creative workflows, SLAs, and operational policies.

• Create and govern process standards across the creative organization.

• Drive compliance and continuous process improvement.

Operations Performance Analytics

• Define KPIs, build dashboards, and analyze operational health metrics (resource utilization, creative velocity & efficiency).

• Define success metrics and analyze operational data to drive decisions.

• Report on operational performance to leadership and stakeholders.

Vendor & Partner Support

• Support negotiation of master service agreements, establish preferred vendor networks, and set agency partnership frameworks.

• Oversee vendor relationships at the contract level.

• Manage agency and freelance onboarding, contracts, and performance.

Cross-Functional Process Integration

• Design how creative operations integrates with Marketing, Brand, Product, Legal, and other departments systemically.

• Architect cross-functional operational integration and workflows for creative and design execution.

• Drive alignment and collaboration across organizational boundaries.

Team Leadership & Development

• Manage and mentor the BAU Campaign Coordinator, fostering professional growth and expanded skillset.

• Drive onboarding programs for new hires in partnership with creative leadership.

• Build a high-performing operations team culture.

Cross-Functional Program Leadership

• Oversee key high-level, large-scale cross-functional brand initiatives in partnership with Creative Producer and BAU Campaign Coordinator.

• Serve as operational lead on strategic programs and campaigns.

What We're Looking For

Required Experience

• 10-15+ years of experience leading creative operations, marketing operations, or program management in agency or in-house creative environments.

• Proven track record of building and scaling creative operations functions.

• Experience leading teams and managing direct reports.

• Demonstrated success in capacity planning, vendor management, and technology implementation.

• Experience with creative operations tools (e.g., Workfront, Asana, Monday, DAM systems, Figma).

Skills & Competencies

• Exceptional strategic thinking with ability to translate vision into operational execution.

• Strong analytical skills with experience building dashboards, KPIs, and performance metrics.

• Mastery of process design, documentation, and governance.

• Proven budget management and ROI accountability.

• Highly collaborative leader comfortable influencing across functions and levels.

• Skilled at vendor negotiation and partner management.

• Confident communicator able to present to senior leadership and drive organizational change.

• Experience with workflow automation and operational technology integration.

#LI-Hybrid

Company Benefits and Perks:

We work hard to embrace diversity and inclusion and encourage everyone at McAfee to bring their authentic selves to work every day. We offer a variety of social programs, flexible work hours and family-friendly benefits to all of our employees.

• Bonus Program
• 401k Retirement Plan
• Medical, Dental, Vision, Basic Life, Short Term Disability and Long-Term Disability Coverage
• Paid Parental Leave
• Support for Community Involvement
• 14 Paid Company Holidays
• Unlimited Paid Time Off for Exempt Employees
• 96 Hours of Sick Time and 120 Hours of Vacation for Non-Exempt Employees Accrued Each Year

The starting pay range for this position is $124,380.00-$204,330.00. McAfee takes into consideration an individual's skillset, experience and location in making final salary determinations. For further details, please discuss with the Talent Acquisition Partner.