Team & Resourcing

• Effectively manage the time and resources of the studio team, which consists of creatives, strategists, project managers, and producers. This will include requests from the US team, sales, licensing, and events. Negotiate with key stakeholders based on priorities. Ensure that resource systems are correctly recorded, with support from the People/Operations Manager.
• Manage workload and the resources needed while working closely with the project directors, project managers, and sales leads to coordinate and support the creative and production team, to ensure deliverables are supplied on time.
• Work with Creative Leadership to ensure that team members are resourced based on their individual KPIs, skill sets, and performance.
• Develop a good working relationship with all creative teams across the group and maintain knowledge of all the work in progress within the departments to establish their capacity to take on new briefs.
• Collaborating with Creative Leadership to ensure best utilization of all creative talent, including the whole Dazed creative network (e.g., editorial) and external network (e.g., photographers, etc.). Work with the team to stay up to date on the best new talent in the market.
• Source, advise, and suggest external creative, PM, and production freelance and monitor their performance. Maintain and grow an external network of freelancers and collaborators, maintaining an up-to-date database of freelance resources which covers quality, cost, and availability, with the People/Operations Manager.
• Work closely with HR for contracting of freelance and perm employees. Sound knowledge of IR35 legislation is beneficial.
• Monitor all holidays within Studio to avoid clashes and gaps in the department resource. Approve holiday requests for creatives and PMs.
• Partnering with Creative Leadership, you will support the day-to-day management of the Creative team while facilitating the professional development of team members through timely performance reviews, clear objectives, ongoing coaching, and well-defined career pathways.
• Lead regular project management reviews and resource planning sessions to ensure visibility, alignment, and effective decision-making.

Process & Operational Excellence

• Own and continuously improve operational processes, frameworks, workflows, documentation, and ways of working across the Studio.
• Drive consistency in project planning, reporting, budgeting, forecasting, and status management across all teams and disciplines.
• Implement tools, systems, and best practices that improve efficiency, transparency, and project performance. Promote the adoption of new technologies, tools, and AI-enabled workflows that enhance project delivery and team effectiveness.
• Champion operational excellence, ensuring Project Management processes support both creative quality and commercial objectives.
• Overseeing internal project wash-ups, identifying key learnings, and areas to optimize our approach, processes, and project deliveries moving forwards.
• Champion the adoption of emerging technologies, including AI-enabled workflows and creative tools, to enhance team effectiveness and delivery capabilities.
• Develop and evolve the Studio’s operational playbook, creating a central source of truth for project delivery standards, ways of working, systems, processes, and team responsibilities.
• Ensure processes alignment with the US team.

Financial, Commercial & Business Affairs

• This role will work closely with the COO, the Finance Director, and the Finance team to ensure the commercial efficiency of the Studio, with appropriate profitability tracking and reporting.
• They will work hand-in-hand with Sales, Finance, and Production to invoice clients, maintain cash flow, reconcile projects, and analyze profitability within Studio.
• In an overseeing capacity, the CSD will be the escalation point for non-standard questions relating to contractual, SOW, or insurance issues.

General Ways of Working

• This role will provide a communicative bridge for Studio across all departments. They will be an escalation point for any difficulties, as well as a proactive communication point.
• They will ensure Dazed Media’s core values are adhered to internally and externally, and that diversity and inclusion initiatives are foremost in our decisions.
• Work with the ECD and other leadership to bring the teams together monthly to share work. Regularly schedule the sharing of work with the CEO/COO.
• Be a strong and calm presence for the Studio team.
• Work with the PM team to ensure they are working harmoniously with other Studio departments and the wider group.

Desired Skills & Experience

• You are the lynchpin of the studio, with up-to-date knowledge of who is working on what and who is skilled to deliver against the right briefs.
• You are an optimistic, upbeat character with a can-do, problem-solving attitude.
• You will have demonstrable experience in a creative services role within a fast-moving, creative environment.
• Extremely personable, working effectively with a variety of personalities.
• Highly organized, able to manage multiple projects at one time.
• Master negotiator with all key stakeholders within Studio.
• Good at managing stakeholders from across Dazed Media.
• Strong creative industry relationships.
• Strong experience implementing project management tools.
• Excellent written and verbal skills.
• Cares about facilitating the best creative work in the industry.
• Able to find ways to increase productivity and make profit from projects with poor margins.
• Able to work across a variety of production processes and aware of technological developments in these.
• Flexible and able to adapt quickly to the demands of challenging and unusual projects.
• Comprehensive understanding of pitching, creative development, and execution.
• Experience working with teams across other global markets would be useful.