Creative Recruitment
Senior Production Manager
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Freelance Senior Production Manager
Start date - January 2027
Duration - TBC
Days per week - 5
Rate - £375/day
MUST HAVE TV AND PUBLISHING PRODUCTION EXPERIENCE
About the Role
We are looking for a Senior Production Manager to own the process that turns ideas into produced content. You'll make sure every concept entering the pipeline is properly scoped, cost, and ready before resource is committed, and that agreed workflows are followed consistently across every brand and team. This is a high-accountability role for someone who thrives on structure, sees risk before it lands, and can hold a firm line with creative teams while remaining a constructive partner to them.
What You'll Own
Your main focus: producing new franchise formats
- Own the production of editorial franchise formats, delivering consistent, repeatable, high-quality episodes on lean editorial budgets.
- Partner closely with the Creative Director and Producers to make sure ideas are production-ready, and that the brand is on board and happy with the collaboration, before resource is committed.
- Source, brief, and manage directors, running the bidding process and analysing treatments so concepts are competitively pitched and ready for production.
- Scope creative concepts against budget, assessing what is realistically achievable and flagging adjustments early, then managing budgets and timelines to course-correct before risks become issues.
- Work with a wide variety of brands.
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Overseeing business-as-usual content
- Oversee the day-to-day business-as-usual content run by a junior production manager on the team, teaching and coaching them so it is produced properly, to process, and on schedule while new franchises move through the pipeline.
- Own and enforce the production process, tracking projects from intake to delivery with clear visibility on status, blockers, and risk, and resolving deviations early.
Your team and resources
- Manage the other team members setting priorities, reviewing their work, and supporting their development.
- Hire freelancers ad hoc on a project basis, sourcing the right talent to match capacity as productions require.
- Partner with the producers on the branded content team, sharing in-house and freelance production and post-production resources so capacity is used efficiently across both teams.
- Coordinate scheduling and resourcing across Creative Development, Production, Post-Production, Talent group and brand teams to keep productions on time and within budget.
- Report on production status and continuously improve the process, keeping senior stakeholders informed and refining workflows as the pipeline scales.
What We're Looking For
- Experience in television production, with a strong understanding of content slates, and a background working alongside editorial teams at publishing companies.
- A strong track record of owning and enforcing processes across multiple concurrent projects and teams.
- Sharp budgeting and scoping skills, with the ability to test creative ambition against real-world cost and resource constraints.
- Confidence holding a firm line on process and readiness: able to say no, or not yet, and explain why, while staying solutions-focused.
- Hands-on experience finding, briefing, and managing directors, and a solid grasp of the bidding and treatment process.
- Experience producing editorial franchise or serialised formats, with a track record of delivering quality on very small budgets.
- Experience working across multiple brands and verticals simultaneously, such as games, tech, entertainment, fashion, beauty, design, sports, and music.
- Strong communication and stakeholder management, from creative leads to senior leadership.
- Excellent organisation, attention to detail, and composure under pressure in a fast-moving pipeline.
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Nice to Have
- Experience with project and workflow management tools, ideally Asana.
- Experience building or refining production processes from the ground up.
- Experience managing video, social-first, or pilot production pipelines.
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