The Role
As a Creative Project Manager, you will be the operational backbone of the creative function at our agency. You'll partner closely with creative strategists, designers, media teams, and contractors to ensure work is scoped correctly, resourced effectively, and delivered on time - without sacrificing creative quality or performance outcomes.
This role is ideal for someone who thrives in fast-moving agency environments and can balance structure with flexibility as scopes evolve at the pace of AI-driven change.
What You'll Be Responsible For
Project & Scope Management
Track and manage project scope across hours, deliverables, and timelines to ensure work aligns with client agreements and internal capacity
Scope new creative initiatives and iterations, with flexibility to adjust scopes as priorities, performance insights, or AI-driven workflows evolve
Partner with strategy and account teams to identify scope risks early and recommend solutions
Partner with sales and account teams during the scoping phase to validate deliverables against team capacity before contracts are finalized (scope approval from this role is required before client agreements are signed)
Flag scope threshold breaches at 75% usage and escalate immediately to service lead and account manager for client notification and billing decisions
Track and report absorbed overage costs monthly to quantify revenue impact and inform contract negotiations
Workflow & Resourcing
Manage day-to-day workflow and allocation of creative strategy and design team resources
Monitor team utilization across accounts and proactively flag resourcing gaps or bandwidth constraints
Coordinate timelines and deliverables across internal teams and external contractors
Escalate capacity conflicts to leadership with clear tradeoff recommendations when competing client priorities exceed available resources (e.g., "Client A timeline slips 3 days OR Client B gets reduced execution quality")
Make day-to-day resource allocation decisions within approved capacity; escalate strategic prioritization decisions that require client relationship or revenue considerations
Process & Tools
Own and maintain creative workflows in Asana, ensuring projects, tasks, dependencies, and timelines are clearly documented and up to date
Lead recurring creative standups to review work in progress, upcoming priorities, potential challenges, and risk areas
Identify and implement process improvements to support speed, clarity, and scalability
Collaboration & Communication
Serve as the central point of coordination between creative, media, strategy, and contractor teams
Ensure teams have clear briefs, expectations, and timelines before work begins
Communicate status updates, changes, and risks clearly to stakeholders
Flag scope threshold breaches (at 75% usage) and escalate to the service lead and account manager for client notification and billing decisions
Escalate capacity conflicts to leadership with proposed tradeoffs when competing priorities exceed available resources
Partner with account managers to notify clients of scope departures, timeline impacts, or need for additional budget
Authority and Decision Rights
This role has authority to:
Approve or reject project timelines based on team capacity
Allocate resources across accounts within budgeted hours
Pause work when critical brief information is missing
Require brief revisions before creative work begins
This role escalates to leadership:
Scope changes that exceed contracted deliverables
Capacity conflicts requiring client deprioritization
Contract-level decisions on billing overages vs. absorbing costs
Strategic tradeoffs between client relationships and team sustainability
You Must Have
5+ years of experience in a creative project management, traffic, or operations role within an agency environment
Strong understanding of creative workflows and how creative supports paid media outcomes
Hands-on experience managing projects and workflows in Asana
Proven ability to track scope, hours, and deliverables across multiple accounts
Experience managing team utilization, resourcing, and contractor coordination
Confidence running standups and facilitating cross-functional collaboration
Comfort working in fast-changing environments with evolving scopes and tools
Nice to Have
Experience supporting paid media, performance marketing, or retail media teams
Familiarity with AI-enabled creative tools or adaptive creative workflows
Experience working with distributed or contractor-based creative teams
Background in design, production, or creative operations