Operations Manager I Jobs in Markham, ON (NOW HIRING)

Publicis is an omni-channel communications agency with over 600 employees across our Canadian operations. The office is the largest in our industry in Canada and boasts talent across various disciplines of marketing and advertising expertise. Publicis carries a balanced split of Canadian, U.S. and Global clients for which we are Agency of Record.  Publicis supports a range of D&I actions through our Driving Change team as well as giving back to the community through a long-standing participation in the Out of the Cold Program. With a strong, active and familial culture, Pub United is the agency's social club, hosting events as wide reaching as Curling, Trivia Nights and more.

We're looking for an Operations Manager who thrives on bringing clarity to complexity.

Based in Toronto, you'll play a critical role in helping teams do their best work. At the heart of our social agency, you'll connect talented people to exciting work that shapes how brands show up in culture. This isn't just about managing spreadsheets and allocations - it's about building the operational engine that helps great work happen.

As an Operations Manager, you'll sit at the centre of our delivery organization, partnering with Account, Creative, Strategy, and Finance teams to balance capacity, demand, and business priorities. You'll help our social team move quickly without sacrificing quality, sustainability, or employee experience.

You'll have visibility across the entire organization. Relationships matter here. You'll be a trusted partner to team leads, project managers, and leadership teams, helping navigate competing priorities while maintaining transparency, fairness, and balance across the business. You'll identify risks before they become problems, uncover opportunities for efficiency, and help create an environment where people can do their best work.

We're a growing organization, which means no passengers. You'll have real influence on how we work, how we scale, and how we continue to evolve our delivery model. If you enjoy solving problems, connecting dots, and building as you go, you'll feel right at home.

If you're excited by the idea of building scalable operations, enabling great work, and leaving your mark on a growing organization, we should talk.

Resource Planning & Allocation

• Partner with leadership to make staffing recommendations that balance client needs, employee development, utilization, and business priorities.
• Support integrated staffing models across Creative, Strategy, Account, and Delivery teams.
• Identify opportunities to improve resource efficiency and team effectiveness across the organization.
• Manages agency workflow and resource allocation, ensuring the right people are assigned to the right projects.
• Partners with departments (Client Engagement, Creative & Design, Content & Community, Strategy, and Production leads to assess and allocate resources for incoming briefs and projects.

Capacity Forecasting & Utilization

• Maintain accurate visibility into capacity, utilization, and projected workload across teams.
• Organize and lead regular weekly status check-ins with account teams to forecast resourcing needs and capacity planning.
• Support short- and mid-term forecasting, including ramp-ups, ramp-downs, and role transitions.
• Track and report on utilization trends to support workforce and delivery planning.
• Support redeployment opportunities across accounts when appropriate.

Stakeholder Collaboration

• Act as a trusted advisor to department leaders, helping navigate staffing trade-offs, competing priorities, and evolving business needs.
• Facilitate resourcing conversations that balance client commitments, employee experience, and business performance.
• Partner with Finance and Operations to support accurate staffing assumptions for scopes and planning.

Freelancers & Vendors

• Build and maintain a network of freelance and contract talent to support changing business needs.
• Set up freelancers with internal tools and systems, ensuring a seamless integration into project teams.
• Coordinate the use of freelancers and external vendors to address short-term demand spikes, specialized skill requirements, or timing constraints.
• Partner with leadership to ensure external resources are onboarded efficiently and aligned to scope, timelines, and delivery standards.
• Track and maintain visibility into project-related external expenses, including production purchases, materials, props, shipping, and other out-of-pocket costs, ensuring accurate budget tracking and reporting.
• Oversee freelance budget management, working with the Operations Lead to track spending and optimize costs.

Process, Tools & Reporting

• Lead the rollout and implementation of a resource management tool, while leveraging the platform on an ongoing basis to support weekly forecasting, capacity planning, and resource allocation across the team.
• Ensure consistent use of resourcing tools, utilization trackers, and dashboards (e.g., Float, Smartsheet or similar).
• Maintain accurate resourcing data to support reporting, audits, and leadership reviews.
• Contribute to continuous improvement of resourcing processes, governance, and ways of working.
• Supports key operational processes, including timesheet enforcement and tracking.
• Manage staff absence tracking, update employee photos, and maintain accurate staff lists.

Team Enablement & Growth

• Support onboarding and offboarding from a resourcing perspective, ensuring smooth transitions.
• Partner with Leads to identify skill gaps and development needs.
• Promote transparency, fairness, and sustainability in resource decision-making.
• Help foster a collaborative and people-first culture through thoughtful resource management practices.

• 2-3+ years of experience in resource management, workforce planning, operations, project management, or agency delivery.
• Experience supporting multidisciplinary teams across Creative, Strategy, Production, Community, Account, or related functions.
• Strong understanding of agency, production, or professional services delivery models.
• Advanced planning, forecasting, and problem-solving capabilities.
• Strong Excel and reporting skills, with the ability to translate data into actionable recommendations.
• Experience with Float, Smartsheet, Workfront, or similar resource management platforms.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Ability to influence decisions, manage competing priorities, and navigate ambiguity.
• Experience coordinating freelance, contract, or vendor resources is considered an asset.

Salary

Transparency matters to us. The salary range for this position is $70,000 to $80,000 per year. Actual compensation within this range will be based on a variety of factors, including relevant experience, knowledge, skills, and applicable certifications. This range reflects what we reasonably expect to offer based on current market data.

AI Use

We use artificial intelligence tools to support parts of our hiring process, such as reviewing applications or analysing resumes. These tools assist our recruitment team but never replace human decision-making. We believe in a human-first approach, where your experience and potential are recognised by people.

Publicis Canada is committed to building a diverse workforce representative of our community. We encourage and are pleased to consider all qualified candidates, without regard to race, colour, citizenship, religion, sex, marital / family status, sexual orientation, gender identity, aboriginal status, age, disability or persons who may require an accommodation, to apply.  If you require a specific accommodation please contact Human Resources.