Creative Services Manager

About Us

For five decades, mdg has been a leader in the association and event marketing space. And while we've been leading, we've also been learning: learning what motivates audiences now, how to build loyalty, and which performance tools actually impact registration numbers. We specialize in audience development and attendee acquisition for associations and trade shows, working across strategy, creative, digital, and communications to make that happen. We don't copy and paste strategies or use technology for show. We dig deep into unique situations and apply what makes sense, instead of what's expected.

Summary

The Creative Services Manager keeps creative production moving from the point of approved core creative through campaign execution, on time and on budget. You are a solution-oriented collaborator who owns project assignment, tracks capacity across the creative team, and serves as the point person when rush requests or shifting priorities require resequencing work. You also guide how production gets done: the process standards, handoffs, and freelancer decisions that keep campaign execution work efficient and streamlined. This role suits an organized, calm operator who understands the nuances involved in creative work and gets satisfaction from making a busy group run smoothly. Trafficking is a core part of the role while our next phase of operations rolls out. Over time the focus shifts toward production efficiency and improved process workflows. This is not a hands-on design or people management role.

This position supports our Operations & Strategy team. It is eligible to work a hybrid schedule, generally requiring work in-office and/or show-site 2-3 days per week. The ideal candidate will be located in Washington, DC.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

Intake and Assignment

• Manage project intake, assignments, and scheduling in Asana from request through delivery.
• Maintain Asana workflows, templates, and processes.
• Partner with creative, account, and department leads to prioritize work and manage shifting deadlines.
• Recommend outsourcing solutions when needed.

Capacity and Resourcing

• Assign designers, copywriters, and production staff based on workload and skill set.
• Monitor team capacity, workload distribution, and resource gaps.
• Coordinate freelancer support during high-volume periods.
• Track project status, bandwidth needs, and rush-work trends.

Meetings and Communication

• Lead weekly trafficking meetings to review assignments and resolve conflicts.
• Partner with project managers and account teams to adjust timelines and priorities.
• Serve as the main liaison for workflow and resourcing issues.
• Escalate priority conflicts and deadline risks when necessary.

Freelancers

• Manage freelancer sourcing, onboarding, and assignments.
• Determine when work should be outsourced versus kept in-house.
• Track freelance utilization, hours, and budget performance.
• Maintain a reliable freelance network.

Production Standards and Quality

• Help set and maintain production standards: file organization and naming, version control, asset management, and templates and specs for each deliverable type (HTML5, GIF, email, ads). Help the team follow them day to day.
• Be the first stop for production and process questions, so Associate Creative Directors stay focused on core creative.
• Serve as the creative production subject matter expert. Work with Operations and creative leadership on standards, and resolve quality issues (specs, deadlines, completeness, errors) as they come up. Flag creative execution issues to the creative leadership team as well as operations.
• Review and update production templates as operations updates rolls out.
• Spot and fix recurring production inefficiencies, and recommend where the work, the tools, or the process should change.
• Maintain documentation and SOPs for production processes in alignment with Operations leadership.

Process and Workflow Improvement

• Partner with Operations to improve creative workflows, intake processes, and automation.
• Manage handoffs from creative concepting to production.
• Train teams on workflow expectations and best practices.
• Analyze project metrics and recommend process improvements to increase efficiency and quality.

Education & Experience

• Minimum of 5 years of agency experience trafficking and producing creative work (design, copy, and production) across multiple clients and competing deadlines is required.
• Hands-on expertise with a work management platform, including building boards, rules, and automations, is required. Asana is strongly preferred; Workfront, Monday.com, Workamajig, or similar will be considered.
• Thorough understanding of pre-production planning and processes; ability to estimate project scopes of work and the time required to complete tasks is required.
• Demonstrated track record of spotting process problems and recommending practical fixes, not just running the schedule, is required.
• Experience evaluating, managing, and negotiating with freelancers is strongly preferred.
• Experience in a full-service agency, where creative works alongside other disciplines (such as strategy, web, and social) and collaborates across departments, is strongly preferred.
• Experience partnering with Operations to build or improve creative workflow and production standards is preferred.
• Bachelor’s degree in graphic design, project management, or other related field is preferred.
• Effective organization, time management, problem-solving, communication, and negotiation skills are required, including the ability to push back with tact and hold a process.
• Ability to effectively multi-task and adapt to shifting priorities in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment is required.

Additional Eligibility Qualifications

• Computer skills and proficiency in Microsoft Office.
• Working knowledge of creative production (design, print, digital, and copy) sufficient to review work, set production standards, and guide freelancers.
• Comfort supporting process change and building buy-in across teams.
• A positive, solution-oriented attitude.

Travel Requirements

Travel up to 25%

What We Offer

The Freeman Company provides benefits that aim to empower our people and their families to thrive mentally, physically, and financially. These are a handful of the types of programs and benefits our full-time people may be eligible for. There may be some variances in specific benefits across regions.

• Medical, Dental, Vision Insurance
• Tuition Reimbursement
• Paid Parental Leave
• Life, Accident and Disability
• Retirement with Company Match
• Paid Time Off
• Salary range of $90,000-$115,000 based upon experience
• Eligible for an annual bonus of up to 7.5% of the base salary

Diversity Commitment

At The Freeman Company, our commitment to diversity and inclusion is helping us to create not only a great place to work, but also an environment where our employees, our customers and our communities around the world can reach their goals and connect with each other. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, veteran status and other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

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