Senior Manager, Global Creative Studio

Job Title: Senior Manager, Global Creative Studio

Position summary

Vertiv is seeking an experienced and accomplished creative leader to lead its Global Creative Studio, the in-house function responsible for delivering high-quality creative work across the company's global marketing and brand activities.

Based at our Global Headquarters in Westerville, Ohio and reporting to the Senior Global Brand Director, the Senior Manager, Global Creative Studio will have overall responsibility for the leadership, development, creative standards and operational performance of the global studio.

The successful candidate will combine strong creative judgment with exceptional people leadership, organizational capabilities and operational discipline. They will manage a high-performing team, establish clear priorities and accountability, and ensure the studio consistently delivers compelling, high-quality work that supports Vertiv's business objectives and strengthens its global brand.

A key priority will be to evolve the studio's operating model, improving efficiency, resource management, collaboration and delivery performance while maintaining creative excellence. This requires a confident, collaborative leader who can balance creative ambition with the practical demands of managing a multidisciplinary function within a complex global organization.

The ideal candidate will bring significant experience leading an in-house creative function within a global B2B technology or industrial organization, with a strong understanding of how creative teams contribute to brand development, marketing effectiveness and business performance.

Key responsibilities

1. People & team leadership

• Provide strong, visible leadership to the global Creative Studio, establishing a culture of collaboration, accountability, creativity and continuous improvement.
• Lead, coach and develop a global, multidisciplinary creative team, including the effective management and development of team leaders.
• Establish clear roles, responsibilities, performance expectations and development objectives across the studio.
• Build the leadership capabilities of direct reports, empowering them to manage their teams effectively and take ownership of results.
• Identify, develop and retain creative talent, ensuring the studio has the skills and capabilities required to meet evolving business needs.
• Lead performance management, succession planning and professional development across the function.
• Foster an inclusive, supportive and high-performing working environment that encourages creative thinking, constructive feedback and shared accountability.
• Promote effective collaboration across creative disciplines, locations and teams.

2. Studio operations & delivery

• Take full ownership of the operational performance of the global Creative Studio, ensuring the effective and efficient delivery of creative services.
• Lead the evolution of the studio's operating model, introducing greater structure, consistency, accountability and visibility across its activities.
• Establish and maintain effective processes for creative intake, prioritization, resource allocation, project execution and quality assurance.
• Oversee studio capacity and resource planning, balancing workloads, capabilities and business priorities to ensure effective utilization of internal and external resources.
• Establish clear delivery expectations, timelines and accountability across creative projects.
• Improve the predictability, responsiveness and efficiency of creative delivery through effective planning, performance monitoring and continuous improvement.
• Identify and address operational bottlenecks, capacity constraints and delivery risks, implementing practical solutions to improve performance.
• Establish and monitor meaningful studio performance measures, including resource utilization, project throughput, delivery performance, quality and stakeholder satisfaction.
• Manage studio budgets, external production resources, contractors and agency expenditure, ensuring effective financial oversight and value for money.
• Ensure appropriate governance, documentation and consistent application of creative processes and standards.
• Champion the effective adoption of tools, technologies and working practices that improve productivity, collaboration and creative capabilities.

3. Creative excellence & brand stewardship

• Provide creative leadership and direction across the global Creative Studio, ensuring consistently high standards of concept development, design and execution.
• Translate Vertiv's brand strategy, positioning and business priorities into compelling creative work that resonates with global audiences.
• Guide and challenge creative thinking, providing clear, constructive feedback that strengthens ideas and elevates the quality of output.
• Maintain a high standard of creative consistency across campaigns, content, digital experiences, communications, industry shows and other brand touchpoints.
• Ensure creative work aligns with Vertiv's brand identity, guidelines and established creative standards.
• Encourage fresh thinking, innovation and the exploration of new creative approaches while maintaining a strong focus on business relevance and effectiveness.
• Oversee the quality of work produced by internal teams, contractors and external creative partners.
• Ensure the studio continues to evolve its capabilities in response to changing marketing requirements, creative technologies and industry best practices.
• Balance creative ambition with practical considerations, including timelines, budgets, resources and business objectives.

4. Strategic partnership & stakeholder management

• Serve as the senior creative studio lead within the Global Brand function, contributing to brand strategy, marketing planning and the development of global creative initiatives.
• Build strong, trusted relationships with senior marketing stakeholders, business units, regional teams and other internal partners.
• Partner with stakeholders to understand business objectives, shape creative briefs and translate requirements into effective creative solutions.
• Provide clear recommendations and informed creative perspectives, confidently challenging assumptions or requests where appropriate.
• Establish effective stakeholder engagement practices that support transparency, alignment and clear expectations.
• Manage competing business priorities, ensuring studio resources are directed towards work that delivers the greatest value.
• Lead relationships with external creative agencies and production partners, including agency selection, briefing, performance evaluation and integration with internal studio capabilities.
• Represent the Creative Studio in relevant leadership discussions, providing visibility into studio priorities, capabilities, performance and opportunities for improvement.

Qualifications & experience

Required

• Minimum 10 years of relevant experience in creative, design or integrated marketing communications, including at least five years in creative team leadership roles.
• Significant experience leading a multidisciplinary in-house creative function within a complex, global organization.
• Demonstrated success leading and developing creative managers and their teams, with a strong track record of building high-performing teams.
• Strong organizational and operational management capabilities, with experience overseeing creative workflows, resource planning, capacity management and delivery performance.
• Proven experience improving creative operating models, implementing effective processes and driving measurable improvements in team performance.
• A strong foundation in creative development, design principles, brand identity and integrated marketing communications.
• Proven ability to establish and maintain high creative standards while managing multiple projects, competing priorities and demanding delivery schedules.
• Experience managing creative budgets, external agencies, production partners and specialist contractors.
• Strong people management capabilities, including coaching, performance management, talent development and organizational planning.
• Excellent stakeholder management, communication and influencing skills, with the confidence to engage senior business leaders and navigate complex organizational structures.
• Experience working across multiple creative disciplines and collaborating with geographically distributed teams.
• Strong commercial judgment and an understanding of how creative work supports brand performance, marketing objectives and business outcomes.
• Bachelor's degree in design, communications, marketing or a related discipline, or equivalent professional experience.

Preferred

• Experience leading an in-house creative studio within a global B2B technology, industrial technology, engineering, energy or infrastructure organization.
• Direct experience within the data center, critical infrastructure or adjacent technology sectors.
• Experience supporting global brand campaigns, integrated marketing programs and complex technical or solutions-based marketing.
• Experience leading organizational change, evolving creative operating models or scaling in-house creative capabilities.
• Familiarity with modern creative production technologies, workflow management platforms and emerging AI-enabled creative tools.
• Experience managing creative agency relationships within a hybrid in-house and external production model.

Leadership competencies

People leadership: Builds strong teams, develops talent, delegates effectively and creates a culture of trust, ownership and accountability.

Operational excellence: Brings structure, clarity and consistency to complex creative operations, ensuring commitments are met and resources are managed effectively.

Creative judgment: Recognizes strong ideas, provides informed creative guidance and maintains high standards across a broad range of creative outputs.

Strategic thinking: Understands the relationship between brand, creative execution and business performance, ensuring creative priorities align with organizational objectives.

Communication & influence: Communicates clearly and confidently, builds credibility with senior stakeholders and navigates challenging conversations constructively.

Decision-making: Makes sound, timely decisions, balances competing priorities and takes ownership of outcomes.

Change leadership: Leads teams through change with clarity and confidence, builds commitment to new ways of working and delivers sustainable improvements in organizational performance.

Measures of success

Success in this role will be demonstrated through:

• Team performance and development: A highly engaged, capable and accountable creative team, supported by strong leadership, clear performance expectations and meaningful development opportunities.
• Operational effectiveness: Improved visibility, planning, resource utilization and predictability across studio activities.
• Delivery performance: Consistent achievement of agreed timelines, quality expectations and business priorities.
• Creative quality: Measurable improvement in the consistency, effectiveness and overall standard of creative work.
• Stakeholder confidence: Strong relationships with internal partners, supported by clear communication, responsiveness and reliable delivery.
• Organizational capability: A studio equipped with the talent, processes, technologies and external partnerships needed to support Vertiv's evolving global marketing requirements.
• Transformation and continuous improvement: Demonstrable progress in strengthening the studio's operating model, leadership effectiveness, collaboration and overall performance.

Travel: 10%

The successful candidate will embrace Vertiv’s Core Principles & Behaviors to help execute our Strategic Priorities.

OUR CORE PRINCIPLES: Safety. Integrity. Respect. Teamwork. Inclusion.

OUR STRATEGIC PRIORITIES

• High-Performance Culture
• Customer Focus
• Operational Excellence
• Innovation
• Financial Strength

VERTIV BEHAVIORS

• Own it
• Act with urgency
• Foster a customer-first mindset
• Think big and execute
• Lead by example
• Drive continuous improvement
• Learn and seek out development
• Promote transparent & open communication

About Vertiv

Vertiv (NYSE: VRT) brings together hardware, software, analytics and ongoing services to enable its customers’ vital applications to run continuously, perform optimally and grow with their business needs. Vertiv solves the most important challenges facing today’s data centers, communication networks, and commercial and industrial facilities with a portfolio of power, cooling and IT infrastructure solutions and services that extend from the cloud to the edge of the network. Headquartered in Westerville, Ohio, USA, Vertiv employs around 34,000 people and does business in more than 130 countries. Visit Vertiv.com to learn more.

Work Authorization

No calls or agencies please. Vertiv will only employ those who are legally authorized to work in the United States. This is not a position for which sponsorship will be provided. Individuals with temporary visas such as E, F-1, H-1, H-2, L, B, J, or TN or who need sponsorship for work authorization now or in the future, are not eligible for hire.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Vertiv is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. We promote equal opportunities for all with respect to hiring, terms of employment, mobility, training, compensation, and occupational health, without discrimination as to age, race, color, religion, creed, sex, pregnancy status (including childbirth, breastfeeding, or related medical conditions), marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity / expression (including transgender status or sexual stereotypes), genetic information, citizenship status, national origin, protected veteran status, political affiliation, or disability. If you have a disability and are having difficulty accessing or using this website to apply for a position, you can request help by sending an email to help.join@vertiv.com