Director, Creative Service Operations

At Shutterfly, we make life’s experiences unforgettable. We believe there is extraordinary power in the self-expression. That’s why our family of brands helps customers create products and capture moments that reflect who they uniquely are.

Are you someone who loves to drive organizational effectiveness and excellent delivery of creative product? Do you like to ensure work gets done from A to B collaboratively, with flawless execution and delivery? Do you live for creating organized, well thought out work plans and timelines? Are you an experienced manager of project managers, producers, or work traffickers? Then we need you.  

We are a Creative Department seeking a full-time Director, Creative Operations to lead our Production, Operations and Creative Production Studio teams. Reporting to the VP, Creative and Design our operational leader is a partner in leading the entire creative team and culture. The ideal candidate has a great track record running operations for a creative agency or in-house marketing creative teams. You are skilled in program management, working across departments to get quality work done on time and as planned. We work with both internal staffing and external vendors to deliver quality work that drives our business. You bring experience working with both internal staff and vendors, expertise in continuous process improvement, establishing SLAs, developing best practices in project management and love working with a wide cross section of people. Excellent facilitation and communications skills are essential for this position.   

This is a director level role, with a team who manages and oversees end-to-end project management and production in partnership with our Creative Directors and partners across the company. On your team is the Snr Manager, Creative Operations who is responsible for our retail drivetime and promotional delivery alongside our Creative Production Studio – a small team of designers and writers set up for rapid creative delivery. You will manage vendor relationships alongside creative capacity planning and outsourcing, staying one step ahead of the work in service of the team.   

Shutterfly’s Creative Group nurtures and delivers the Shutterfly brand across all channels and mediums including catalog, email, site, print, and social media. We work with our internal brand and marketing partners, merchandizers, ecommerce, and business leaders across the organization to ensure our creative work is effective and distinctive from the competition.  

Primary Duties and Responsibilities:

• Essential functions—
• Work alongside the VP, Creative to look ahead in annual planning for the department across the work, transformation in how we work and our culture.   
• Ensure Creative Producers and Operations Specialists are able to gain adequate information to develop solid workload forecasts.   
• Proactively confront scope creep and aligning expectations, driving necessary communication to bring all parties into alignment.    
• Ensure clarity in the process of communicating up-to-date, accurate, meaningful reporting of project status, resource capacity, and costs.    
• Identify and raise project delivery issues and risks for mediation, resolution, or escalation to the appropriate level on a timely basis.    
• Introduce new tools, methodologies and terminology that help us work and communicate more effectively.   
• Oversee and drive definition of workflows for emerging internal capabilities (i.e., in-house video, marketing personalization, responsive/adaptive social).   
• Provide continuous evaluation and vision of ways in which workflow can enable more scalable work.   
• Actively source, recruit, and nurture key external creative vendor support, acting as a negotiator as needed in support of SOW creation and budget management. 
• Build effective cross-functional relationships throughout Shutterfly Inc.  
• Support hiring managers with smooth onboarding experiences for their new hires. 
• Drive development of standardized training materials to support each unique discipline and trigger updates as needed. 
• Lead organization of formal and informal culture/team-building events and recognition, organically fostering connections across the department.
• Develop materials in service of clear roles and responsibilities across the team, inclusive of clear career path options and expectations.
• Gathering continuous feedback and pulse checks on team health and drive forward action.
• Supervisory responsibilities—
• Lead Operations and Studio teams to deliver the retail drivetime effectively and at scale through transformation in tools, handoffs, and workflow.  
• Lead and coach Creative Producers in collaboration and management of integrated projects from initiation to delivery with a proactive, curious, and collaborative mindset.    
• Identify professional development opportunities for the creative team at large. 

Minimum Requirements: 

• Required education, experience, and eligibility qualifications—
• 10+ Experience in creative operations.   
• 4+ Experience managing people in PM or project coordination roles.   
• Extensive program management experience on progressively more complex projects.
• Proven track record of successfully delivering multiple projects simultaneously, building appropriate processes and tools.
• Preferred education, experience, and eligibility qualifications—
• PMP credentials strongly preferred. 
• Ecommerce experience preferred.   
• Familiarity with Design Ops or facilitation experience preferred. 
• Digital asset management and workflow software experience a plus.

Other (knowledge, skills, and abilities):

• Process and workflow improvement skills.
• Strong relationship building/partnering skills and the ability to work with varying levels. of individual contributors and management. Comfortable presenting to executives.
• Naturally organized, analytical and detailed oriented. Energetic self-starter passionate about professional integrity and excellence with a positive attitude and contagious enthusiasm.
• Ability to influence peers and managers while dealing with ambiguity.
• Demonstrated knowledge and usage of standard project management concepts, practices, and procedures.
• Thrive in a dynamic, fast-paced environment where you must take on multiple responsibilities and do what it takes to get things done.
• Ability to quickly grasp technical concepts and expert attention to detail.
• Expert knowledge of Excel and data modeling.
• Ability to learn and adapt quickly to new technology & processes.
• Exceptional analytical, organizational, and interpersonal skills.
• Must be able to reassess priorities as deadlines overlap or change frequently. 

Supporting a diverse and inclusive workforce is important to Shutterfly not only because it directly reflects our value of Embracing our Differences, but also because it’s the right thing to do for our business and for our people. We welcome all applicants and evaluate them based on their qualifications, without regard to age, race, creed, color, national origin, ancestry, marital status, affectional or sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, nationality, sex, or other characteristic covered by law. Learn more about our commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion on our Career Site.

This position will accept applications on an ongoing basis until filled.

The compensation package for this role is based on multiple factors, such as job level, responsibilities, location, and candidate experience. The base pay ranges included below are specific to the locations listed, and may not be applicable to other locations. 

Washington: [$153,000 - $183,000]

This position may be eligible for a bonus incentive, health benefits, a 401K program, and other employee perks. More details about our company benefits can be found at

#SFLYCorporate