The creative resource manager is the guy or gal that typically supports the creative director's with deciding who works on what projects from a creative stand point.
They are also in many cases the go to people in the agency for creative recruiting.
A job description for the Creative Resource Manager may look like this:
The Creative Resources Manager typically manages an agency’s creative resources. They direct and help coordinate the day-to-day agency creative and production efforts typically with the Creative Director. In this role, the Creative Resource Manager insures that the agency maintains:
- An environment where creativity can happen.
- Enhance our talent base and manage our talent needs.
- Support the creative process in a fast paced production environment.
- A consistently superior creative product.
Responsibilities and Duties
The Creative Resource Manager has four areas of responsibility (specific duties of each are explained below)
- Planning, Analyzing, Evaluating
- Works with producers and creative directors to assess talent needs, acts as point of contact to book and confirm talent..
- Proactively builds on a pre-existing network of contacts.
- Ability to recognize internal creative needs or project risks.
- Monitors creative team hours against budgets.
- Assists producers in locating all agency talent / freelance needs.
- Reviews, analyzes and evaluates and vets all creative talent for the agency.
- Ability to match team members against projects.
- Determines project risk on an ongoing basis, escalates issues as needed.
- Evaluate best team makeup for assigned projects.
- Monitors out of scope requests, elevates issues to initiate additional billing.
- Manage and resolves resource booking conflicts
- Manage resourcing forecast spreadsheets for all departments based on input from weekly meetings and the Production Team.
- Maintain constant knowledge of current and upcoming projects and business development activities as they relate to resourcing.
- Monitor day to day project activities and resourcing, identifying potential instances of underutilization and actively work with department leads to address and solve those issues
- Recommend process improvements for Resource Management
- Responsible for managing overall utilization
Work to resolve any issues regarding under or over allocations of current staff members
- Team Leading, Coordinating, Managing
- Schedules all creative meetings and works with the producers to monitor schedules and project needs.
- Helps to prepare materials for creative presentations.
- Manage communication around shifting priorities with key stakeholders.
- Monitors staffing and resources against assigned projects in order to meet project deadlines and budgets.
- Act as the team leader on all assigned projects.
- Maintains communications with appropriate agency and client personnel to ensure positive workflow. Escalating exceptions and issues to Director level as required
- Keeping project status reports up to date
- Monitoring and enforcing project constraints (schedule / scope / resources)
- Champion internal systems for higher productivity working
- Drive projects to final stages of completion by keeping the team both on track and highly motivated.
- Manage ECD’s schedules.
- Run weekly resource meeting and facilitate resourcing issues / conflict resolution with Production Team and appropriate department heads.
- Arrange weekly meetings with Production and Senior Management Team, to discuss all active programs and potential new business as well as to stay informed of potential issues such as resource and change control matters
- Project & Product Management
- Manage assigned projects, involved with client projects from start to finish, ensuring successful project completion against deadlines.
- Provide and maintain agency resource status - liaising with development teams, designers and commercial staff to provide accurate updates of resource needs
- Initiates and leads all appropriate project meetings.
- Financial & Administrative
- Organize and review “new hire” paperwork for employees.
- Prepare documentation and paperwork for all talent and freelance hires.
- Track availability of all agency staff members.
- Track and manage talent database. Manage freelance and contract worker relationships.
- Manage NDA documentation
- Assist in managing the production of new business presentations and materials as assigned
- Works with producers to insure proper billing and invoicing.
- Reviews WIPs and final billing reports.
- Strong business and personal ethics