Job Description

Manager, Creative Operations & Project Management 

We are a small, fast-paced internal Creative Team who aims to be a highly strategic and innovative group that consistently demonstrates leadership and innovation in our work. 

We strive to gain the trust and respect of our business partners through our ability to deliver exceptional results, with a focus on creativity, agility and collaboration. 

Our goal is to evolve into a revered in-house resource for our clients, providing them with cutting-edge solutions that drive exceptional results and leave a lasting impact on their business and our pet parents. We have a vision to ultimately aspire to be a driving force in the industry, setting the standard for excellence and inspiring others to follow our lead.

You work with passion and energy. The Creative Project Manager is detail oriented, able to work in a very fast paced environment, a critical thinker who thrives on finding ways to say “Yes, we can!” You have great knowledge of creative processes combined with strategic action plans to break down barriers and solve problems. You are comfortable working with ambiguity, organizing information and being a “go-to” resource for project plans, project details and creative operations.

You are quick on your feet and a proactive self-starter. You’re able to juggle multiple projects at once. You are a go-getter that recognizes where challenges exist and you don’t wait to be told to fix it, you proactively solve problems, and keep your management, the creative team and partners continually in the loop.

You're a highly collaborative team player who is always coming up with solutions. You love creative ops and project management and you’re always looking to do more in new and innovative ways while maintaining high standards of yourself. You can influence others with confidence and know how to negotiate timelines and process shifts to enable the creative team to thrive.

You are tightly connected to your management and partners and understand what it takes to achieve the Creative Team vision.  You adapt quickly with a positive attitude while working cohesively with the team. 

You welcome constructive criticism with a growth mindset, always seeking to improve yourself and how we work. You are unbelievably reliable and flexible to the situations thrown your way with a calm demeanor. 

You’re always thinking ahead and playing offense, not defense. You have experience working on an internal creative team or with a creative team in an agency environment. 

You work through a strategic and critical thinking filter. You understand strategy while always focusing on pet parents and business needs first and foremost. You make Creative Ops and Project Mgmt decisions that are thoughtful, strategic and always in the best interest of the team and department.

You’re always prepared to articulate the reasons “why” the decisions were made. You proactively troubleshoot and self-edit to create a curated point of view. You are accountable for the work and have ownership of the outcomes. You catch on quick and understand objectives and how to execute on them.

You are incredibly organized and always on time. You juggle and multi-task with the best of them. You work efficiently in a fast-paced environment with tight deadlines and limited budget. You never sacrifice quality. You understand how creative I developed and what it takes to build good work. 

You have the ability to help creative teams meet tight deadlines, you understand and question briefs, and you always seek to understand the ongoing direction coming from leadership. 

You’re well-versed with project management software, and you thrive to work through solid processes that allow creative to thrive.

You take total responsibility for working with the creative teams to deliver projects on time and on or under budget. You are a master of managing timelines, documentation, reporting and scheduling.

You’re a highly versatile team member and you have a range of skill sets to show for it. You’ve worked through many processes that support a multitude of platforms and campaigns.  You have a general knowledge of the Adobe Creative Suite and can easily navigate MS Office applications on a Mac Platform. 

You love pets! You’d do anything for pets and pet parents. You want Petsmart to thrive and you’ll do what it takes with great enthusiasm for the business.

Who do you report to?

Sr Manager, Creative Operations & Project Management

Responsibilities 

• Independently own marketing inventory life cycle from concept to production through the replenishment process.
• Facilitate prototyping, sampling and testing based on project needs.
• Manage documentation, resources, scheduling, and project scoping. 
• Request and approve production for marketing elements as needed.
• Drive financial compliance through purchase order requests, invoice approval

• Work creatively and analytically in a critical thinking, strategic, problem-solving environment demonstrating teamwork, innovation and excellence.
• Identify potential roadblocks, mitigate risks on projects, develop contingency planning, and proactively engage in problem-solving.
• Provide status reporting regarding project milestones, deliverables, timelines, resources, risks and issues.
• Set and continually manage project and program expectations of internal and external partners.
• Provide relevant and succinct information in presentations, reviews and meetings.
• Always know what is happening under your realm of responsibility and have a general grasp of the bigger picture on the team.
• Passionately champion the creative processes and operations of the team.
• Research best practices for continual process and operational improvements and efficiencies.
• Be interested in scrappy ways of solving problems. Be interested in new technologies that can vault the team forward faster.
• Excellent communication skills to collaborate with creative, marketing partners and external vendors.

Required Skills and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in advertising, marketing, operations or related discipline or equivalent professional experience. Preferred, not mandatory.
• 4-5+ years project management experience on an in-house creative team or creative agency account/project management role. We're looking for the right experience and fit, not the right number of years. 

• Knowledge of cross-functional creative processes and marketing practices in retail.
• Knowledge of the print production and procurement process.
• Knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite programs, MAC proficient and skilled using MS Office applications. 
• Experience managing projects in a project management software platform like Workfront, Asana, Wrike is required. Workfront experience is a bonus.
• Experience managing the delivery of simple to large, complex, cross-functional creative projects.

• Strong understanding of the creative development and replenishment process.
• Experience managing or working within cross-functional marketing and creative teams.
• Experience managing vendor partnerships through regularly cadenced communication and set connection points.

• Effective relationship builder to establish credibility and form partnerships with internal and external partners.
• Excellent organization and time management skills with the ability to set priorities.
• Excellent communications skills (written and verbal) with the ability to create presentations with little advance notice.
• Unbelievably organized, energetic and quick on your feet.
• Experience managing processes, resources and schedules with proven problem-solving and resourcefulness.
• Proactive and decisive. Able to quickly adapt to change and competing demands through strong critical thinking and strategic problem solving.

Location: Must reside in the Phoenix area and work a hybrid schedule in the PetSmart home office.