Creative Operations Manager in London

Full time 

Office based with Monday’s WFH

Why Ballpoint

Ballpoint is a fast-scaling, strategy led creative and marketing science agency built for consumer brands who want to grow fast and grow properly. We combine creative, data and experimentation to help cool brands kill their competition.

As a team, we’re made up of people at the top of their game, all with exceptional experience and a strong track record. 

Ballpoint started because we knew first hand what ambitious brands actually need from an agency: not big promises and account handlers, but operators who treat their business like it’s their own.

We’ve been on the receiving end of all the problems. So we became the solution. Today, every Ballpoint strategist is ex-in-house senior talent. The people running client growth here are the people who used to hire agencies, not career account handlers learning on your budget.

Our clients reflect who we are: early innovators, fast growing startups, and household names pushing into their next phase of growth. Each brings a new challenge for us to break through, creatively, strategically and through marketing science.

Why You

People who thrive at Ballpoint are self motivated and take genuine ownership of their work. They’re commercially minded and confident making decisions, with a knack for solving problems quickly without losing clarity. 

Whatever their discipline, they care deeply about their craft and are naturally curious. We want people who are always learning, always sharing, and always raising the bar. They’re comfortable challenging others and being challenged themselves, and they know how to inspire confidence with clients and teammates alike. If that sounds like you, you’ll fit right in!

We’re scaling quickly and we want the best people with us on the journey.

About this role

This is one of the most important roles in the agency. You’re the person who ensures creative moves efficiently, smoothly and to the Ballpoint standard.

You sit at the centre of strategists, designers, editors and our clients, bringing order, pace and clarity as work moves from idea to execution.

This role is perfect for someone who is:

• Deeply organised without the need for rigid process
• Great at keeping clients and the team aligned
• Able to keep projects moving without chaos creeping in
• Creative enough to understand great work and operational enough to manage how it gets made

The creative output at Ballpoint is only getting bigger, so we need someone who can build, refine and own the systems that make it all happen.

This is an opportunity to make a lasting impact, driving both the agency's success and your own professional growth too.

What this role involves

You will:

Creative Project Workflow

• own the entire creative pipeline – from briefs to timelines, feedback loops to delivery
• be integral to making sure work moves seamlessly between strategists, designers, editors and clients
• maintain a single source of truth on who’s doing what, by when, and what’s getting in the way of progress

Keep Everything Moving

• maintain tight comms between relevant teams
• turn client feedback into clear next steps
• keep projects moving with clean, simple handovers

Process & Systems

• build out and improve the operational processes that support creative production
• identify inefficiencies and fix them before they become problems
• keep the agency running like a well oiled machine as we scale

Quality & Standards

• deliver the work you'd create as if the brand were your own
• uphold a consistent level of excellence regardless of pace
• help embed our principles into how work gets delivered

Team Support

• work closely with freelancers and full time team members
• ensure the creative team always has what they need to do their best work
• handle day-to-day coordination and resourcing

Skills & Experience

You should have:

• 5+ years experience in a fast-paced, scrappy and high ownership environment
• Exceptional organisational skills
• Confidence communicating across teams whilst keeping momentum high
• You know good ads from bad ads
• Process driven thinking with a strong understanding of how to balance speed, quality and efficiency
• Ability to run multiple projects at pace whilst keeping very high standards
• Confidence to challenge and push for better when something isn’t working well

What does success look like

30 Days

• You’ve got the lay on the land on our clients and the pace we move at
• You’ve mapped how creative currently flows through the team and spotted any obvious gaps
• You’re confidently running projects and keeping things moving without chaos

60 Days

• You’re owning the creative workflow end-to-end
• You’ve already tightened a few processes and improved comms
• You’re becoming the person the team naturally goes to for clarity

90 Days

• Creative operations feel noticeably smoother, faster and more structured
• You’ve raised the bar without slowing anything down
• You’ve built a clear roadmap for future-proofing creative ops as Ballpoint scales

Package

• Competitive salary
• 28 days paid holiday excluding bank holidays
• £1,500 tech budget
• EMI Scheme
• Enhanced Parental Leave Policy
• Work from anywhere days
• Monthly socials
• Regular team lunches
• Annual offsite