Creative & Strategy Operations Manager, APJ

Company: Transmission Location: Gurugram Regional Remit: Australia, Singapore, India Years of Experience: 6+ years Working Model: Hybrid About Transmission We're the world's largest independent global B2B marketing agency, where curious minds create the future. If you're someone who's thought-provoking, ego-quashing, mistake-learning, all-including, convention-breaking, and always-growing with a passion for what you do, you'll fit right in. We're one agency spread across eight global offices, and we let our work do the talking. Our recent accolades include Global B2B Agency of the Year at the B2B Marketing Awards, Agency of the Year at the Elevation Awards, and wins at The Drum Awards, B2 ANA Awards, and Marketing Excellence Awards, Singapore. The Role We're growing our Creative and Strategy capabilities across APJ, and we're looking for a creatively fluent, highly connected and commercially minded Creative & Strategy Operations Manager to run resourcing across our APJ Creative and Strategy teams. Based in Delhi-NCR and working across Australia, Singapore and India, you'll ensure we have the right people, skills and specialist partners in place for every brief — managing internal resource bookings, monitoring capacity and utilisation, anticipating future demand and building a trusted regional bench of freelance talent and creative suppliers. This is more than scheduling. You'll need to understand the work, the people who make it, and the difference between someone being available and someone being right for a brief. You'll bring genuine experience from inside a creative agency, studio or integrated marketing environment, be comfortable reviewing portfolios and case studies, and help build teams with the right mix of skills, seniority, experience and chemistry. What You'll Own APJ Resourcing & Capacity Own day-to-day resource planning for Creative and Strategy across Australia, Singapore, and India, maintaining a clear forward view of live work, pipeline, availability, and bookings Lead regional resourcing meetings, resolving competing requirements through reprioritisation, cross-market supportor external talent Match people to briefs based on capability, experience, location, availability, cost, and team chemistry — not simply who is free Identify capability gaps, over-allocation, under-utilisation, and delivery risks early, providing leadership with practical recommendations Support pitches, project mobilisation, priority accounts, and periods of peak demand Freelance Bench & Supplier Management Build and engage a diverse, high-quality APJ bench of freelancers, specialist consultants, creative collectives, studios, and production partners across Creative and Strategy Assess portfolios, reels and case studies with practice leadership, maintaining useful profiles of suppliers' capabilities, experience, location, availability, rates and performance Own the supplier lifecycle from sourcing and rate negotiation through briefing, onboarding, extensions, and offboarding Partner with internal teams to ensure contracts, statements of work, confidentiality requirements, purchase orders and compliance processes are completed before engagements begin Maintain preferred supplier lists and rate cards, monitor contract dates and spend, and capture performance feedback to inform future bookings Identify gaps or risks in the bench and use patterns in freelance demand to recommend permanent hiring, new suppliers or alternative delivery models Commercial & Operational Performance Ensure resource plans align with project scope, timing, budget and expected margin Monitor utilisation, billability, workload, overtime and freelance dependency, keeping resource systems and forecasts accurate and current Compare planned and actual effort to identify over-servicing, under-resourcing and unplanned freelance investment Turn capacity, utilisation and supplier-spend data into clear recommendations for workforce planning and capability investment — balancing commercial performance with quality and sustainable workloads Better Ways of Working Improve brief intake, prioritisation, resourcere quests and approvals, establishing one trusted view of Creative and Strategy resourcing across APJ Create simple, scalable processes that make better use of Transmission's regional and global capabilities Explore how AI, automation and better data can improve forecasting, skills mapping, resource matching, supplier discovery and reporting Help shape resourcing, timelines and cost assumptions for significant pitches and new engagements Provide additional operational coordination for selected priority or complex projects, while delivery ownership remains with the relevant Client Marketing or Project Management lead What You'll Bring Must-haves: At least six years of experience within a creative, advertising, digital, design or integrated marketing agency environment Meaningful experience in creative operations, creative resource management, integrated production, traffic manage mentor agency project delivery A genuine creative-agency background and strong understanding of how Creative and Strategy work moves from brief to idea to execution Confidence assessing portfolios, creative disciplines, strategic case studies and the capabilities required for different types of work An active network of freelance creatives, strategists, specialist partners and studios across APJ, or credible evidence of building cross-market talent networks quickly Strong existing relationships within India, together with experience sourcing or managing talent across markets such as Singapore and Australia Demonstrable experience managing freelancers or external suppliers, including sourcing, rates, onboarding, contracts, performance and spend A sound understanding of capacity planning, allocation, utilisation and agency commercial models Strong organisational skills and the ability to keep multiple changing bookings, priorities and stakeholders aligned Confidence working with senior Creative, Strategy, Client Marketing and Operations stakeholders Excellent judgement, communication and problem-solving skills A collaborative, empathetic approach and the ability to build trust with both permanent employees and independent talent Comfort working across cultures, locations and time zones Strong working knowledge of resource planning, project management and reporting tools Note: this role requires someone who understands creative talent and agency delivery. General workforce-planning, recruitment or procurement experience alone will not be enough. Strong pluses: Experience working in B2B, technology or complex integrated marketing Experience resourcing both Creative and Strategy rather than a single discipline Relationships with emerging AI creatives, technologists and AI-enabled production partners Hands-on curiosity about generative AI and how it can improve creative workflows, resource planning and operational decision-making Experience introducing a resource management platform, freelance management system or preferred-supplier programme Experience working within a global agency network or cross-market delivery model Benefits & Perks 20 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day for every year with us (up to 25) Hybrid work model Flexi-health benefits Birthday leave, medical leave, and a robust wellness and social programme A dedicated learning & development programme for every member of team An active Culture Committee spanning wellness, D&I, CSR and social initiatives