About This Role
This leadership role is responsible for the end-to-end operations of Publicis Production South Africa, focusing on building a high-performing and data-driven function. The director will ensure work is delivered on time, on budget, and on brief, while also scaling efficiently across various brands and markets. The role involves owning ways-of-working, tooling, capacity planning, commercial hygiene, governance, and continuous improvement.
Responsibilities
- Own the production operations roadmap; identify gaps and drive improvements to processes, tools, and governance across the studio and delivery lifecycle
- Standardize SOPs from brief to archiving, ensuring consistent adoption by all teams
- Establish clear RACI and handshakes between Client/Brand Leads, Project/Delivery Management, and Resource/Traffic for smooth intake and throughput
- Lead tool enablement and discipline (job opening, cost approvals, tasking, timesheets, utilization capture) and ensure all teams complete required Marcel learning and follow the “single source of truth” principle for work and capacity data
- Partner with Tech/Workflow to evolve dashboards and operational telemetry (throughput, cycle time, right-first-time, rework, WIP aging)
- Run the capacity planning rhythm with Resource/Traffic Managers; align demand vs. supply by skill, shift, and market; escalate make/buy decisions (permanent vs. freelance vs. supplier)
- Maintain an up-to-date freelancer/supplier bench with rates, capabilities, and compliance status; ensure timely onboarding and access
- Drive utilization, recovery, and margin discipline with Finance/Commercial; ensure appropriate charging for scope, track unbillables, and protect change control
- Oversee estimates/SOWs for operational feasibility and pricing integrity; contribute to fee proposals and re-scopes
- Set operational SLAs/KPIs per client program; monitor on-time, on-budget, and right-first-time delivery; lead root-cause and corrective actions on misses
- Serve as the operational point for escalations; support senior client sessions with data-backed insights and improvement plans
- Lead, mentor, and grow the Operations/Resource/Traffic teams; embed a high-performance, accountable culture with clarity of roles and career paths
- Partner with HR/Talent on hiring briefs and structured onboarding using the Talent Briefing template
- Ensure supplier and freelancer compliance, contracting, and rate governance; uphold data privacy and shoot/site safety protocols in partnership with HR/Legal/Facilities
- Maintain business continuity playbooks for critical teams and tools; run periodic drills and update risk registers
Requirements
- 8–12+ years in production/studio operations or delivery management within an agency/production environment, including leadership of multi-disciplinary teams
