Operation Manager

Mabbly is looking for an entrepreneurial minded leader to join our growing agency as an Operations Manager. The right person will thrive in ambiguous environments, have experience and success with building, growing, and leading high performing teams, is focused on defining new processes and ways of operating, and will be able to interface with senior leaders. You will work in the Account Studio to identify needs and build processes that give our team a clear path to work better - together.

As an Operations Manager at Mabbly, you’ll ensure the smooth functioning of the agency’s operations and processes. You will be responsible for managing resources, optimizing workflows, and overseeing project delivery. As a member of the Account Leadership Studio, you will report to the Group Account Director, working in partnership with Account Directors and Studio Leads to anticipate, allocate, and manage agency resources. Here are some specific tasks and responsibilities an Operations Manager may be expected to perform:

1. Resource planning and management: An Operations Manager is responsible for managing the agency's resources, including staffing, budgeting, and project allocation. This involves identifying the resource needs for each project, monitoring staff allocations, and managing the budget and timeline.
2. Project management: The Operations Manager is responsible for ensuring that projects are delivered on time and within budget. This includes monitoring project progress, tracking milestones and deadlines, and identifying and mitigating potential roadblocks or delays in partnership with Group Directors. 
3. Process optimization: The Operations Manager is responsible for optimizing the agency's processes to improve efficiency and productivity. This includes identifying areas for improvement, developing and implementing new processes and procedures, and ensuring compliance with internal policies and guidelines.
4. Resource Utilization and Post-Mortem Analysis: The Operations Manager ensures all work effort against an agreed scope of work is tracked and logged appropriately. Monitor utilization against forecast and make recommendations for improvement or adjustments in resourcing, processes, and/or timing to improve future productivity.
5. Team management: The Operations Manager is responsible for onboarding team members to agency systems and processes in partnership with Group Directors, ensuring adoption and adherence to best practices, including tools, software platforms, and systems, providing ongoing training and support, and facilitating team collaboration and communication. 
6. Client communication: The Operations Manager may also be responsible for communicating with clients during the scope development phase, in partnership with Account lead, to ensure comprehensive understanding of remit, resourcing requirements, timing, and deliverables are clearly aligned and agreed with both client and agency.

In summary, the Operations Manager plays a critical role in managing the day-to-day operations of a digital marketing agency, ensuring that projects are delivered on time and within budget, and optimizing processes and workflows to improve efficiency and productivity.

Responsibilities

• Monitor and track accurate time entry to capture utilization against agreed scopes of work; Provide CFO and Lead Team with monthly and quarterly utilization reports
• Drive adherence to resource utilization within agreed scopes
• Partner with Account Directors and Studio Leads to proactively manage scope extensions, upsell opportunities, and annual renewals
• Define project team communication channels and workflow
• Identify capacity constraints and opportunities to improve overall agency efficiency
• Forecast and manage agency resourcing needs on a weekly, monthly, quarterly basis. De-conflict and develop contingency plans to enable project teams to operate smoothly in immediate, near, and long term 
• Partner with Studio Leads and Business Development in developing scopes of work to ensure clarity in deliverables, timeline development, resource allocations and capacity forecasting
• Ensure successful handoffs from Business Development to Account Leadership, including comprehensive knowledge transfer, project team onboarding, systems connectivity, preparation and delivery of successful Project Kickoff. 
• Input SOWs and manage budgets in project management software (Harvest)
• Operationalize the project plans with resource allocation and task setup (Asana & Smartsheet)
• Hold Project teams accountable for adherence to managing tasks in task management software (Asana & Smartsheet)
• Manage Independent Contract Agreements (ICAs), vendor invoicing and external cost tracking 
• Audit all software systems, platforms, and processes to identify potential redundancies, efficiencies, secure access, and optimal user flows. 
• Audit, develop, and/or implement best practices and consistency across operational procedures
• Support new hire onboarding and success in learning Mabbly tools and processes; Provide ongoing training and support to ensure all team members adopt and adhere to Mabbly best practices and processes. 
• Lead post-mortem analysis on project sprints to diagnose operational challenges and provide strategic solutions for efficiencies

Requirements

• Must have 5-7 years of operations and project management experience
• The ability to stay calm and focused under high levels of pressure
• You care too much to pretend you don’t
• No ego, only impact
• Think in terms of solutions vs problems, and act accordingly
• Experience with cloud-based project management tools (Smartsheet, Asana, Harvest a plus).
• Ability to work independently and in a team-oriented, deadline driven environment
• Ability to articulate confidently and in a compelling manner that positively influences others to take action
• Ability to ensure results are achieved by having clear expectations, priorities established, maintained focus, and ability to address tough decisions
• Be nimble and agile in resourcing management 
• Digital agency experience required, including WordPress websites, PPC campaigns, SEO
• Strong attention to detail
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills 
• Able to work from Chicago office 2 days/week in collaborative hybrid work environment
• PMP certification a plus
• Smartsheet certification a plus
• Experience working within Google Suite a plus

Mabbly is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status.