Director of Creative Services & Agency Operations

We are partnering with one of our clients in the agency industry to recruit a Director of Creative Services & Agency Operations. If you enjoy developing projects focused on gamification, have a knack for analytical thinking and also place great importance on culture, content and trends, this position is perfect for you. Responsibilities Leadership & Operational Excellence Lead, mentor and develop the agency team, creating a high-performance culture built on ownership, accountability, collaboration and continuous improvement. Act as the primary driver of team alignment, ensuring everyone understands priorities, objectives and how their work contributes to broader company goals. Foster an environment where creativity, experimentation, learning and feedback become part of the team's daily operating model. Organize and lead agency meetings, ensuring clear decision-making, effective follow-ups and healthy communication across all stakeholders. Build scalable team structures and workflows that enable sustainable growth while leading the development of market-driven creative ideas, empowering the team to create products, services and projects that unlock attainable new revenue opportunities without compromising quality and motivation. Data-Driven Management Design, optimize and continuously improve agency workflows, operational systems and performance frameworks. Establish and monitor targets (OKRs), team productivity metrics, project health indicators and client success measurements. Improve content production processes, delivery timelines and resource allocation through data-driven decision-making. Research and implement new tools, AI solutions, automation opportunities and operational methodologies that improve efficiency and output quality. Take ownership of post-project reviews and performance analysis, ensuring insights are transformed into actionable improvements. Revenue Generating Gamification & Trend Synthesis Continuously monitor global trends, cultural shifts, emerging technologies, platform innovations and business opportunities across entertainment, gaming, sports, fashion, FMCG, technology and digital culture; synthesize these insights into scalable agency services, gamified experiences, innovative products and commercial opportunities while enabling the team to stay ahead of the market through actionable knowledge and cross-industry thinking. Build strong connections between Agency, Product Development, Sales, Content and Creative teams to create integrated solutions and maximize business impact. Introduce gamification thinking into projects, campaigns and internal processes to improve engagement, participation, retention and measurable outcomes. Guide the team effectively to design initiatives aimed at actively using social media channels, increasing brand awareness and identifying content that aligns with evolving trends. Challenge conventional approaches by bringing new perspectives, frameworks and ideas that help the team think beyond industry standards. Strategic Deal-Making Support As a strategic partner, participate in customer and sales meetings as needed to help identify growth opportunities, cross-selling/upselling and building long-term relationships. Support business development initiatives through industry knowledge, professional network, strategic thinking and solution-oriented recommendations. Ensure a continuous flow of information regarding customer needs, market developments and competitive movements to strengthen commercial decision-making. Support the improvement of operational, financial and administrative processes that contribute to scalable agency growth. Qualifications Proven experience leading teams within agency environments, with a strong track record of mentoring people, improving culture and building high-performing organizations. Strong leadership, stakeholder management and communication skills with the ability to align multidisciplinary teams around shared goals. Highly analytical and data-driven mindset; comfortable building systems, tracking OKRs, interpreting performance metrics and turning insights into action. Demonstrated ability to design processes, optimize workflows and implement tools that improve operational efficiency and team performance. Strong business acumen with the ability to connect agency operations, client needs, product development opportunities and commercial objectives. Broad curiosity and strategic perspective; able to synthesize trends, ideas and best practices from different industries and transform them into actionable opportunities. Strong understanding of social media ecosystems, digital content production, audience behavior and platform dynamics. Experience in or genuine passion for gamification, engagement systems, behavioral design, community building or participation-driven events. Proven ability to contribute to business growth through strategic thinking, client relationship management, networking and commercial awareness. Familiarity with industries such as gaming, sports, fashion, FMCG, technology and youth culture is a strong advantage. Comfortable working with AI-powered tools, agentic orchestration, automation platforms and emerging technologies. A well-established professional network and the ability to transform ideas, products and strategic relationships into commercial opportunities are considered strong advantages. Experience engaging enterprise-level organizations and building high-impact partnerships that accelerate business growth is highly valued. Fluent in English; additional languages are considered a strong plus.