Head of Agency Management

Head of Agency Role Summary

We are seeking a visionary, strategically minded, and operationally excellent leader to lead our in-house agency function. Reporting to the VP, Enterprise Marketing, this leader will oversee the agency’s structure, operations, talent, culture, and engagement model—ensuring high-quality, efficient creative output that drives business results.

This role is responsible for transforming how we deliver creative work across paid, owned, and earned channels in partnership with leaders across enterprise marketing. The ideal candidate blends agency rigor with in-house sensibility and knows how to scale creative operations without compromising brand or creative integrity.

Key Responsibilities

Agency Vision & Strategic Leadership

          •         Define and lead the vision for a fully integrated in-house agency that partners closely with enterprise marketing to bring campaigns to life.

          •         Serve as a strategic thought partner to the Head of Enterprise Marketing and the leadership team across performance marketing, brand strategy/integrated marketing, content, and owned channels.

          •         Shape the in-house agency’s engagement model and operating structure, ensuring seamless alignment with marketing priorities.

Creative Quality & Brand Stewardship

          •         Champion a culture of creative excellence and accountability, in partnership with the Creative Director.

          •         Define the creative development process in a way that balances strategic rigor, brand consistency, and innovative thinking.

          •         Participate in creative reviews and postmortems, using learnings to continuously raise the creative bar.

Client Experience & Relationship Management

          •         Lead the development of an internal client experience model—ensuring marketers across the org are supported, briefed, and prioritized effectively.

          •         Establish clear roles, expectations, and service levels to ensure positive relationships and productive collaboration.

People & Talent Strategy

          •         Assess and optimize the current team structure and capabilities, identifying gaps and growth opportunities.

          •         Recommend the ideal mix of internal, external, and contract talent to meet evolving needs.

          •         Build a strong team culture that fosters growth, inclusion, creativity, and collaboration.

Agency Operations, Workflow & External Partnerships

          •         Oversee prioritization, capacity planning, and resource allocation across all creative and production workstreams.

          •         Implement scalable tools and systems to drive clarity, transparency, and speed—ensuring work is delivered on time, on budget, and with impact.

          •         Own the project management tool roadmap and champion adoption across teams.

          •         Define and manage the external agency engagement model—including agency roster planning, onboarding, scope of work development, contract renewals, and performance evaluation.

          •         Serve as the primary relationship manager for external agency partners, ensuring health of partnership, clear expectations, and integration into internal workflows.

          •         Collaborate with procurement and legal teams on agency sourcing, SOW review and approval processes, and contract negotiations.

AI & Innovation Enablement

          •         Lead the exploration and implementation of AI and emerging tools to enhance workflows, creativity, and production efficiency.

          •         Partner with creative and content leaders to responsibly integrate new technologies into agency practices.

Performance & Business Impact

          •         Define and track KPIs for the in-house agency—focused on speed to market, cost efficiencies, quality of output, and business outcomes.

          •         Build reporting structures that demonstrate the value and effectiveness of the agency to senior leadership.

Culture & Team Development

          •         Cultivate a strong agency culture rooted in creativity, curiosity, operational excellence, and a deep understanding of the business.

          •         Drive initiatives that promote professional growth, diversity and inclusion, and team connection.

What You Bring:

• 7–15+ years of Agency operational leadership experience
• Proven success leading teams and scaling operations in an agency setting.
• Deep understanding of agency financials (utilization, scopes)
• Expertise in workflow/process improvement and project delivery.
• Experience with resource planning and project management tools
• Strong leadership, communication, and collaboration skills.
• A builder mindset—comfortable creating structure, not just optimizing what exists
• High EQ and the ability to balance operational rigor with a people-first culture.

• Experience in digital-first or integrated agencies.
• Change management or organizational restructuring experience.

#LI-DNI 

Salary Range:

The salary range reflected above is a good faith estimate of base pay for the primary location of the position. The salary for this position ultimately will be determined based on the education, experience, knowledge, and abilities of the successful candidate. In addition to salary, this role may also be eligible for annual, sales, or other incentive compensation.

Our Promise

At Guardian, you’ll have the support and flexibility to achieve your professional and personal goals.  Through skill-building, leadership development and philanthropic opportunities, we provide opportunities to build communities and grow your career, surrounded by diverse colleagues with high ethical standards.

Inspire Well-Being

As part of Guardian’s Purpose – to inspire well-being – we are committed to offering contemporary, supportive, flexible, and inclusive benefits and resources to our colleagues. Explore our company benefits at www.guardianlife.com/careers/corporate/benefits. Benefits apply to full-time eligible employees. Interns are not eligible for most Company benefits.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Guardian is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to age, race, color, creed, religion, sex, affectional or sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, marital status, disability, military or veteran status, or any other classification protected by applicable law.

Accommodations

Guardian is committed to providing access, equal opportunity and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, its services, programs, and activities. Guardian also provides reasonable accommodations to qualified job applicants (and employees) to accommodate the individual's known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, unless doing so would create an undue hardship. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and/or to receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please contact [email protected].

Current Guardian Colleagues: Please apply through the internal Jobs Hub in Workday.