Head of Creative Operations

About the role

Uber is building a more integrated Global Brand function, bringing strategy, design and expression, campaigns and creative, research and insights, partnerships, and operations into one connected system. The Head of Creative Operations will be the operating leader of the system. 

This role is responsible for making world-class creative work possible at global scale. You will own the operating model behind how work enters the organization, how it is prioritized and staffed, how internal and external creative resources are deployed, how production is run, and how new technology - including AI - changes the way the studio works. You will partner closely with the Head of Global Brand and the leaders of Campaigns & Creative, Brand Design & Expression, Brand Strategy, Research & Insights, and Brand Partnerships. You’ll also partner with tech, legal, finance, and procurement to identify the right sourcing/vendor models, budgets, contracts, risk management, tooling, AI, and production infrastructure.

We are looking for a senior operator who can run a complex creative organization like a business: simplifying how we work, raising accountability, improving speed and quality, and building the systems, talent and partnerships that let creative teams do their best work.

What you'll do

• Run the Global Brand Studio operating system. Own the end-to-end model for intake, prioritization, scoping, staffing, workflow, production, and delivery across global brand work.
• Turn strategy into a resourcing plan. Translate business and brand priorities into clear capacity choices across internal teams, freelance talent, production partners and external agencies - making trade-offs explicit rather than spreading teams too thin.
• Build a faster, simpler way of working. Remove unnecessary layers, handoffs and approval loops; establish clear decision rights, service models, review cadences and ways of working that increase agility without compromising quality.
• Lead studio operations and production. Oversee creative operations, production leadership, project management and associated studio disciplines; set expectations for quality, pace, cost, risk management and delivery excellence.
• Manage the studio as a business. Create clear forecasting, capacity, and utilization views; improve budget discipline, vendor management, production economics, and resource allocation; give leadership an accurate view of demand, constraints, and trade-offs.
• Design the right internal/external ecosystem. Define when work should be created internally, scaled through specialized partners, or led by external agencies. Build a flexible talent model that gives Uber access to the right capabilities for the problem.
• Modernize creative workflows with technology and AI. Partner with creative and technical leaders to identify high-value AI and automation use cases across concepting, asset generation, adaptation, production, asset management, and workflow - while maintaining quality, brand integrity, and appropriate controls.
• Strengthen production infrastructure. Ensure teams have the right tools, DAM / asset-management practices, templates, vendor structures and repeatable production systems to create and scale work globally.
• Be a senior partner to creative and brand leaders. Work side-by-side with Campaigns & Creative and Brand Design & Expression leaders so operational choices enable - rather than dilute - creative ambition and craft.
• Build and lead a high-performing team. Develop strong creative-operations and production leaders, set a high bar for judgment and ownership, and build a culture that stays calm under pressure, stays solutions-oriented, and earns the trust of creative and marketing partners.
• Own change, not just process. Help lead the evolution of the Global Brand organization - identifying where the operating model is breaking, proposing better solutions, and driving adoption across teams and stakeholders.

What success looks like

• The highest-priority brand work gets the right level of talent and support - quickly and transparently.
• Teams spend more time making and improving work, and less time navigating process, handoffs, and unclear ownership.
• Studio capacity, workload, and trade-offs are visible enough for leaders to make informed decisions before teams become overloaded.
• Internal studio, scale production and external agency models operate as one connected ecosystem with clear accountability.
• Creative output gets faster and more efficient without lowering the creative or brand bar.
• AI and new production technologies move from experimentation into useful, repeatable workflows.
• Marketing, creative and cross-functional partners see Creative Operations as a source of judgment and leverage - not bureaucracy.

Basic qualifications

• 12+ years of experience in creative operations, studio leadership, integrated production, agency operations, creative services, or a closely related field.
• Significant experience leading complex, multi-disciplinary creative organizations or agency/studio businesses at global or large-market scale.
• Demonstrated ownership of resourcing, production, workflow, budgets, vendors and delivery across a large portfolio of creative work.
• Experience partnering directly with senior creative, marketing and business leaders and influencing decisions across functions.
• Strong people leadership experience, including leading senior managers and building high-performing operating teams.
• Track record of simplifying complex systems, making clear prioritization decisions and implementing operating-model change.
• Strong commercial and operational judgment, with the ability to balance creative quality, speed, capacity, and cost.

Preferred qualifications

• Experience as a studio Managing Director, Head of Creative Operations, Executive Producer, agency operations leader or comparable senior role.
• Experience working across both in-house creative teams and major external creative / production agencies.
• Experience designing global-local creative operating models, including high-priority campaign work and high-volume / scaled content production.
• Strong understanding of modern creative technology, AI-enabled production, digital asset management and workflow automation.
• Experience in a fast-moving, matrixed global company with multiple lines of business, markets and stakeholder groups.
• Enough creative fluency to understand what great work needs and protect the conditions required to produce it - without confusing operations with creative ownership.

Leadership profile

Operator and builder: You create structure where it is needed, but do not confuse process with progress.

Business-minded creative partner: You understand the economics and mechanics of a studio while respecting the creative process and the people who make the work.

Decisive prioritizer: You are comfortable saying no, stopping work, reallocating resources, and making trade-offs when demand exceeds capacity.

Trusted cross-functional leader: You make functions work better together, clarify ownership, and solve problems without creating unnecessary bureaucracy.

Change leader: You can move an organization from legacy ways of working to a simpler, more modern model and bring people with you.

Calm under pressure: You can operate in a high-velocity environment, handle competing senior stakeholders, and create clarity when the organization is moving quickly.

Talent magnet: You build strong teams and external networks, raise the bar, and know when to develop, recruit, freelance, or partner.

For New York City, NY-based roles: The base salary range for this role is USD $234,000 per year - USD $260,000 per year.

You will be eligible to participate in Uber's bonus program, and may be offered an equity award & other types of comp. All full-time employees are eligible to participate in a 401(k) plan. You will also be eligible for various benefits.

Ready to Ride?