Operations Planning & Capacity Manager
Posted 1 day 13 hours ago by Inspired Thinking Group
£60,000 - £80,000 Annual
Permanent
Full Time
Other
London, United Kingdom
Job Description
ABOUT THE ROLE We're looking for a data detail-oriented and proactive Operations Planning and Capacity Manager to join our team. This role is perfect for someone who loves data, thrives on process improvement, and data analysis.
As our Operations Planning and Capacity Manager, you'll be the guardian of our creative capacity planning process, owning the Quarterly Resource Planning Capacity meeting and ensuring all stakeholders have clear visibility of current and future workload.
You'll monitor brief flow, identify bottlenecks before they become problems, and provide the insights that help us continuously improve how we work. If you're someone who gets satisfaction from seeing processes run like clockwork and can turn data into actionable stories, producing weekly performance dashboards that enable proactive decision-making and continuous improvement across the operations production team, then this role is for you.
Upfront Client Planning & Engagement • Work collaboratively with Head of Planning & Resourcing, clients and CS account teams to build out project plans before briefs formally arrive
• Help clients understand project classifications, agreed SLAs, resource requirements, and capacity constraints, early in the planning process
• Facilitate upfront scoping conversations to clarify project scope, deliverables, and dependencies
• Proactively identify potential resourcing conflicts and propose solutions before projects are committed
• Build strong relationships with clients as a trusted planning partner, setting realistic expectations from the outset
Brief Management & SLA Monitoring • Ensure all creative briefs arrive and are processed within agreed service level agreements (SLAs)
• Monitor brief submission timelines and flag potential delays before they impact delivery
• Track briefs through the creative planning tools, maintaining clear visibility of project status at all stages (briefs due in, briefs in flight)
• Proactively identify briefs at risk of missing deadlines and escalate appropriately with recommended actions
• Flag when briefs are submitted to a reduced timeline, documenting the reason why and the impact on delivery
• Maintain a clear audit trail of timeline changes, compressed schedules, and their justifications
Weekly Dashboard & Reporting • Produce and distribute a comprehensive weekly dashboard showing key project focus for the week, briefs due in status, briefs in flight status, current capacity utilisation, budget queries, brief queries, and actions needed to get projects back on track
• Design the dashboard to be clear, visual, and actionable for stakeholders
• Present weekly dashboard findings in team meetings, highlighting risks and recommended interventions
• Ensure the dashboard evolves based on stakeholder feedback and changing business needs.
Quarterly Resource Capacity Planning Meeting Ownership • Own and drive the Quarterly Resource Planning WOW meeting end-to-end, ensuring actionable outcomes and strategic alignment
• Gather and prepare all meeting inputs: current project status, pipeline opportunities, capacity data, and pre-read materials
• Facilitate the meeting to review performance, present forward pipeline, analyse capacity, and drive prioritisation decisions
• Manage all meeting outputs: document decisions, distribute minutes with action items, update systems, and track completion
• Monitor and address red flags such as over-capacity situations, SLA breaches, scope creep, or priority misalignment
Strategic Planning & Forward Visibility (12-24 Month Planning) • Build and maintain a comprehensive 12-24 month forward plan of all key projects
• Track anticipated project volumes, resource requirements, and capacity planning needs across the planning horizon
• Identify potential resource conflicts and capacity constraints in advance, enabling proactive workforce planning
• Regularly update the forward plan based on Quarterly review meetings, and strategic client priorities
• Provide strategic visibility to leadership on upcoming workload peaks and potential resourcing requirements
Capacity Management & Resource Optimisation • Monitor team capacity and utilisation rates continuously, identifying over-capacity situations (>90% utilisation)
• Maintain accurate records of team availability, skills matrix, holiday schedules, and other capacity constraints
• Identify gaps between workload demand and available capacity, recommending solutions proactively
• Work with leadership to explore options when capacity is constrained: hiring freelancers, extending timelines, reducing scope, deferring lower-priority work, or PAUG (Pay as You Go)
Data Analysis & Root Cause Investigation • Investigate and document root causes when briefs arrive late or fall outside SLA parameters
• Conduct thorough analysis to understand patterns in brief delays and process breakdowns
• Identify recurring issues and work with stakeholders to implement preventative solutions
• Maintain detailed records of brief performance metrics and delay causation for trend analysis
• Build a library of learnings that inform future process improvements and training needs
Performance Metrics & Insights • Produce regular monthly reports on brief metrics, including volume, timeliness, SLA compliance, and quality scores
• Create clear, actionable dashboards that tell the story behind the data
• Present findings to senior stakeholders with recommendations for process improvements
• Translate complex data into insights that non-technical team members can understand and act upon
• Track key performance indicators (KPIs) such as on-time brief submission rates, average processing time, capacity utilisation, and revision cycles
Process Improvement & Optimisation • Proactively identify opportunities to streamline the briefing and planning processes, reducing friction points
• Work collaboratively with account teams, creative teams, and clients to improve brief quality and timing
• Champion best practices in brief submission and planning processes across the agency
• Support the implementation of process improvements and monitor their effectiveness over time
• Design and deliver training materials or workshops on briefing best practices and capacity planning
Stakeholder Engagement & Communication • Build strong relationships with clients, account managers, creative leads, project managers, and studio teams
• Provide guidance and support on briefing best practices, SLA requirements, and realistic timelines
• Act as the go-to person for questions about brief status, planning timelines, and capacity availability
• Facilitate discussions around process challenges and collaborate on solutions
• Communicate proactively when issues arise, providing context, impact assessment, and recommended actions
ABOUT YOU Essential Skills & Experience • Strong analytical skills with a natural affinity for data and metrics
• Experience working with spreadsheets, data visualization tools, or reporting platforms (Excel, Google Sheets, PPPT, AI tools etc.)
• Excellent attention to detail, highly organised, and ability to spot patterns, trends, and anomalies in data
• Proactive mindset with ability to anticipate issues before they arise and take preventative action
• Strong communication skills, both written and verbal, with ability to influence without authority
• Comfortable facilitating meetings, presenting findings, and making recommendations to senior stakeholders
• Organised and systematic approach to work with excellent time management skills
• Ability to create compelling visual dashboards and reports that drive action
• Client-facing experience with ability to build trusted advisory relationships
Personal Attributes • Data obsessed, you love digging into numbers, finding insights, and using data to drive decisions
• Solutions-oriented, you don't just identify problems, you help solve them with practical recommendations
• Resilient and able to handle multiple priorities in a fast paced, dynamic environment
• Naturally curious with a continuous improvement mindset , always asking 'how can we do this better?'
• Calm under pressure with excellent problem solving abilities and conflict resolution skills
• Strong facilitation skills with ability to drive meetings to productive outcomes
• Collaborative team player who can work effectively across departments and influence change
• Commercially aware with understanding of how capacity planning impacts profitability
Work's a treat!
On top of a competitive salary, you can expect a whole load of perks:
As our Operations Planning and Capacity Manager, you'll be the guardian of our creative capacity planning process, owning the Quarterly Resource Planning Capacity meeting and ensuring all stakeholders have clear visibility of current and future workload.
You'll monitor brief flow, identify bottlenecks before they become problems, and provide the insights that help us continuously improve how we work. If you're someone who gets satisfaction from seeing processes run like clockwork and can turn data into actionable stories, producing weekly performance dashboards that enable proactive decision-making and continuous improvement across the operations production team, then this role is for you.
Upfront Client Planning & Engagement • Work collaboratively with Head of Planning & Resourcing, clients and CS account teams to build out project plans before briefs formally arrive
• Help clients understand project classifications, agreed SLAs, resource requirements, and capacity constraints, early in the planning process
• Facilitate upfront scoping conversations to clarify project scope, deliverables, and dependencies
• Proactively identify potential resourcing conflicts and propose solutions before projects are committed
• Build strong relationships with clients as a trusted planning partner, setting realistic expectations from the outset
Brief Management & SLA Monitoring • Ensure all creative briefs arrive and are processed within agreed service level agreements (SLAs)
• Monitor brief submission timelines and flag potential delays before they impact delivery
• Track briefs through the creative planning tools, maintaining clear visibility of project status at all stages (briefs due in, briefs in flight)
• Proactively identify briefs at risk of missing deadlines and escalate appropriately with recommended actions
• Flag when briefs are submitted to a reduced timeline, documenting the reason why and the impact on delivery
• Maintain a clear audit trail of timeline changes, compressed schedules, and their justifications
Weekly Dashboard & Reporting • Produce and distribute a comprehensive weekly dashboard showing key project focus for the week, briefs due in status, briefs in flight status, current capacity utilisation, budget queries, brief queries, and actions needed to get projects back on track
• Design the dashboard to be clear, visual, and actionable for stakeholders
• Present weekly dashboard findings in team meetings, highlighting risks and recommended interventions
• Ensure the dashboard evolves based on stakeholder feedback and changing business needs.
Quarterly Resource Capacity Planning Meeting Ownership • Own and drive the Quarterly Resource Planning WOW meeting end-to-end, ensuring actionable outcomes and strategic alignment
• Gather and prepare all meeting inputs: current project status, pipeline opportunities, capacity data, and pre-read materials
• Facilitate the meeting to review performance, present forward pipeline, analyse capacity, and drive prioritisation decisions
• Manage all meeting outputs: document decisions, distribute minutes with action items, update systems, and track completion
• Monitor and address red flags such as over-capacity situations, SLA breaches, scope creep, or priority misalignment
Strategic Planning & Forward Visibility (12-24 Month Planning) • Build and maintain a comprehensive 12-24 month forward plan of all key projects
• Track anticipated project volumes, resource requirements, and capacity planning needs across the planning horizon
• Identify potential resource conflicts and capacity constraints in advance, enabling proactive workforce planning
• Regularly update the forward plan based on Quarterly review meetings, and strategic client priorities
• Provide strategic visibility to leadership on upcoming workload peaks and potential resourcing requirements
Capacity Management & Resource Optimisation • Monitor team capacity and utilisation rates continuously, identifying over-capacity situations (>90% utilisation)
• Maintain accurate records of team availability, skills matrix, holiday schedules, and other capacity constraints
• Identify gaps between workload demand and available capacity, recommending solutions proactively
• Work with leadership to explore options when capacity is constrained: hiring freelancers, extending timelines, reducing scope, deferring lower-priority work, or PAUG (Pay as You Go)
Data Analysis & Root Cause Investigation • Investigate and document root causes when briefs arrive late or fall outside SLA parameters
• Conduct thorough analysis to understand patterns in brief delays and process breakdowns
• Identify recurring issues and work with stakeholders to implement preventative solutions
• Maintain detailed records of brief performance metrics and delay causation for trend analysis
• Build a library of learnings that inform future process improvements and training needs
Performance Metrics & Insights • Produce regular monthly reports on brief metrics, including volume, timeliness, SLA compliance, and quality scores
• Create clear, actionable dashboards that tell the story behind the data
• Present findings to senior stakeholders with recommendations for process improvements
• Translate complex data into insights that non-technical team members can understand and act upon
• Track key performance indicators (KPIs) such as on-time brief submission rates, average processing time, capacity utilisation, and revision cycles
Process Improvement & Optimisation • Proactively identify opportunities to streamline the briefing and planning processes, reducing friction points
• Work collaboratively with account teams, creative teams, and clients to improve brief quality and timing
• Champion best practices in brief submission and planning processes across the agency
• Support the implementation of process improvements and monitor their effectiveness over time
• Design and deliver training materials or workshops on briefing best practices and capacity planning
Stakeholder Engagement & Communication • Build strong relationships with clients, account managers, creative leads, project managers, and studio teams
• Provide guidance and support on briefing best practices, SLA requirements, and realistic timelines
• Act as the go-to person for questions about brief status, planning timelines, and capacity availability
• Facilitate discussions around process challenges and collaborate on solutions
• Communicate proactively when issues arise, providing context, impact assessment, and recommended actions
ABOUT YOU Essential Skills & Experience • Strong analytical skills with a natural affinity for data and metrics
• Experience working with spreadsheets, data visualization tools, or reporting platforms (Excel, Google Sheets, PPPT, AI tools etc.)
• Excellent attention to detail, highly organised, and ability to spot patterns, trends, and anomalies in data
• Proactive mindset with ability to anticipate issues before they arise and take preventative action
• Strong communication skills, both written and verbal, with ability to influence without authority
• Comfortable facilitating meetings, presenting findings, and making recommendations to senior stakeholders
• Organised and systematic approach to work with excellent time management skills
• Ability to create compelling visual dashboards and reports that drive action
• Client-facing experience with ability to build trusted advisory relationships
Personal Attributes • Data obsessed, you love digging into numbers, finding insights, and using data to drive decisions
• Solutions-oriented, you don't just identify problems, you help solve them with practical recommendations
• Resilient and able to handle multiple priorities in a fast paced, dynamic environment
• Naturally curious with a continuous improvement mindset , always asking 'how can we do this better?'
• Calm under pressure with excellent problem solving abilities and conflict resolution skills
• Strong facilitation skills with ability to drive meetings to productive outcomes
• Collaborative team player who can work effectively across departments and influence change
• Commercially aware with understanding of how capacity planning impacts profitability
Work's a treat!
On top of a competitive salary, you can expect a whole load of perks:
- 25 days' holiday + bank holidays - we understand the importance of you getting some down time.
- Annual Wellbeing Day - enjoy an additional day on us to look after your physical and mental wellbeing.
- Pension Scheme - helping you save towards your retirement home in the sun!
- Corporate Medical Cash Plan - claim back the cost of your medical treatments.
- Smart Working Options - spend up to 40% of your working week from home.
- So many savings- through our online community platform, you can access dozens of daily deals, from money off top brands to discounts on days out.
- Employee Assistance Programme- our people are at the heart of everything we do, so if you're happy . click apply for full job details