Urban Outfitters Creative Ops Manager

Urban Outfitters is looking for a Creative Projects Manager who will serve as the strategic architect of the photography studio’s workflow. This role is responsible for the high-level orchestration of all photo projects—ranging from high-volume e-commerce (PDP) to editorial campaigns. Acting as the central hub between Photography, Styling, Production, Marketing, Merchandising, and Post-Production, the Creative Projects Manager ensures that every project is delivered on time, and in alignment with brand goals.The primary mission is to transform creative briefs into a seamless, non-redundant production schedule that provides the studio team with total clarity on what needs to be shot and when. 

1. Master Scheduling & Pipeline Management

● Integrated Team Calendar: Own and publish the master production calendar. Ensure all stakeholders have 100% visibility into weekly and monthly shoot cadences.

● Project Scoping: Work with stakeholders to define project scope, goals, and deliverables, ensuring alignment and clear communication.

● Risk Mitigation: Proactively identify risks, gaps, and roadblocks and solve them before they become issues.

● Brief Gatekeeping: Serve as the final filter for incoming project briefs. Ensure that all necessary information has been collected on behalf of the studio team from cross divisional partners, and creative requirements for "actionability" before they are assigned to the studio team.

● Resource Forecasting: Analyze seasonal volumes to predict peak periods, proactively signaling the need for adjusted timelines.

● Documentation & Transparency: Meticulously document all project updates, scope changes, and timeline shifts. Communicate the "ripple effect" of these changes to all relevant stakeholders in real-time.

2. Strategic Planning & Workflow Optimization

● Status Tracking: Maintain a high-level of communication between Creative Merch and Buying to foresee any sample hand off issues. Proactively communicate to studio teams if scheduling needs to be adjusted.

● Cross-Functional Liaison: Act as the central information hub between Brand Marketing and Creative, ensuring total clarity and transparency across departments. 3. Process Engineering & Systems

● System Ownership: Serve as the Power User for project management tools (e.g., Asana). Maintain data integrity to ensure project statuses are always "live" and accurate.

● SOP Development for Special Shoots: Build and enforce Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for hand-off points between Marketing/Merchandising (the source), Operations (the plan), and the Studio (the execution).

● Bottleneck Resolution: Identify and resolve friction points—such as late briefs or technical dependencies—before they disrupt the production floor. 4. Cross-Functional Coordination

● Primary Liaison: Serve as the central point of contact for studio timelines and project scope across Marketing, Creative Merchandising, Buying, and Brand Identity teams.

3. Process Engineering & Systems

● System Ownership: Serve as the Power User for project management tools (e.g., Asana). Maintain data integrity to ensure project statuses are always "live" and accurate.

● SOP Development for Special Shoots: Build and enforce Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for hand-off points between Marketing/Merchandising (the source), Operations (the plan), and the Studio (the execution).

● Bottleneck Resolution: Identify and resolve friction points—such as late briefs or technical dependencies—before they disrupt the production floor.

4. Cross-Functional Coordination

● Primary Liaison: Serve as the central point of contact for studio timelines and project scope across Marketing, Creative Merchandising, Buying, and Brand Identity teams.

● Relationship Management: Foster and maintain strategic partnerships with key decision-makers and cross-functional stakeholders to ensure organizational alignment.

● Operational Support: Provide ongoing technical and logistical support throughout the project lifecycle, proactively troubleshooting issues to ensure seamless execution.

● Meeting Facilitation: Lead project kickoffs, weekly status updates, and post-launch retrospectives to drive continuous process improvement.

What Success Looks Like

● Zero Redundancy: A measurable reduction in "double-requests" for the same SKU across different channels.

● Optimized Lead Time: Studio Managers receive finalized pull lists with sufficient time to acquire and prep product without "fire drills."

● Operational Clarity: The studio team has total confidence in the schedule; the plan is always visible, vetted, and actionable.

• Bachelor’s degree in Project Management, Creative Operations, Photography, or a related field OR 3–5 years of experience in project or program management, preferably in a creative, studio, or retail environment.
• Proficiency in project management software (e.g., Asana, Airtable, Trello, Smartsheet).
• Familiarity with studio workflows and digital asset management systems. Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office and Google Workspace.
• Excellent organizational and time management skills.
• Strong communication and interpersonal abilities.
• Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously in a fast-paced environment.
• Detail-oriented with a proactive, problem-solving mindset.
• Skilled at gathering and clarifying project briefs to ensure teams have the information they need to execute effectively. 

URBN offers comprehensive Perks & Benefits to employees. Availability and eligibility to specific benefits may be subject to your location and employment status. Benefits include medical, dental, vision, PTO, generous employee discounts, retirement savings and much more! For additional information visit www.urbn.com/work-with-us/benefits

URBN celebrates diversity and is committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We are proud to provide equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, sex (including gender, pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity or expression), religion, creed, age, physical or mental disability, national origin or ancestry, ethnicity, citizenship, service in the uniformed services, genetic information, or any other protected characteristic as established by law. We believe strongly in fostering a safe, fair and respectful work environment. To ensure compliance with our non-discrimination and anti-harassment policies, we offer anti-harassment training to managers and employees.