Creative Services Director, Dazed Studio

Job Title: Commercial Creative Services Director

Department: Dazed Commercial Creative

Reporting To: COO

Partners With: Commercial Editorial Director; Head of Production; Finance Director; Content Strategy Director; Executive Director, Commercial & Studio

Working closely with: Sales team; Finance team; US team; People & Operations team

Role Summary:

The Studio team is the commercial heart of Dazed. We bring the creative, editorial, design and production capabilities of Dazed Media to clients. Dazed Studio works with a multitude of brands across all sectors building and delivering bespoke offering of 360 partnerships across digital, social, print, experiential and creative consultancy. We marry creativity and media planning, seeding and activating content.

The Creative Services Director oversees the delivery of all projects created by Dazed Studio. They will facilitate and oversee the process of turning creative ideas into tangible outputs across a variety of media, being responsible for the allocation of team resource, across multiple, often complex, projects at any one time. They are responsible for the teams that ensure work is delivered on time, to the required level of quality, and within budget.

Duties & Responsibilities:

Overall

• Work into the ECD of Dazed Studio to ensure client satisfaction is met, course correcting where necessary and ensuring the retention of Studio’s client base.

• Work closely with the sales team to provide cohesive pitch responses from Studio and deepen existing client relationships.

• Work closely with the rest of the Studio leadership team to ensure seamless delivery of Dazed Studio’s 360 offering (production, hubs, editorial, print specials, events, strategy and insights, Dazed Club community, etc.)

• Oversee the setting up of key client accounts, establishing large scopes and account mapping.

• Have an awareness of market trends and operations in the US, Europe and China.

• Be one of the internal ambassadors for the Studio’s vision and mission. With the ECD, ensure the teams understand the mission and vision of Studio as the commercial heart of Dazed Media.

• Bridge with the US team.

Project Management

Lead the Project Management team, who act as the key day-to-day contacts for the client and internal teams, to ensure seamless execution from pitch to delivery. This role will be an escalation point for the Project Managers/Directors.

• Lead, manage and develop the Project Management team, providing direction, support and accountability across all levels.

• Provide strategic oversight and approval of project SOWs, timelines, budgets and delivery plans, ensuring projects are set up for success from initiation through completion.

• Oversee Project Managers/Directors to ensure consistent standards of project leadership, client service and delivery excellence across the Studio.

• Ensure Project Management acts as the central point of coordination across disciplines, facilitating clear communication and alignment throughout project lifecycles.

• Ensure project teams are delivering work on time, on budget and to the highest quality standards.

• Act as the senior escalation point for project delivery risks, resource conflicts and operational challenges, driving effective solutions and course correction where required.

• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration and continuous improvement within the Project Management team.

• Support Project Directors and Project Managers in balancing workloads, managing priorities and resolving resource challenges.

• Build and maintain a high-performing Project Management function through effective recruitment, onboarding, coaching and talent development. Being responsible for the growth and development of the PM team, including line management of direct reports, and ensuring performance reviews are completed.

• Establish clear objectives, performance expectations and development plans for Project Management team members, supporting career progression and succession planning.

• Hands on project management of Strategy projects.

• Qualify briefs from sales to ensure that they have key information before they are resourced through the studio. Deep communication with the sales team in regards to project status/briefs.

• Overseeing financial management of projects, monitoring project burn, margins, invoicing, and reporting on financials to senior stakeholders with support of the Project Directors.

Team & Resourcing

• Effectively manage the time and resources of the studio team which consists of creatives, strategists, project managers, and producers. This will include requests from the US team, sales, licensing, and events. Negotiate with key stakeholders based on priorities. Ensure that resource systems are correctly recorded, with support from the People/Operations Manager.

• Manage workload and the resources needed while working closely with the project directors, project managers and sales leads to coordinate and support the creative and production team, to ensure deliverables are supplied on time.

• Work with Creative Leadership to ensure that team members are resourced based on their individual KPIs, skill sets and performance.

• Develop a good working relationship with all creative teams across the group and maintain knowledge of all the work in progress within the departments to establish their capacity to take on new briefs.

• Collaborating with Creative Leadership to ensure best utilisation of all creative talent, including the whole Dazed creative network (eg editorial) and external network (eg photographers etc). Work with the team to stay up to date on the best new talent in the market.

• Source, advise and suggest external creative, PM and production freelance and monitor their performance. Maintain and grow an external network of freelancers and collaborators, maintaining an up-to-date database of freelance resource which covers quality, cost and availability, with the People/Operations Manager.

• Work closely with HR for contracting of freelance and perm employees. Sound knowledge of IR35 legislation is beneficial.

• Monitor all holidays within Studio to avoid clashes and gaps in the department resource. Approve holiday requests for creatives and PMs.

• Partnering with Creative Leadership, you will support the day-to-day management of the Creative team while facilitating the professional development of team members through timely performance reviews, clear objectives, ongoing coaching, and well-defined career pathways.

• Lead regular project management reviews and resource planning sessions to ensure visibility, alignment and effective decision-making.

Process & Operational Excellence

• Own and continuously improve operational processes, frameworks, workflows, documentation and ways of working across the Studio.

• Drive consistency in project planning, reporting, budgeting, forecasting and status management across all teams and disciplines.

• Implement tools, systems and best practices that improve efficiency, transparency and project performance. Promote the adoption of new technologies, tools and AI-enabled workflows that enhance project delivery and team effectiveness.

• Champion operational excellence, ensuring Project Management processes support both creative quality and commercial objectives.

• Overseeing internal project wash-ups, identifying key learnings, and areas to optimise our approach, processes and project deliveries moving forwards.

• Champion the adoption of emerging technologies, including AI-enabled workflows and creative tools, to enhance team effectiveness and delivery capabilities.

• Develop and evolve the Studio’s operational playbook, creating a central source of truth for project delivery standards, ways of working, systems, processes and team responsibilities.

• Ensure processes alignment with the US team.

Financial, Commercial & Business Affairs

This role will work closely with the COO, the Finance Director and the Finance team to ensure the commercial efficiency of the Studio, with appropriate profitability tracking and reporting.

They will work hand-in-hand with Sales, Finance and Production to invoice clients, maintain cash flow, reconcile projects and analyse profitability within Studio.

In an overseeing capacity, the CSD will be the escalation point for non-standard questions relating to contractual, SOW or insurance issues.

General Ways of Working

This role will provide a communicative bridge for Studio across all departments. They will be an escalation point for any difficulties, as well as a proactive communication point.

They will ensure Dazed Media’s core values are adhered to internally and externally, and that diversity and inclusion initiatives are foremost in our decisions.

Work with the ECD and other leadership to bring the teams together monthly to share work. Regularly schedule the sharing of work with the CEO/COO.

Be a strong and calm presence for the Studio team.

Work with the PM team to ensure they are working harmoniously with other Studio departments and the wider group.

Desired Skills & Experience:

You are the lynchpin of the studio, with up to date knowledge of who is working on what and who is skilled to deliver against the right briefs. You are an optimistic, upbeat character with a can do, problem solving attitude.

You will have demonstrable experience in a creative services role within a fast-moving, creative environment.

• Extremely personable, working effectively with a variety of personalities

• Highly organised, able to manage multiple projects at one time

• Master negotiator with all key stakeholders within Studio

• Good at managing stakeholders from across Dazed Media

• Strong creative industry relationships

• Strong experience implementing project management tools

• Excellent written and verbal skills

• Cares about facilitating the best creative work in the industry

• Able to find ways to increase productivity and make profit from projects with poor margins.

• Able to work across a variety of production processes and aware of technological developments in these

• Flexible and able to adapt quickly to the demands of challenging and unusual projects

• Comprehensive understanding of pitching, creative development and execution

• Experience working with teams across other global markets would be useful