Manager, Partner Operations

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in Minnesota.

📋 Description

• Act as the central operational link between Solve Studio, external agency partners, and project teams.

• Manage agency partner governance, resource allocation, and work distribution.

• Enhance delivery, utilization, and execution throughout the marketing ecosystem.

• Develop trusted relationships with approved agency partners, serving as the main operational liaison.

• Assess partner performance, utilization, and effectiveness to guide staffing and investment choices.

• Assist in agency selection and engagement suggestions based on capability, performance, capacity, and business requirements.

• Standardize the onboarding, engagement, and evaluation processes for external partners.

• Facilitate the shift to a centrally managed network of approved agency partners.

• Establish and uphold agency onboarding protocols, operating standards, governance tools, documentation, and escalation procedures.

• Maintain a comprehensive roster of partner capabilities, geographic reach, rates, contract statuses, contacts, and engagement prerequisites.

• Direct commercial, contractual, and compliance issues through Solve Studio leadership and Procurement.

• Organize agency business reviews and oversee scorecards, reporting, and performance enhancement initiatives.

• Monitor agency assignments, utilization, scopes, purchase orders, expenditures, and retainers in collaboration with Operations, Finance, and Procurement.

• Ensure visibility of project demand, internal capacity, agency capacity, and forthcoming business needs.

• Recommend the best delivery models, including internal staffing, agency involvement, or hybrid teams.

• Align work with resources based on capability, availability, complexity, continuity, and business priorities.

• Lead discussions on resource allocation for ongoing and upcoming projects.

• Identify capacity risks, capability deficiencies, and workload disparities while proposing solutions.

• Collaborate with Operations, Project Management, and leadership teams on forecasting and workforce planning.

⛳️ Requirements

• A Bachelor's degree or higher and 7 years of experience in agency operations, creative operations, resource management, studio management, marketing operations, or a related field.

• Proven experience in managing resource allocation, capacity planning, and staffing decisions across multiple concurrent projects, portfolios, or business units.

• Background in supporting or managing agency partners, freelance talent, production partners, or external marketing suppliers in an agency, in-house agency, or consulting environment.

• Demonstrated ability to assess work requirements and suggest the suitable delivery model, including internal teams, agency partners, contractors, or blended teams.

• Experience in balancing competing priorities, changing business demands, and resource limitations in a dynamic environment.

• Strong grasp of integrated marketing, creative, digital, content, production, and campaign-delivery workflows.

• Familiarity with agency onboarding, scopes of work, estimates, rate structures, retainers, performance reviews, and partner governance.

• Experience in maintaining oversight of project demand, resource capacity, utilization, pipeline forecasts, and staffing needs.

• Strong financial and analytical skills, including interpreting estimates, staffing models, agency rates, utilization, retainers, project budgets, and expenditures.

• Experience in managing or supporting a centralized network of creative, digital, production, media, or marketing agency partners.

• Proficient in project, resource management, and workflow platforms, including Workfront or similar enterprise tools.

• Experience utilizing reporting, AI-driven planning tools, dashboards, and workflow automation to enhance forecasting, resource planning, and operational transparency.

• Excellent communication, facilitation, and stakeholder management abilities, with the capacity to influence without direct authority.

• Experience supporting global or regional agency networks is preferred.

• Proven ability to identify capacity risks, capability gaps, and operational constraints while recommending solutions to address them.

• Experience collaborating with Procurement, Finance, Operations, and project leadership teams to facilitate supplier management and operational decision-making.

• Must have legal authorization to work in the country of employment without sponsorship for employment visa status.

🏝️ Benefits

• Medical, Dental & Vision coverage.

• Health Savings Accounts.

• Flexible Spending Accounts for Health Care & Dependent Care.

• Disability Benefits.

• Life Insurance.

• Optional Benefits.

• Paid Time Off.

• Retirement Benefits.

• Potential for variable incentive pay, if eligible.

• Up to 10% domestic travel may be required.