Creative Operations Manager

Passionate about fashion and technology? Join the coolest e-commerce team in the Middle East at Ounass! As the definitive home of luxury, we offer everything from fashion to beauty, watches, home, and jewelry, serving Middle Eastern customers with unparalleled style. Our culture fosters success, prioritizing customer and employee satisfaction. Part of the prestigious Al Tayer Group and based in vibrant Dubai, we're a diverse team of 500+ members across the globe, driving innovation and growth together. Join us and be part of something extraordinary! We are looking for a Creative Operations Manager to lead the operational engine behind the Creative department at Ounass, driving scale, efficiency and workflow excellence across the team. Working in close partnership with the Head of Creative and Editorial, you will own end-to-end creative operations — from resourcing and workflow design to process improvement and the adoption of AI and automation — enabling the team to produce more, move faster and work smarter, without compromising the high creative standards that define Ounass. We are looking for someone who thinks in systems as well as projects — someone who can identify friction, simplify ways of working and build scalable, technology-enabled processes that free up our creative talent to focus on what they do best: creating exceptional work and bringing the Ounass luxury experience to life. What You Will Be Doing Strategic Roles and Responsibilities • Act as the strategic and operational right hand to the Head of Creative, translating department strategy into scalable systems, workflows and resourcing models. • Lead the department's AI and automation agenda, positioning Ounass Creative at the forefront of efficient, technology-enabled creative production. • Identify and prioritize areas of process improvement across the creative lifecycle, building the roadmap for how the department scales output without scaling headcount at the same rate. • Own the Digital Asset Management (DAM) platform as a strategic asset, ensuring it underpins efficient creative production, reuse and cross-team access to assets. Creative Operations & Workflow Leadership • Own and continuously optimize the department's end-to-end workflow - from brief intake through production, review, approval and asset delivery - ensuring every stage is efficient, trackable and scalable • Design, document and maintain standardized processes, templates, briefing formats and approval flows that reduce friction and rework across the creative team. • Implement and maintain Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for all key creative processes, and define, monitor and uphold Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for turnaround and delivery across the department. • Partner closely with the Head of Creative and Editorial leads to translate creative and content priorities into resourcing plans, production schedules and delivery timelines. • Act as the operational backbone of the department, ensuring the team runs smoothly day to day while creative leadership stays focused on quality and vision. AI & Automation Enablement • Identify, evaluate and implement AI-driven tools and automation across the creative pipeline (e.g. generative design, automated resizing/localization, asset tagging, briefing and review tools) to increase throughput and reduce manual, repetitive work. • Build and own the department's AI tooling roadmap, working with Technology and Product to pilot, integrate and scale new tools. • Train and upskill the creative team on AI-enabled workflows, embedding new tools into day-to-day ways of working rather than treating them as side projects. • Establish guardrails, quality checks and brand-safety processes around AI-generated or AI-assisted output. Digital Asset Management (DAM) Ownership • Own the Digital Asset Management (DAM) system end-to-end — governance, structure, taxonomy, permissions and day-to-day administration — as the single source of truth for all creative assets. • Define and enforce metadata, tagging and naming conventions that make assets fast to find, reuse and repurpose across teams, markets and channels. • Drive adoption of the DAM across Creative, Editorial, Marketing and other stakeholder teams, ensuring it is embedded as the default way assets are stored, shared and retrieved. • Evaluate and implement AI-powered DAM capabilities (auto-tagging, visual search, smart rights/usage tracking) to reduce manual asset management effort and improve discoverability. • Own vendor relationships and the roadmap for the DAM platform, including upgrades, integrations with creative and marketing tools, and ongoing optimization. • Working closely with Editorial Producer, ensure proper lifecycle management of assets - versioning, usage rights, archiving and retirement - to keep the library accurate, compliant and clutter-free. Resource, Capacity & Project Management • Manage resource planning and capacity allocation across the design and content production team, balancing always-on business-as-usual demand with campaign and seasonal peaks. • Own the creative resource allocation, proactively flagging bottlenecks, conflicts and delivery risk. • Implement and maintain project/workflow management systems that give full visibility of status, workload and throughput to creative leadership and cross-functional partners. Process Improvement & Performance • Define and track operational KPIs (turnaround time, throughput, cost per asset, rework rate, tool adoption) to measure the effectiveness of process and automation initiatives. • Continuously audit existing processes to identify inefficiencies, redundancies and opportunities for automation, and lead the changes needed to fix them. • Build feedback loops between Creative, Editorial and cross-functional stakeholders to continuously refine ways of working. Cross-Functional Collaboration • Partner with Editorial, Brand Marketing, Digital Marketing, Product/UX and Technology teams to align creative production with wider business timelines and priorities. • Act as the key point of contact for operational queries relating to creative capacity, timelines and tooling. • Represent the Creative department in cross-functional planning forums, ensuring operational realities are reflected in campaign and content planning. People Management Roles and Responsibilities • Lead and manage the Creative Operations function, overseeing workflow coordination and project co-ordinators (as applicable) to ensure the smooth day-to-day running of the department. • Partner with the Head of Creative and Editorial to ensure the wider creative team is resourced, briefed and supported to deliver high-quality work on time. • Conduct performance reviews, identify development needs, and build a culture of accountability, efficiency and continuous improvement within the operations function. • Champion AI fluency across the department - ensuring every team member is trained, confident and continuously upskilled in relevant AI tools and automation. • Foster a culture where process and creativity work hand in hand, ensuring operational rigor never comes at the expense of creative quality. • Coach and mentor team members to grow their operational and technical capability, supporting career development within the function. • Provide hands-on guidance and mentorship to designers on tools, technique and best practice — using strong personal command of Adobe Creative Suite and design software to support their craft, not just their process. What We Are Looking For? • Bachelor’s or Master’s degree, or equivalent, in Operations Management, Business Administration, Design, Marketing or a related field. • 7+ years of experience in creative operations, production management, project management or a similar operational leadership role, ideally within luxury, fashion, retail or e-commerce. • Proven experience designing and implementing workflow, process and automation improvements at scale. • Strong, hands-on experience with AI and automation tools relevant to creative production, including generative design and image tools, automated workflow platforms and AI-assisted content or asset management. • Experience managing resources, budgets, timelines and multiple concurrent creative projects. • Strong knowledge of project and workflow management platforms such as Asana, Monday.com , Wrike or Airtable, alongside experience with Digital Asset Management (DAM) systems. • A background in design or hands-on creative production, with practical knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite and other creative tools, enabling you to credibly guide and support creative teams. • Deep understanding of creative production workflows within an e-commerce or digital-first environment. • Experience developing and maintaining SOPs, SLAs and operational standards, ensuring processes evolve alongside the business. • Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to identify bottlenecks, define KPIs and use data to drive improvements. • Excellent stakeholder management, communication and people leadership skills, with the ability to work across creative, technical and operational teams. • Strong change management capabilities, with experience introducing new tools, processes and ways of working and driving adoption across teams. • Highly organised, detail-oriented and comfortable operating in a fast-paced, evolving creative environment. What’s in It for You? • Play a key role in shaping the future of Creative Operations at Ounass, one of the Middle East’s leading luxury e-commerce destinations. • Lead the adoption of AI, automation and emerging technologies within a fast-evolving creative environment. • Have the opportunity to build, influence and transform how a growing Creative department operates at scale. • Work alongside talented creative, editorial, marketing and technology teams, bringing together creativity, innovation and operational excellence. • Make a visible impact by creating smarter ways of working that enable teams to move faster while maintaining the high creative standards that define Ounass. • Join an ambitious, diverse and collaborative team where you’ll have the autonomy to challenge existing ways of working and bring new ideas to life