Job description
Director of Resource Management, Creative & Media (EMEA) London, hybrid
DEPT® is a Growth Invention company built to help the world’s most ambitious brands grow faster. Operating at the intersection of technology and marketing, our 4,000+ specialists deliver growth invention services across Brand & Media, Experience, Commerce, CRM, and Technology & Data. We’re 50|50 tech and marketing, partner-led, and first to move. Clients include Google, Lufthansa, Meta, eBay, and OpenAI. We have been certified B Corp and Climate Neutral since 2021.
JOB PURPOSE
We are looking for an experienced and strategic-minded EMEA Resource Management leader for our EMEA Creative & Media services. This role is critical for ensuring efficient resource allocation and capacity management while accommodating the dynamic digital marketing landscape and supporting our business growth.
In this role, you will be responsible for the effective utilisation of our billable team members across the EMEA Creative & Media craft, which is made up of approximately 1,000 billable individuals across a number of service lines and departments including; Creative, Design, Digital Marketing, Media, Production and more. You will be responsible for a team of Resource Managers across EMEA Creative & Media and will have direct reports in each of our key market groups, along with nearshore locations.
The Director of Resource Management will be responsible for ensuring that our casting practices uplevel the potential of our people, that we operate nimbly and flex at pace with client needs, and that we have appropriate billable headcount to achieve our business goals.
This means vigilant balancing of the supply and demand of our most important asset, our people. You will be an expert matchmaker - understanding project needs, the team’s skills (aptitudes and appetite), and how to curate the best team for the best work possible.
The EMEA Director of Resource Management will proactively partner with the Client Services, Delivery and Sales teams to evaluate our new and existing business pipeline to plan for future resourcing needs and optimise our utilisation and bench capacity within the team.
The candidate will also play a key role in driving enhancements to our resource management related processes and reporting, collaborating with People, Recruitment and Finance teams.
The ideal candidate will have strong interpersonal relationship skills, an analytical mindset, as well as a deep understanding of the digital marketing craft (specifically within Creative, Media, Social, Programmatic, SEO and Search).
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
- Capacity Planning Strategy: Work closely with delivery leads, client service, project managers, finance, and department heads to forecast hiring needs and ensure adequate capacity to meet revenue, project and sales needs.
- Team leadership: Lead the RM team in Europe, empowering, developing and supporting them, ensure that there is the correct skills and knowledge in each local team
- Resource Optimisation: Identify and evaluate capacity constraints and opportunities within the organisation (bandwidth and burnout), making data-driven recommendations for resource allocations, nearshoring, and utilisation optimisation. Adopt wherever possible a EMEA resource pool approach - staffing from across locations where it makes sense to do so.
- Nearshore enablement: Play a key role in achieving our target of 20% nearshore utilisation - enabling the efficient engagement of nearshore resources and identifying the skills and disciplines that can be best staffed in nearshore locations
- Process evolution: Continually evolve our processes across the organisation and drive towards a consistent EMEA approach to resource management and the inputs that it requires from other disciplines to be effective. Provide recommendations on tooling and identify opportunities for automation and the use of AI.
- Skill Management: Identify skill gaps within the regional teams and work with craft leads as well as P&C to address talent needs through hiring, training, or reassignment.
- Demand Forecasting: Collaborate with cross-functional teams to develop accurate demand forecasts, encompassing both short-term and long-term client requirements.
- Risk Mitigation: Proactively identify potential risks and challenges in capacity planning and develop strategies to mitigate them.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with various departments, including account management, creative teams, operations, and sales, to ensure alignment between capacity planning and client satisfaction.
- Conflict Resolution: Act as a mediator in resource conflicts, prioritisation challenges, or overlapping project demands, ensuring equitable distribution of resources.
- Performance Monitoring: Track key resource metrics and provide regular reports to regional leadership on resource utilisation, bench capacity, and nearshore and freelance ratios.
- Compliance and Governance: Ensure compliance with company policies and guidelines related to resource management, including time tracking, resource allocations and reporting.
WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR
- Extensive experience in strategic capacity planning (resource management) and utilisation optimization in the digital marketing industry, with a minimum of 5 years in senior resource management lead roles including leading other resource managers and teams
- Experienced in managing resourcing across multiple locations and disciplines
- Strong understanding of digital marketing, technology, and creative services and how projects are delivered and staffed to meet client expectations, on time and on budget
- Demonstrates past proficiency in resource management software and tools and how these can be applied as part of efficient resource management processes.
- Experience of, or Interest in applying AI to drive efficiency in resource management
- Strong analytical and quantitative skills, with proficiency in data analysis and forecasting tools
- Strong process improvement and process management skills
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence and collaborate across various departments at all levels
- Strategic thinking and problem-solving abilities
- Exceptional diligence and attention to detail as well as resourcefulness and quick, practical thinking in a demanding environment
- Team-oriented mindset with a focus on collaboration and coaching more junior reports
- Ability to work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment
WE OFFER:
- A flexible, hybrid working policy (2 days from the office, depending on location).
- An excellent salary based on experience and equal pay policies.
- Pension, free private healthcare, mental health support, and company sick pay scheme.
- 26 days paid holiday (plus UK Bank Holidays).
- Help getting you to work with a season ticket loan and cycle to work scheme.
- Enhanced family friendly policies to support new parents.
- Social and Cultural Events, plenty of opportunities to connect with colleagues through organised activities and celebrations.
- Inspirational Talks, bringing the outside in with regular guest speakers and events.
- Learning and Development, supporting your growth with continuous opportunities to learn and advance.
- Buddy Programme: You will be paired with a ‘Buddy’ to help you through your first weeks’ at DEPT®.
- A reputation for doing good. DEPT® has been a Certified B Corp® since 2021 and named ‘Agency of the Year’ at both The Lovies and The Webby Awards.
- Awesome clients. Whether big or small, local or global — at DEPT® you’ll get the opportunity to work with clients of all sizes and across all industries. And we celebrate all of our successes together!
- The opportunity for possibility. We want to enable you to do what you do best and help you develop your skills further with training, development and certifications.
- Global annual DEPT® Cares Month in which employees come together and donate their skills to support local charities.
WHY DEPT®?
We are a Growth Invention company built to help the world’s most ambitious brands grow faster. Operating at the intersection of technology and marketing, we create what is next by pioneering ideas, acting fast, and moving further because standing still just is not in our DNA.
We are drawn to people who stay curious, move with intent, and never stop inventing. Our culture runs on three values: better together, relentlessly curious, and get sh*t done. It is how we work, how we grow, and how we make things that matter.
At DEPT®, you will find the freedom to explore, the space to collaborate, and the trust to make a real impact for our clients, for each other, and for the world we are helping to build.
DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION
At DEPT®, we take pride in creating an inclusive workplace where everyone has an equal opportunity to thrive. We actively seek to recruit, develop, nurture, and retain talented individuals from diverse backgrounds, with varying skills and perspectives.
Not sure you meet all qualifications? Apply, and let us decide! Research shows that women and members of underrepresented groups tend not to apply for jobs when they think they may not meet every requirement, when in fact they do. We believe in giving everyone a fair chance to shine.
We also encourage you to reach out to us and discuss any reasonable adjustments we can make to support you throughout the recruitment process and your time with us.
Want to know more about our dedication to diversity, equity, and inclusion? Check out our efforts here.
