OPERATIONS DIRECTOR

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Company Description

Machine is a creative agency where fearless minds lead to borderless ideas. Our creativity is unrestricted by four borders and character limits because we believe ideas should live beyond mediums and in consumers’ minds. Machine_ is part of Publicis Groupe, the fastest‑growing global network. We have over 100 people located across 3 offices in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban.

Responsibilities

• Confidently engage with senior clients during fee negotiations, reconciliations and developing business cases for additional scope and funding alongside client leads and financial leads.
• Provide hands‑on oversight and quality assurance on key, high‑value projects, ensuring on‑time, on‑budget delivery.
• Build and maintain trusted relationships with key clients, ensuring operational alignment with client expectations.
• Enhance agency performance by implementing efficient processes, resource planning, technology adoption and strategic hiring.
• Drive and manage Commit and RF planning cycles, ensuring FTE planning metrics are met across all client models and the overall agency, and manage all associated new hires, increases and productivity outcomes.
• Ensure 80% – 100% FTE billability of resources and propose organogram refinements to improve staff cost ratios.
• Lead the Account Management team on financial planning and optimisation.
• Manage contractors, freelancers or suppliers.
• Review and manage all agency budgets and delegated fees.
• Approve all travel costs and manage the travel budget.
• Manage and negotiate high‑level vendor relationships (including South African print, web, production and event partners) to ensure quality, cost efficiency and alignment with agency objectives.
• Oversee agency production to maximise quality and profitability across all deliverables.
• Lead high‑level resource planning and strategic resource management across all agency functions (creative, strategy, social media, content marketing and client account management).
• Find solutions for clients within and outside of agency functions (data, production, PR, digital & media).
• Manage Resource Co‑Ordinators and collaborate with Account Leads, Creative Leads and team leads to implement plans effectively and maintain optimal resource utilisation.
• Partner with the Leadership Team to align operational plans with the agency’s strategic vision.
• Identify and manage operational and project risks proactively, developing mitigation plans to protect agency profitability and reputation.
• Champion change management initiatives, including stakeholder communication, training and success measurement to ensure smooth adoption of new processes, tools or structural changes.
• Continually evaluate, refine and implement agency processes to ensure they are future‑fit and scalable.
• Establish and document operational workflows that enable seamless delivery across creative, content marketing, strategy, social, production, Publicis partner agencies and account management disciplines.
• Implement processes to optimise resource allocation, ensuring balanced workloads and meeting project timelines.
• Develop and manage key operational metrics and reporting frameworks to measure and continuously improve delivery performance.
• Evaluate, implement and integrate operational software solutions relevant to South African agency needs (e.g., Chase, Altair, Roar or similar systems).
• Manage change adoption for all technology implementations, ensuring staff training and process alignment.
• Monitor and report on agency time tracking and billability metrics, driving efficiency and transparency.
• Leverage AI and automation tools where relevant to enhance productivity while managing AI‑related risks to the agency’s competitive advantage.
• Collaborate closely with the Publicis IT team to meet technology requirements, including South African POPIA compliance and data‑security best practices.
• Ensure accurate and updated capacity planning, supporting optimal resource utilisation.
• Foster a collaborative, high‑performance culture across operational teams and departments.
• Work effectively with creative, strategy, content marketing and account management teams to deliver operational excellence.
• Partner with the Talent Team to support recruitment, onboarding and retention strategies tailored to South Africa’s talent landscape while following Publicis ways of working.
• Champion a culture of continuous improvement and skills development within operational teams.
• Support the agency’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion by fostering inclusive processes and ensuring equitable opportunities across operational teams.

Qualifications

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