Head of Creative Services

Description:

We’re an innovation-led creative studio working across AI, AR/VR, immersive experiences, gaming, experiential activations, connected commerce, and film/VFX.

We hire for mindset first. Curiosity, craft, collaboration, and that spark that pushes ideas further — these matter more to us than perfect CV alignment. If you bring creative depth, strategic thinking, and a drive to make work people actually feel, we want to hear from you.

TOAST partners with global brands across technology, entertainment, FMCG, automotive, and healthcare, shaping work that blends design, storytelling, and emerging tech into unforgettable experiences.

We Want

We’re looking for an experienced, highly organised Head of Creative Services to lead the day-to-day management, resourcing and development of TOAST’s global creative team.

Reporting to our Global COO and working closely with the Head of US Production, you’ll be responsible for ensuring our creative teams are properly supported, effectively resourced and set up to deliver their best work. You’ll maintain a clear view of team capacity, upcoming requirements and project priorities, ensuring the right people are matched to the right work.

You’ll also take responsibility for the management and development of our creative people, working alongside our Creative Director and discipline leads to support performance, progression and a strong creative culture. This is not a creative direction role. Our creative and discipline leads will continue to own creative vision, craft and specialist standards. Your role is to create the structure, support and working environment that allows them and their teams to perform at their best.

The Person

You’re highly organised, calm under pressure and naturally good with people. You enjoy bringing structure to a busy creative environment and can balance the needs of individuals, projects and the wider business without creating unnecessary process.

You understand how creative teams work and know that good resourcing is about more than filling gaps in a schedule. You consider the skills, experience, development and workload of each person, while keeping a clear view of what the business needs to deliver.

You’re approachable and supportive, but comfortable making decisions, setting expectations and having difficult conversations when needed. You communicate clearly, spot problems early and take ownership of finding practical solutions.

What You’ll Do

Lead and manage our creative team. Take responsibility for the day-to-day management and support of our creatives, providing clear expectations, regular communication and a consistent management approach across the team. Keep a close view of individual workloads and sustained periods of pressure, rebalancing priorities where needed.
Own global creative resourcing. Maintain a clear and accurate view of availability, allocations and future requirements across our creative disciplines. Match the right people and skills to each project while balancing workloads, priorities and development opportunities.
Work closely with the Head of US Production. Translate confirmed projects, pipeline opportunities and changing production requirements into practical resource plans. Give production clear visibility of capacity, upcoming pressure points and resource gaps, identifying when freelance or permanent support may be required.
Support performance and development. Lead regular one-to-ones, objectives, performance reviews and development planning. Work with creative and discipline leads to gather specialist feedback, identify training needs and create opportunities for people to progress.
Coordinate the flow of creative work. Ensure projects entering the creative team have appropriate briefs, timelines and resource allocations. Help resolve competing priorities and make sure changes to scope or timings are reflected in the resource plan.
Build and manage our freelance network. Develop relationships with trusted freelance creatives and specialist partners. Manage availability, bookings and rates so additional talent can be brought in quickly when required.
Support recruitment and onboarding. Work with leadership and discipline leads to identify future hiring requirements. Support recruitment, interviews and onboarding, ensuring new team members are introduced effectively into the business and our ways of working.
Improve creative services operations. Provide leadership with a clear view of capacity, utilisation, freelance commitments and future resource needs. Develop simple, effective systems for resourcing, scheduling, onboarding and collaboration across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

Required Experience

Strong creative services or resource management experience. You have significant experience managing resource, workflow or studio operations within an agency, production company, creative studio or similar environment.
Experience managing creative people. You have led teams, conducted one-to-ones and performance reviews, supported development and dealt confidently with both strong performance and areas requiring improvement.
Excellent resource planning skills. You can manage multiple projects and competing requirements while maintaining a clear view of short and long-term team capacity.
A strong understanding of creative production. You understand how disciplines such as graphic design, animation, 3D, film, digital and interactive production operate and the different skills and timelines they require.
Strong people and communication skills. You build trusted relationships, communicate clearly and can balance being supportive with making firm decisions when required.
Confidence working with senior stakeholders. You can work effectively with production, creative leadership and senior management, challenge unrealistic requirements constructively and explain resource implications clearly.
Commercial and organisational awareness. You are comfortable managing detailed schedules, changing priorities and freelance talent, and understand how resource decisions affect utilisation, project margins and the wider business.

Nice To Have

Experience managing creative teams across multiple countries or time zones.
Experience working within immersive, experiential, interactive, animation or technically complex creative production.
An established network of freelance designers, animators, 3D artists and other specialist creative talent.
Experience helping a growing creative business develop its creative operations, or working with healthcare, pharmaceutical or regulated client work.