Role Overview
The Production / Traffic Manager is responsible for the efficient planning, scheduling, and delivery of all agency projects. Acting as the central hub between account/project management, creative, and digital teams, this role ensures work flows smoothly through the agency, deadlines are met, budgets are managed effectively, and resources are optimally allocated.
This is a highly organised and proactive role that balances operational oversight with hands-on coordination to maintain quality, profitability, and team wellbeing.
Key Responsibilities
1. Resource & Capacity Management
- Own and manage agency-wide resource planning across all teams using scheduling/workflow management and collaboration tools (currently Float and Monday.com, with a longer-term move towards centralised planning within Monday.com)
- Manage and allocate tasks via Monday.com, ensuring briefs, timelines, priorities and dependencies are clearly communicated to delivery teams
- Allocate work based on team capability, availability, project priority and budget requirements
- Identify workflow pinch points, resource gaps and future capacity challenges, proactively recommending solutions
- Manage freelance onboarding, scheduling and task allocation when additional capacity or specialist support is required
- Support recruitment and freelance planning through resource forecasting and utilisation insights
2. Project Scheduling, Workflow & Delivery Management
- Build and maintain accurate project schedules and delivery plans
- Ensure work is appropriately prioritised and progresses smoothly across concurrent projects and teams
- Monitor project progress daily and adjust schedules or priorities where necessary to maintain delivery timelines
- Act as the key operational link between Account/Project Managers, Creative Team, Digital Team, and external suppliers
- Communicate project status, timelines, risks and dependencies clearly to internal stakeholders throughout the task/project lifecycle
- Liaise with external suppliers and production partners where required to coordinate timings and delivery requirements
- Identify and resolve bottlenecks before they impact project quality, budget or deadlines
3. Traffic, Budget & Production Oversight
- Act as the central point of oversight for all live projects across the agency
- Lead regular traffic/production meetings to review workloads, priorities, delivery schedules and risks
- Ensure deadlines are realistic, agreed and consistently met
- Monitor allocated project budgets alongside resourcing and timelines to ensure work remains commercially viable
- Obtain production costs and quotations from external suppliers and communicate estimates back to stakeholders for client approval and estimate creation
- Support Account Managers and Project Managers by providing realistic time estimates for tasks in collaboration with creative and digital teams
- Flag risks relating to overspend, scope creep, scheduling conflicts or delivery challenges at an early stage
4. Quality Assurance & Approval Process
- Play a key role in the checking and approval process for all deliverables prior to client submission
- Review content, artwork and production files for accuracy and brief alignment before final approval by Account Management or Project Management
- Coordinate proof checking, artwork supply, amends and delivery logistics with both internal teams and external suppliers
- Ensure all deliverables are client-ready, accurate and delivered to agreed specifications and deadlines
5. Supplier & Production Coordination
- Liaise with external suppliers, printers, developers, production partners and freelancers to coordinate schedules, outputs and delivery requirements
- Manage the supply of artwork and production files to suppliers, ensuring technical specifications are accurate and complete
- Coordinate proofing, approvals and final production sign-off processes
- Oversee delivery schedules to ensure all production outputs are delivered on time and to specification
6. Process & Operations Improvement
- Support the refinement of agency workflows, operational processes, briefing procedures, scheduling and QA standards in collaboration with the Operations Director and Account Director – Client Operations
- Support the ongoing development and optimisation of Monday.com as the agency’s primary workflow and resource management platform
- Identify opportunities to improve efficiency, visibility, collaboration and consistency across teams
- Support the implementation of improved processes, systems and ways of working to enhance overall agency performance
7. Stakeholder Collaboration
- Act as the primary operational contact between delivery/production teams and Account Managers/Project Managers
- Work closely with Account and Project stakeholders to align on scope, priorities, budgets and delivery expectations
- Build strong working relationships across internal teams and external supplier networks
- Ensure clear, proactive communication throughout all stages of task/project delivery and production execution
Skills & Experience
- Proven experience in a Production Manager, Traffic Manager or similar operational role within a creative, branding, digital or integrated agency
- Strong understanding of creative, digital and production workflows
- Experience managing project schedules, budgets, resource allocation and production coordination simultaneously
- Experience using workflow and resource planning platforms such as Monday.com, Float, Resource Guru, Asana or similar
- Strong QA mindset with excellent attention to detail
- Ability to manage multiple deadlines and competing priorities within a busy agency environment
- Excellent communication, stakeholder management and problem-solving skills
- Commercial awareness and confidence managing budgets, timelines and delivery expectations
- Experience working with external suppliers, printers, developers or production partners
Key Attributes
- Highly organised and process-driven
- Calm and solutions-focused under pressure
- Strong attention to detail and commitment to quality
- Collaborative and team-oriented
- Proactive and forward-thinking
- Commercially aware with a delivery-focused mindset
- Confident communicator with strong relationship management skills
Assessment of Performance
- Performance in this role will be assessed against the following key areas:
- All creative requests are scheduled accurately and managed correctly within Monday.com and Float, with changes and updates clearly communicated to relevant stakeholders
- Resources are managed effectively to ensure maximum efficiency across both internal teams and external freelancers/suppliers
- All creative and digital production requests are managed proactively from initial booking through to final completion and delivery
- Deadlines are consistently managed and achieved, with requests handled in a timely and organised manner
- Professional, clear and proactive communication is maintained with internal stakeholders, clients and external suppliers
- High levels of accuracy and attention to detail are demonstrated, with minimal errors identified during checking and QA processes
- Strong visibility and coordination are maintained across live projects, priorities and workloads
- Deliverables are completed to agreed quality standards, within scope and within allocated budgets
- Workflow bottlenecks, resource challenges and delivery risks are identified and managed proactively
- Positive collaboration is maintained across delivery, account management and delivery teams
Salary & benefits
- FTE salary of £55k
- Pension enrolment
- 25 days annual leave
- Birthday day off
- Critical Illness Insurance and Wellbeing Rewards
- Car salary sacrifice scheme
- Enhanced maternity and paternity pay