Business Operations Manager, Creative (899499)

Overview

Our Beauty Client is seeking a proactive and detail-oriented Business Operations Manager, Creative to support the Global Creative team based in New York City. Business Affairs oversees the financial and legal operations for the Creative department, including seven sub-departments.

This role leads financial reporting and reconciliation for all Creative Opex, executes production-related contracts, and ensures all workflows adhere to established legal and financial protocols.

Accountabilities

Financial Management & Reporting

• Ensure the accuracy and integrity of all Creative financial records, reports, and documentation.
• Review and maintain Production and Creative Freelancer Budget Trackers.
• Validate monthly Production and Creative Freelance actuals to ensure accurate coding and posting.
• Investigate, resolve, and reconcile errors and discrepancies.
• Maintain fiscal year reporting including YTD and YTG spend tracking.
• Monitor and manage all rebills and reclasses in partnership with Finance and cross-functional teams.
• Facilitate weekly Production Budget Tracker review meetings with Creative Operations, Production, and Finance to ensure accurate cost tracking and resolution of unplanned spend.
• Participate in monthly budget review meetings with Corporate Finance and OneSource.
• Facilitate monthly budget meetings with Creative sub-departments and monitor spend accordingly.
• Build monthly Production estimates for OneSource Corporate Finance to ensure alignment with strategic plans.
• Generate purchase orders in Ariba across multiple cost centers and GL accounts.
• Utilize SAP to cross-check GR/IR balances, investigate missing payments, and review vendor terms.
• Process, manage, and track vendor invoices using the Creative Meeting Card (CMC) workflow.
• Proactively communicate outstanding payment status to vendors and internal stakeholders.

Contracts & Business Affairs

• Draft and review all production-related contracts in coordination with Legal and internal producers.
• Execute contracts based on producer negotiations using the self-serve legal portal and ensure agreements are fully executed prior to shoot dates.
• Serve as the Power User and subject-matter expert for all financial and legal workflows within Creative.

Operations & Cross-Functional Partnership

• Act as the primary point of contact for financial and legal inquiries across the Creative organization.
• Communicate and resolve issues with vendors, Corporate Finance, Legal, and internal stakeholders.
• Support the Executive Director, Creative Operations and hiring managers with candidate review, scheduling, and general recruiting operations.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience.
• 5–7+ years of experience in finance, legal operations, business affairs, or a related field.
• Minimum of 3 years working with complex Excel documents, including strong formula proficiency.
• Highly analytical and detail-oriented with the ability to synthesize and reconcile large data sets.
• Exceptional organizational, prioritization, and time-management skills.
• Proven ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong communicator and collaborative problem solver.
• Able to remain composed under pressure with a positive, solutions-oriented mindset.

Bonus Skills

• Experience working within SAP and Ariba.
• Experience with AirTable.
• Experience negotiating and executing production-related contracts.

• #LI-SH2