Operations & Program Delivery Lead – (Hybrid – Cape Town)

SUMMARY:
-

POSITION INFO:
ENVIRONMENT Our client is a leading social-first agency that connects brands with influential creators to produce culturally relevant, performance-driven campaigns. The agency is scaling into its next phase of growth and is investing in the operational backbone and program-management discipline required to deliver premium work, repeatably, profitably, and at pace. This role exists at a growth inflection where operational decisions and project delivery are deeply interdependent. The environment is hybrid, collaborative, and innovation-forward, embracing AI and automation as force-multipliers. The person in this role operates across NY and LA, serving as the operational bridge across all departments. DUTIES: Lead planning, execution, and delivery of major agency-wide initiatives. Build detailed project roadmaps with clear owners and decision gates. Proactively identify risks and implement mitigation plans. Drive stand-ups, steering committees, and retrospectives. Define and enforce project management methodology standards across the agency. Own the selection and optimization of internal tools and tech stack. Continuously refine the A-to-Z Process Playbook. Eliminate bottlenecks to increase output without proportional headcount. Maintain real-time team bandwidth visibility across all accounts. Resolve resourcing conflicts, balancing strategic versus immediate needs. Refine influencer pricing models and the deliverables calculator. Monitor project budgets, gross margins, and P&L data. Enforce budget adherence and flag variances early. Keep the deliverables calculator aligned with market conditions. Manage the end-to-end legal workflow: SOWs, reviews, redlines, scope changes. Ensure compliance with FTC regulations and AI content standards. Serve as operational point of contact with outside counsel. Lead operationalization of AI agents across high-frequency workflows. Measure and report on time and cost savings from AI integrations. Continuously identify new automation opportunities. Serve as the operational bridge across all departments. Act as objective decision-maker for shared resource conflicts. Contribute an operations-first perspective to leadership discussions. REQUIREMENTS: 7+ years in operations management, project\/program management within an agency or marketing services environment. Demonstrated track record of leading complex, multi-stakeholder programs from planning through delivery. Strong financial acumen — comfortable with P&L statements, margin analysis, and budget management. Experience managing SOW\/contract workflows and familiarity with FTC advertising compliance. Proven ability to manage cross-functional teams without direct reporting authority. Proficiency with modern project management tools (Asana, com, Notion, Smartsheet). Strong command of both Agile and Waterfall delivery methodologies. Preferred: Strong operational experience in a high-stakes environment with excellent project management capabilities driving a premium team to achieve operational objectives. Preferred: Hands-on experience evaluating, deploying, or managing AI\/automation tools in an operational context. Preferred: PMP, PgMP, or equivalent project management certification. Preferred: Experience with capacity planning software or resource management platforms. Preferred: Background working in a high-growth, founder-led or private-equity-backed agency environment. ATTRIBUTES: Operational Rigor: Builds systems that run without daily intervention; obsessive about documentation, repeatability, and continuous improvement. Program Delivery: Consistently delivers complex, multi-stakeholder initiatives on time and within budget — even when scope shifts mid-flight. Financial Acumen: Naturally thinks in margins, utilization, and ROI; translates P&L data into actionable operational decisions. Cross-Functional Influence: Earns trust across departments without positional authority; resolves conflict through clarity, not escalation. Tech & AI Fluency: Comfortable evaluating, adopting, and operationalizing new tools and AI workflows at speed. Bias to Action: Defaults to “solve it now” over “schedule a meeting about it.”