TYC Job Roles

Fancy working with brave clients that want to be challenged?

The Yard Creative is looking for an Operations Manager to join the team on a permanent, full time basis, with a remit of implementing the right processes and practices across the business that continue to drive the agency forward as part of our next step in business growth.

As a boutique design agency who ‘only work with people who want to challenge their sector’ our abilities to see the world differently from others and identify opportunities for our clients, is what drives us. Our clients have already voted TYC as the No1 Naming agency, No2 Branding agency and No1 market research agency in the UK 2022.

The Yard Creative is part of a Group that is on a mission to deliver long term change to support the move away from fossil fuel reliance and deliver this in a socially responsible manner. The majority of our profits go towards fighting Global pollution and climate change.

The Operations Manager role has been created as the Co-Founders take a step back from the day-to-day running of the business, the role is key to ensure business stability and performance as the business moves through the next stage of growth and successful management change.

Role overview

The candidate will be responsible for the key areas of; Clients & Projects, Finance, IT & Infrastructure, People, Facilities and General Business Running including the delivery of the strategic vision.

We are looking for someone with a proven track record of business operations and the ability to work closely with the Management Team to ensure targets are met, clients are happy, staff are fulfilled and the day-to-day of the business runs smoothly.

This is senior position within the business and as such the responsibilities of the Operations Manager are varied and wide-ranging, we are looking for a candidate with enthusiasm for tackling multiple complex tasks within a dynamic, fast-paced environment.

The Operations Manager’s is responsible for the Studio Assistant and Finance Manager. Group level resources which can be called upon at any time include HR, Legal, Accounting and Facilities.

The Operations Manager works closely with the Management Team (Design Directors, Creative Director and Leadership Team) and reports to the Leadership Team (MD, CEO and Co-Founders).

Key responsibilities:

Clients and Projects

• Ensuring all client contracts, T&C’s and NDAs are completed correctly and filled accordingly
• Ensuring new clients and projects are onboarded across TYC systems correctly (Streamtime, Xero and server)
• Ensuring projects are briefed in / handed over from New Business Team to Account Management Team and Creative Team
• Regular checks of project management software (Streamtime) to ensure project progress is being recorded correctly (e.g. resource scheduling, time sheets, project burn etc), ironing out any issues uncovered
• Working closely with New Business Team and Creative Team to ensure third party costs are captured against projects and that POs are raised and issued accordingly
• Ensuring client happiness by checking clients’ needs are being met
• Regularly working with the Account Management Team to review project performance, ensuring projects are on track and identifying areas to improve project efficiency

Finance

• Working closely with the Finance Manager and Group Accounts Team on a monthly basis to ensure pipeline, invoicing, cashflow (cash collection and debit management) and P&L is on target and reporting regular updates to the Leadership Team
• Working closely with MD and Finance Manager to plan monthly, quarterly and half year targets and budgets for both current and future years
• Supporting the Leadership Team on the delivery of year-on-year business plan to achieve key business objectives
• Overseeing and advising on payroll (actioned by the Group Accounts Team)
• Preparing documentation for third-party monitoring ( e.g. Auditing and R&D)
• Regular working with our internal accounting systems (Xero for accounts and DEXT for expense management) to manage monthly revenue and overhead spend in line with budgets to ensure the ongoing financial health of the business
• Overseeing supplier set up and onboarding in collaboration with Group Accounts Team
• Overseeing timely payment of partners, suppliers and team expenses in collaboration with Group Accounts Team
• Set-up, manage and maintain all procurement platforms
• Conduct regular spending reviews

IT and Infrastructure

• Responsible for procurement and management of all IT, Goods and Services
• Ensure appropriate licenses for required software and tools
• Managing external IT support providers relationship and services rendered
• Ensuring IT infrastructure is relevant, readily available and fit for purpose to support business objectives
• Manage and maintain file store and server hardware in data centre

People

• Ensure TYC employees are happy, fulfilled and well looked after
• Managing and maintaining company organisation chart and planning for growth, overarching view of staff numbers along with staff start / leave dates and associated impact
• Working collaboratively with Group HR Team to ensure employee benefits are being utilised
• Ensuring recruitment processes are followed
• Reviewing workloads and manpower to ensure targets are met, sourcing additional resources if needed
• Maintaining external recruiter relationships and being the first point of contact for new role briefings
• Making job offers to recruiters / candidates in collaboration with Group HR team
• Responsible for the upkeep and development of the culture of the business
• Responsible for all new joiner contracts, onboarding, induction and equipment
• Being the advocate of team training and development
• Managing ED&I initiatives
• Managing team holiday, WFH and absence
• Overseeing and owning the PDR process – making sure it is running smoothly and adapting if necessary
• Managing any HR grievances or disciplinary actions with Group HR Team
• Providing employment and tenancy references for staff, if required
• Ensuring policies and procedures are up to date and being followed by the business
• Keeping track of, and working within, employment law (e.g. IR35)
• Responsible for all sub-contractor/freelance agreements (g. contracts, work orders, NDAs), induction, handover to Creative Team, wrap up and exit
• Responsible for all leavers in collaboration with Group HR team

Facilities

• Ensure health and safety standards are being followed
• Working with the Group Facilities team and Landlord to ensure all facilities are up to spec and well maintained

General Business Running

• Managing the day-to-day operations of the agency to ensure smooth running
• Identifying process and procedural improvements across the business and undertaking these as Operational projects
• Ensuring the business is compliant with all legal obligations in relation to H&S and Insurance
• Tracking awards season, preparing and entering relevant projects into awards
• Maintaining relationships with media outlets and submitting regular press pieces on behalf of the wider business
• Tracking R&D potential on projects throughout the year and working with external R&D consultant to submit claims
• Being an active senior team member, attending TYC Management meetings as appropriate
• Regular (weekly) reporting on the overall operational position of the business to the MD and Leadership Team.

Although we have a hybrid working policy, this is a studio based role and the candidate will be expected to be based in the London studio.

Who will you be?

You’ll be your own person. Be confident in who you are, stand up for what you believe and never hide what you know. You’ll share everything you know to help others around you grow and flourish whilst be inquisitive to ask them questions back. People will describe your knowledge and energy as infectious. You’ll of course have a passion for what you do (otherwise why are you doing it?!), bring energy to the team and help grow our culture. And you’ll know the creative world. You’ll not bluff your way through, never lie and always have TYC front of mind.

What we’ll do for you

In exchange for bringing it every day, we’ll ensure you grow, have exposure to many different aspects of the business and learn at every step of the way. We’ll support you and believe in you. You’ll get a strong work life balance with 31 days of holiday (including bank holidays and the Christmas break).

You’ll be involved in all our cultural activities and benefit from a wide range of Group benefits including pension, cycle to work scheme, home computer scheme and access to training courses.

And lastly…

You’ll be part of an agency whose profits go towards affecting climate, demographic and economic change. At a time where we’re all telling our clients to have a bigger purpose, we’re leading the way and showing others how it’s done.

Requirements:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Design, Business or Economics
• Minimum 7 years business operations experience
• Ability to build and maintain positive working relationships at all levels with internal and external stakeholders and clients
• Minimum 3 references backing up why you’re the right person for the role
• Strong attention to detail and the ability to work to tight deadlines
• Strong knowledge and demonstrable experience of what it takes to run the day-to-day activities of a creative business
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• A natural communicator and conversation starter
• Extremely organised and professional with a willingness to learn and adapt
• Excellent IT skills (Xero, Streamtime, Google Workspace, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Salesforce)

Applications open//  9am, Friday 23^rd December 2022

Applications close// 5.30pm, Friday 30^th January 2023

Please send us your portfolio and C.V. to studio@theyardcreative.com with the subject title ‘Operations Manager’.