Director of Creative Operations and Production

XPRIZE Overview XPRIZE is an established global leader in designing and executing large-scale competitions to solve humanity’s greatest challenges. As a 501(c)3, our unique model democratizes innovation by incentivizing crowd-sourced, scientifically viable solutions to create a more equitable and abundant future for all. Since our founding in 1994, we’ve launched $519 million in prize competitions that are driving more than $31 billion in social and economic impact — a 60x return on philanthropic investment. These competitions not only de-risk early-stage breakthrough ideas but also mobilize capital, talent, and momentum to accelerate solutions from concept to real-world scale. We operate across 5 areas of impact, including: • Deep Tech + Exploration • Energy + Climate + Nature • Food + Water + Waste • Health • Learning + Society Join XPRIZE to help create meaningful impact as we strive to empower humanity to achieve breakthroughs and architect a more equitable and abundant future for all. Position Description The Director of Creative Operations and Production is the central owner of how creative work moves through XPRIZE Marketing, ensuring all creative and production, budget, timelines, and assets flow through a single, coherent pipeline across brand, social, content, events, and partnerships, ensuring seamless on-time fulfillment. The ideal candidate is an experienced production and operations leader who has the ability to be strategic about the holistic view of the department and also has the ability to focus on the details. The right person will have built and managed creative systems for brands, agencies, and networks, and has stellar communication skills as a master collaborator working across a diverse organization of stakeholders. Responsibilities • Technology/ Operations/ Production Management – Identifies best practices and develops new systems, processes, and tools to improve efficiency and production. Develops and maintains department procedures, project templates, other workflow tools including MAM (media asset management). budgeting, and workflow tools (e.g., Airtable/Asana/Wrike) with common standards, templates, and naming conventions. • Oversee the full asset lifecycle — from brief to delivery and archive. Provide ongoing visibility to Marketing and organizational leadership into pipeline, capacity, risks, and delivery status through dashboards, reports, and regular project and/ or operating reviews. • Best-in-class project management and agency-level client services. • Mentor and develop producers, project managers, and coordinators so Creative Operations becomes a durable capability, ensuring a frictionless process. • Champion best practices for production and post-production across creative, drawing on experience from high-volume environments such as networks, agencies, and studios.​ • Continuously diagnose bottlenecks and refine workflows, SLAs, and communication norms so the team can handle more volume and complexity without sacrificing quality. • Fiscal Oversight – Responsible for budget health. Works closely with finance and Marketing Leadership on forecasting and budget tracking. Tracks expenditures and responds to client queries concerning budget and payments. • Resourcing – Responsible for the coordination and management of internal/external resources responsible for developing content and creative assets, including vendor onboarding for XPRIZE systems, protocols, and tools. • Partner closely with channel owners (social, content, events, partnerships, brand creative) to translate strategies into executable plans, timelines, and production approaches.​ • Lead vendor strategy for creative and production partners, including sourcing, contracting, onboarding, and performance management to support a scalable mixed internal/external model.​ • Leadership & Collaboration – Provide structure and support, encourage, develop, and drive internal and external teams towards success. Develop departmental best practices alongside the marketing leadership team. Work closely across the organization to uphold a level of excellence and innovation. Creatively problem-solve and partner with marketing leadership to maintain efficiency, flexibility, scalability, and fiscal responsibility. • Strategic Oversight – Oversee the organization, management, and execution of creative operations, production, and systems for the marketing department. Directly oversee the establishing and optimizing of workflows for the department including a single intake and prioritization “front door” for all Marketing requests, with clear criteria, timelines, and expectations for internal partners and external stakeholders. • Maintains familiarity with current culture and design trends and strives to elevate the XPRIZE Marketing Department as a central hub known for creative excellence, state-of-the-art technology, impeccable quality, standards, and client service. A true leader striving to support a marketing-led organization with solutions that scale. • Exhibits a willingness to take on responsibilities outside of the job description with the ability to multitask and respond to business demands in a fast-paced global environment. Qualifications • 15+ years leading production and operations in creative environments (e.g., networks, agencies, studios, brands), with a track record of building or reorganizing high-output content teams.​ • Strong leadership and communication skills, with experience motivating cross-functional creative and technical teams in deadline-driven environments. • Demonstrated experience managing end-to-end delivery of complex campaigns and long-form productions as well as high-volume, fast-turn social and digital content.​ • Proven ability to design and implement workflows, tools, and best practices that scale across multiple channels and stakeholders. • Exceptional time manager, communicator, and collaborator with the nuanced ability to navigate ambiguity and prioritize strategically with the flexibility to pivot when necessary • Deep familiarity with production and post-production processes, including budgeting, scheduling, vendor management, and technical delivery standards.​ • Experience establishing and optimizing asset management and archival systems in partnership with engineering/IT and marketing teams.​ • Passionate about breaking new ground via new technology and ideas • Bonus: knowledgeable and skilled in live-action, directing, and content capture on location. The anticipated base salary for this position is $140,000 to $165,000 and may also qualify for an annual incentive. This role is eligible for our extensive benefits package and generous paid time off including vacation, sick, and holidays. The actual base salary offered will depend on a variety of factors including the qualifications of the individual applicant, years of relevant experience for the role, level of education attained, and certifications and/or other licenses held. XPRIZE is a remote-first environment. The XPRIZE FOUNDATION is an equal opportunity employer and does not unlawfully discriminate in employment. Equal access to employment, services, and programs is available to all persons. Those applicants requiring reasonable accommodation to the application and/or interview process should notify a representative of the organization. Please note: Though submitting a resume to the XPRIZE FOUNDATION implies that you are interested in a position(s), it does not imply that you are an applicant. You are not considered an applicant until you have been contacted directly by a Talent Acquisitions representative requesting that you begin the designated application process, which may involve phone and/or in-person interview(s), job-related testing, and background checks. Apply tot his job