Director, Design Operations

Job ID: 12008 

Newell Brands is a leading consumer products company with a portfolio of iconic brands like Graco®, Coleman®, Oster®, Rubbermaid®, Sharpie® and Yankee Candle® - and 24,000 talented teammates around the world. Our culture is built on values in action: Integrity, Teamwork, Passion for Winning, Ownership, and Leadership. We work together to win, grow, and make a real impact—supported by a high-performing, inclusive, and collaborative environment where you can be your best, every day. 

Position Title: Director, Design Operations

Location: Atlanta, GA

Reports To: Vice President, Design

Job Overview:

The Director, Design Operations leads the strategic direction, governance, and operational excellence of creative content and design production across Newell Brands’ global portfolio. This role ensures operational scalability, production excellence, and the seamless integration of creative, marketing, and commercial teams to deliver world-class brand experiences at speed and scale.

Operating at the intersection of creativity, technology, and data, the Director drives modernization of the creative operations ecosystem — leveraging AI, automation, and predictive analytics to optimize workflows, elevate creative quality, and enhance efficiency. This leader serves as a strategic partner to the Vice President of Design shaping the future of design enablement and content delivery across all brands and regions. The Director oversees an Operations team, while overseeing the infrastructure, systems, and culture required to ensure measurable business impact.

Responsibilities:

Organizational & Cross-Functional Leadership

• Lead and scale the Design Operations function, managing senior managers accountable for Project intake, management, delivery and resource forecasting.
• Partner with executive leaders across Design, Marketing, and eCommerce to define operational frameworks and establish enterprise KPIs for efficiency, quality, and scalability.
• Translate strategic vision into operational objectives, ensuring design execution aligns with business and financial goals.
• Serve as a strategic advisor on operational transformation, integrating AI tools, machine learning models, and intelligent automation into core creative workflows.
• Champion operational excellence by developing and delivering training on workflow best practices to optimize collaboration across design and partner teams.

Operational Excellence & Systems Strategy

• Define and evolve enterprise-wide operations models to support integrated creative delivery across functions and markets.
• Lead modernization of production systems through AI-driven workflow optimization, automated resource allocation, and performance tracking.
• Establish governance for enterprise tools (Workfront, DAM, PIM, CMS, and emerging AI systems), ensuring interoperability and data integrity.
• Utilize predictive analytics to forecast creative capacity, identify bottlenecks, and guide investment decisions.
• Partner with a Ai Developers, I.T. and Adobe to evaluate and implement AI solutions that enhance project/data inputs, asset tagging, and quality assurance.

Project & Production Governance

• Oversee global prioritization and resourcing of creative projects through data- and AI-informed decisioning frameworks.
• Drive workflow automation to reduce manual effort, accelerate delivery timelines, and increase creative throughput.
• Implement KPI dashboards and reporting mechanisms powered by AI analytics for visibility into productivity, cost, and speed.
• Partner with Finance and Procurement to align production budgets, vendor performance, and automation ROI with business objectives.
• Ensure robust compliance and brand governance through metadata, tagging, and AI-assisted quality checks.

Deployment & Global Enablement

• Champion scalable systems for global-to-local content adaptation, ensuring consistent execution supported by intelligent content tagging and localization automation.
• Leverage AI-enabled asset management to streamline distribution and ensure faster time-to-market.
• Partner with regional and cross-functional teams to integrate AI solutions that improve accuracy, efficiency, and content personalization.
• Partner with the digital marketing & Omni Enablement team to direct the global deployment of creative assets across digital, retail, and eCommerce ecosystems.

Agency & Budget Oversight

• Drive transparency in agency and production spend to measure and communicate ROI against creative output and asset utilization.
• Partner with Finance, Procurement, and Brand teams to consolidate cost visibility across vendors, categories, and platforms.
• Partner with Procurement on Developing reporting frameworks and dashboards—leveraging AI and analytics—to track spend efficiency, vendor performance, and asset-level return.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree required; Business, Design or Operations-related field.
• 12+ years of experience in creative operations, production, or marketing operations leadership within a complex global organization.
• 5+ years leading large, multidisciplinary teams and developing high-performing managers.
• Deep expertise in operational systems (Workfront, DAM, PIM, CMS, Jira) and proven experience implementing AI and automation within creative or marketing ecosystems.
• Demonstrated success using AI tools for workflow orchestration, resource forecasting, content tagging, and performance analytics.
• Exceptional communication, presentation, and organizational design skills.
• Ability to influence and collaborate across executive, creative, and technical functions.
• Strategic mindset with a bias for innovation, agility, and continuous improvement.
• Ability to travel as needed.

Newell Brands (NASDAQ: NWL) is a leading global consumer goods company with a strong portfolio of well-known brands, including Rubbermaid, Sharpie, Graco, Coleman, Rubbermaid Commercial Products, Yankee Candle, Paper Mate, FoodSaver, Dymo, EXPO, Elmer’s, Oster, NUK, Spontex and Campingaz. We are focused on delighting consumers by lighting up everyday moments. Newell Brands and its subsidiaries are Equal Opportunity Employers and comply with applicable employment laws. EOE/M/F/Vet/Disabled are encouraged to apply.