Interim Associate Director, Creative Resources

Temporary leave coverage for a multidisciplinary healthcare communications agency. This contract is anticipated to be over several months with possibility for extension. Role overview We are seeking an experienced Interim Associate Director, Creative Resources to lead day-to-day staffing, capacity planning, and resource coordination across a multidisciplinary creative organization. Role overview We are seeking an experienced Interim Associate Director, Creative Resources to lead day-to-day staffing, capacity planning, and resource coordination across a multidisciplinary creative organization. This person will maintain a clear view of current and upcoming demand and ensure the right people are aligned to the right work based on skills, experience, availability, client continuity, timing, budget, and development opportunities. The role requires someone who can operate confidently in a fast-moving agency environment where active client work, launches, pitches, internal initiatives, time away, freelance support, and changing priorities regularly intersect. The opportunity The interim leader will strengthen visibility, planning discipline, and documentation. Success depends on understanding both people and business realities, then turning incomplete information into clear staffing decisions. Key responsibilities Creative staffing and allocation Own day-to-day and weekly staffing across active brands, launches, pitches, internal initiatives, and emerging business needs. Maintain a current and accurate view of creative allocations, availability, workload, time away, leaves, and upcoming demand. Match creative talent to assignments based on skill set, experience, seniority, availability, client knowledge, budget, and professional development. Support staffing across copy, art, design, digital, UX/UI, motion, video, production, and creative leadership. Identify staffing conflicts, coverage gaps, and workload imbalances before they affect quality, delivery, or team health. Recommend clear solutions when multiple teams are competing for the same people. Protect continuity on priority accounts by reducing unnecessary resource changes and ensuring clear ownership. Capacity and workforce planning Build and maintain a rolling 8-to-12-week view of creative capacity and anticipated demand. Partner with department and business leaders to understand upcoming launches, pitches, major deliverables, project expansions, and potential changes in scope. Translate forecasts and business plans into realistic staffing requirements. Distinguish between temporary capacity needs, capability gaps, scoping issues, prioritization problems, and sustained needs that may require hiring. Identify where workload is concentrated too heavily on individuals or teams and recommend rebalancing. Support recommendations for new roles, backfills, freelance support, or organizational changes. Help leadership evaluate staffing scenarios and understand the consequences of different choices. Resource meetings and cross-functional coordination Lead recurring staffing and allocation meetings with Creative, Project Management, Client Services, and other agency partners. Ensure staffing discussions result in clear decisions, owners, timing, and follow-through. Create visibility into open staffing needs, upcoming risks, and unresolved decisions. Translate changing client and business priorities into actionable staffing plans. Raise issues early when available talent, scope, timing, or budget does not support the requested work. Work closely with project and account leaders to validate actual workload rather than relying only on high-level forecasts. Communicate staffing decisions clearly and respectfully to managers and team members. Manager accountability and leave coverage Partner with people managers to plan for vacations, parental leaves, extended absences, and other coverage needs. Reinforce that managers remain responsible for understanding their teams' workload and planning appropriate handoffs . Help managers identify potential coverage solutions before escalating needs to leadership. Ensure longer absences have documented transition plans, backup support, and clearly assigned ownership. Reduce last-minute coverage requests by establishing consistent planning expectations and escalation paths. Coordinate temporary transitions while maintaining as much client and team continuity as possible. Freelance and contingent talent management Determine when freelance support is appropriate and when consistent internal ownership is required . Maintain and expand a trusted network of freelance talent across relevant creative disciplines. Partner with approved recruiters, staffing firms, Finance, and People teams to source and onboard freelance support. Track freelance availability, rates, assignments, start and end dates, extensions, and budget implications. Anticipate freelance needs related to launches, pitches, vacations, parental leaves, temporary workload peaks, and specialized capability gaps. Evaluate freelance talent for quality, reliability, agency fit, and future use. Identify when ongoing freelance spend may indicate the need for a permanent hire or dedicated internal resource. Coordinate the responsible release or extension of freelance resources as workload changes. Financial and operational partnership Partner with Finance, Project Management, and Client Services to understand scopes, forecasts, utilization , billability, write-offs, and client-budget constraints. Consider the financial impact of staffing decisions while protecting creative quality, client continuity, and sustainable workloads. Understand where individual brands can or cannot support freelance costs. Help ensure senior talent is deployed in ways that reflect their level, cost, and expected business contribution. Identify situations where work has expanded beyond the staffing assumptions included in the original scope. Bring visibility to the staffing impact of new business, accelerated timelines, and unplanned client requests. Help leadership separate genuine staffing shortages from problems related to scope, workflow, prioritization, or role clarity. Team health and development Maintain a practical understanding of individual strengths, specialties, experience levels, development needs, and areas requiring additional oversight. Help create assignments that support growth, greater ownership, and broader experience for team members. Balance development opportunities with the need to protect quality and delivery. Monitor repeated overtime, prolonged workload concentration, and burnout risk. Ensure the same high-performing individuals are not repeatedly used as the solution to every urgent need. Partner with creative leaders to identify capability gaps, training opportunities, and future hiring priorities. Handle performance-related and staffing-sensitive information with discretion and sound judgment. Tools, reporting, and process Maintain accurate resource plans, allocation documents, skills information, freelance records, and coverage plans. Use resource-management , project-management , spreadsheet , and collaboration tools to create a reliable source of truth. Provide leadership with concise reporting on capacity, utilization , staffing risk, freelance use, and upcoming needs. Improve resource-management processes, meeting rhythms, decision rights, and escalation paths where needed. Reduce dependence on informal or last-minute staffing conversations. Document key processes and prepare a clear transition plan for the end of the interim assignment. Required qualifications Seven or more years of experience in creative resource management, creative operations, workforce planning, agency operations, or a closely related role. Experience working within an advertising, healthcare communications, marketing, design, digital, or integrated creative agency. Demonstrated responsibility for staffing multidisciplinary creative teams across multiple clients, accounts, or workstreams. Strong understanding of creative roles and workflows across copy, art, design, digital, UX/UI, motion, video, production, and creative leadership. Experience managing a combination of permanent employees, freelancers, contractors, and external partners. Working knowledge of utilization , billability, capacity planning, forecasting, freelance costs, and client-budget considerations. Experience leading resource or allocation meetings with senior, cross-functional stakeholders. Strong judgment when balancing client needs, quality, financial realities, team health, and development opportunities. Ability to make clear recommendations when information is incomplete or no perfect staffing solution exists. Excellent communication, facilitation, negotiation, and problem-solving skills. Strong organizational ability and attention to detail. Ability to work full time with substantial Eastern Time overlap. Preferred qualifications Experience in healthcare advertising, pharmaceutical communications, life sciences, or another regulated industry. Experience supporting major launches, new-business pitches, rapid periods of growth, or organizational change. Experience working across multiple agency groups, capabilities, or business units. Familiarity with both brand-focused creative teams and digital or experience-design teams. Experience improving resourcing systems while continuing to manage daily staffing demands. Established relationships with creative staffing firms or a strong freelance talent network. Experience with resource-management or work-management platforms such as Workfront, Float, Smartsheet, Monday.com, or comparable systems.