Director of Agency Operations & People

Hollywood Branded is a pop culture marketing and brand partnership agency founded by Stacy Jones in 2007. We connect brands and entertainment through product placement, brand integration, celebrity and creator partnerships, licensing, branded content, PR and experiential programs. We are evolving from a project-based agency into a scalable, tech-enabled business built on repeatable systems, recurring client relationships and our proprietary [HB]Engine, [HB]Hub and [HB]Box ecosystem.

The Role

You will own the day-to-day operations that keep Hollywood Branded running smoothly: how work moves across teams, how leaders make decisions, how our technology gets adopted and how our people are supported and held accountable. This is a hands-on leadership role, not an administrative coordinator role. You will diagnose root causes, recommend practical solutions, implement them and measure the results. Your goal is to reduce unnecessary CEO and COO involvement in routine operations, while preserving clear authority for leaders over their teams, clients and expertise. You report to the COO, but are expected to operate independently within approved policies, budgets and decision rights.

What success looks like in the first year

• Operational decisions and escalations are resolved by appropriate owners without requiring daily intervention from CEO or COO.
• Active projects have clear accountable owners, milestones, reliable reporting and escalation paths.
• Consistent operating rhythm with useful weekly metrics and a decision-ready monthly report to COO.
• Managers use documented expectations, regular 1:1s, scorecards and fair, timely performance processes.
• Core tools and internal platforms have clear owners, adoption standards, trained users and measurable value.
• Critical processes have backup coverage and are tested during planned executive absences.
  
  

Responsibilities

Agency operations, execution and accountability

• Establish and enforce companywide operating standards for task ownership, project visibility, deadlines, documentation, internal communications and escalations.
• Coordinate across Partnerships, Production, Marketing, Finance and Administration to remove blockers and resolve cross-functional handoff failures; department leaders retain responsibility for their teams and client strategy.
• Oversee the operational journey from signed contract through onboarding, resourcing, delivery tracking, client reporting, invoicing handoffs and closeout, without personally managing every project.
• Translate recurring workflows, including the weekly Radar process, into documented decisions, owners, next steps and follow-through.
• Create a clear decision-rights and escalation matrix, including approvals reserved for executive leadership.
• Identify single points of failure, train backup owners and build continuity plans that support multiweek executive absences.

Systems, technology and AI adoption

• Own business-side governance and adoption of the technology stack, including Microsoft 365, HubSpot, PandaDoc, monday.com, Canva, Fireflies, Timely, Claude and BambooHR.
• Audit tools, subscriptions, workflows, data quality and user adoption; recommend what to keep, consolidate, improve or retire.
• Partner with CEO/CTO and technical resources on operational requirements, testing, rollout, documentation, training and adoption of [HB]Engine, [HB]Hub and [HB]Box; engineering and architecture remain with technical team.
• Improve HubSpot operational reliability, intake and handoffs, data ownership, workflow visibility and reporting consistency.
• Introduce AI into repeatable workflows where it improves speed or quality; establish privacy, approval and quality-check practices and measure real outcomes.
• Manage software licenses, renewals, vendors, access provisioning and external technical support; maintain clear system owners.

Capacity, financial discipline and process improvement

• Measure staff capacity, utilization, workload balance, delivery performance and project profitability in partnership with Finance and functional leaders.
• Identify avoidable rework, delays, margin leakage, redundant approvals and unclear ownership, then implement corrective changes.
• Recommend automation or process improvements before new headcount and identify when specialist support or additional capacity is genuinely required.
• Build a visible operating dashboard and weekly issue tracker with owners, actions, deadlines and outcomes.

People leadership and performance

• Directly manage Office Manager and designated operations staff, and coach department managers on consistent management practices.
• Maintain clear role definitions, onboarding standards, weekly 1:1 expectations, scorecards and six-month performance/promotion review processes.
• Assess role effectiveness against fair, job-related expectations and business needs; work with managers to address gaps, support development and recognize strong performance.
• Improve recruiting processes, structured interviews, practical candidate assessments, onboarding and succession/backup planning.
• Help managers give timely feedback and document performance improvement plans; maintain appropriate approval and HR review before sensitive actions.

• Lead HR strategy and policy while Office Manager handles day-to-day HR administration, benefits / payroll vendor coordination and recordkeeping.
• Handle sensitive employee concerns, accommodations, leave matters, investigations, discipline and separations with confidentiality, consistent processes and appropriate legal guidance.
• Maintain the handbook, required training and compliance practices for California and federal employment requirements, including wage and hour and classification.
• Partner with employment counsel or HR advisers as required; do not independently make decisions reserved for counsel or executive approval.

Reporting, authority and escalation

• Deliver monthly COO report covering project health, capacity, profitability signals, tool adoption, people/HR trends, operational risks and improvements completed.
• Present recommendations, accountable owners, deadlines and tradeoffs, rather than only identifying problems.
• Enforce approved operating standards across functions; refer personnel decisions, strategic client decisions, exceptional financial commitments and unresolved department-level conflicts through established approval paths.
• Provide concise reporting to the CEO/COO, with urgent escalations reserved for material client, financial, people or compliance risks.
  
  

First 90 days

The first 90 days should produce tangible operational improvements as well as a clear picture of systems, people and risks.

Days 1–30: Meet team leads; audit systems, HR risk and core workflows; map recurring CEO/COO decisions; identify top bottlenecks; launch shared issue and ownership tracker; establish measurement baselines.

Days 31–60: Implement three prioritized workflow improvements; establish an initial decision-rights/escalation matrix; confirm accountable owners and milestones for active projects; start manager scorecard and meeting standards.

Days 61–90: Launch monthly operations dashboard and reporting; document high-risk workflows and backups; show early time/error/escalation improvements; deliver a six-month improvement and executive-dependency roadmap.

Measures of Success

• Reduce routine operational escalations to CEO/COO, aiming for ~50% improvement from baseline where practical.

• Aim for 95%+ of active projects to have an assigned owner.

• Aim for 90%+ timely completion of required 1:1s, scorecards and reviews.

• Deliver 3–5 validated improvements with measured time savings, accuracy or cycle-time gains.

• Issue 100% of monthly operational reports on time, with decisions and actions clearly identified.

• Test core workflow coverage during a planned leadership absence; document and close points.

Qualifications

Required

• 7+ years of operations experience and 3+ years directly managing people for Director level; 5+ and 2+ respectively may be considered for Associate Director.
• Demonstrated hands-on ownership of operations in a small or midsize business (approximately 10–75 employees), ideally an agency or professional services company.
• Evidence of implementing cross-functional workflows, managing change and holding peers accountable without relying on reporting authority.
• Practical HR leadership, including sensitive employee matters, coaching, performance and familiarity with California employment law and when to involve counsel.
• Experience leading software and AI tool adoption, with measurable business outcomes.
• Comfort with resource planning, utilization, project financial indicators, dashboards, spreadsheets and actionable reporting.
• Strong judgment, discretion, direct communication, prioritization and ability to implement rather than just recommend.
• Bachelor's degree

Preferred

• Agency, entertainment or marketing experience
• SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, PHR or SPHR certification.
• Hands-on administration or change management for HubSpot, Microsoft 365, BambooHR, monday.com or similar platforms.
• Experience helping an organization launch an internal platform or scale from founder-led processes to delegated operations.
• Practical experience designing AI-enabled workflows with clear human quality controls.
  
  

Who Thrives Here

You can move from a workflow breakdown to a difficult people conversation while maintaining sound judgment and follow-through. You are comfortable setting standards, saying what is not working and helping others succeed. You do not require constant direction from executives, and you know when to escalate decisions outside your authority.

Compensation

Salary range: $104,000 (Associate Director level) to $117,000 (Director level) annually, depending on level and experience.

Benefits:

• Hybrid office schedule
• Flexible PTO
• Insurance – Medical, Dental, & Vision
• 401(k)
• Monthly phone, internet, and streaming stipend
• Yearly profit-sharing bonus
• Fully stocked office kitchen