Principal, Creative Operations & Project Manager

PetSmart is seeking an exceptional leader to oversee Creative Operations & Project Management for Brand Creative —a critical role at the center of how major brand initiatives come to life across campaign, digital, and store channels.

This leader will drive the operational engine behind some of our most visible and strategically important work, including seasonal and big idea campaigns, toolkits, photo and video shoots, special projects, and integrated brand executions that connect across customer touchpoints. This role is responsible for bringing structure, visibility, rigor, and momentum to complex creative work while partnering closely with Creative, Marketing, Merchandising, Production, Digital, and Store teams.

This is not a traditional project management role. It is a high-accountability leadership role for someone who knows how to build order in complexity, manage large-scale cross-functional initiatives, improve workflows, elevate reporting, guide teams through ambiguity, and ensure business-critical creative work is delivered with excellence.

The right candidate is equal parts operator, strategist, cross-functional leader, and change agent . They understand the realities of creative development, campaign orchestration, and production. They know how to align teams, anticipate risk, manage budgets, guide external partners, and keep highly visible work moving across multiple channels and stakeholder groups.

This role is foundational to successful brand execution. The leader in this seat must bring strong judgment, high standards, operational depth, and the presence to influence across functions and keep critical initiatives on track.

Reports to: Director, Creative Operations & Project Management

What You’ll Do

• Lead Creative Operations & Project Management for the Brand Creative function, owning the systems, workflows, planning, and operational rigor required to deliver complex brand work at scale.
• Independently own the full project lifecycle across major and minor initiatives simultaneously—from intake and scoping through development, production, and final delivery—in a fast-paced, high-volume environment.
• Drive the strategic and timely execution of seasonal campaigns, big idea brand initiatives, integrated marketing programs, toolkits, and special projects.
• Lead the operational planning and execution of photo and video shoots, partnering with internal teams, outside producers, photographers, agencies, and other vendors to ensure seamless delivery of assets for use across the organization.
• Manage projects that span channels and stakeholder groups, ensuring alignment and connectivity across Brand, Digital, Stores, Marketing, Merchandising, and Production.
• Develop, optimize, and scale creative operational processes, including intake, scoping, prioritization, scheduling, resource planning, reporting, documentation, and workflow management.
• Establish stronger visibility into project health through clear status reporting on milestones, capacity, deliverables, dependencies, budget, risks, and issues.
• Ensure projects are delivered on time, on budget, on strategy, and in alignment with marketing objectives and approved scope.
• Anticipate roadblocks, identify risks early, develop contingency plans, and lead proactive problem-solving across complex initiatives.
• Set and manage expectations with internal and external partners, bringing clarity, accountability, and consistency to how work moves through the organization.
• Translate marketing objectives into actionable direction for the Creative team while communicating creative needs, tradeoffs, and requirements back to business partners.
• Provide operational leadership and strategic point of view in reviews, presentations, planning sessions, and cross-functional meetings.
• Own budget stewardship across assigned projects and initiatives, including quote approvals, invoice management, vendor oversight, forecasting, and cost discipline.
• Manage and strengthen external vendor relationships with high standards for quality, timing, communication, and execution.
• Champion creative operations as a strategic business function that improves speed, efficiency, visibility, and quality.
• Research, recommend, and implement better ways of working across creative operations, reporting, process design, and team effectiveness.
• Evaluate and implement AI-enabled tools and workflow improvements that create scalability, efficiency, and time savings for the Creative team.
• Build future-state AI roadmaps and help lead associated education, adoption, change management, and governance in partnership with Legal, IT, and other cross-functional teams.
• Serve as proxy to the Director, Creative Operations & Project Management, providing continuity, leadership support, and sound judgment when needed.
• Lead through change with confidence, resilience, and a continuous-improvement mindset.

Required Skills & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Advertising, Marketing, Business, Communications, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
• 10+ years of progressive experience in creative operations, creative project management, marketing operations, agency account/project management, or similar workflow leadership roles.
• Significant experience leading large, complex, cross-functional creative initiatives from concept through final delivery.
• Deep understanding of the creative development process across campaign, brand, digital, print, and production workflows.
• Proven experience managing integrated brand initiatives with multiple stakeholders, dependencies, and delivery channels.
• Proven experience building and improving project plans, scoping approaches, processes, documentation, schedules, reporting structures, and scalable operating models.
• Experience managing digital, print, toolkit, brand guideline, and conceptual work through well-defined creative processes.
• Demonstrate knowledge of print production processes and hands-on familiarity with how work moves from concept into execution.
• Extensive experience managing photo and/or video shoot timelines, logistics, dependencies, and vendor coordination.
• Proven ability to manage budgets, approve estimates and invoices, and maintain elevated financial discipline across projects and partners.
• Proven leadership skills with the ability to influence up, across, and down multiple business units while remaining highly collaborative, solutions-oriented, and credible.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, including the ability to quickly create clear executive-ready presentations, updates, and recommendations.
• Exceptional critical thinking and problem-solving skills, with the ability to simplify complexity and adapt quickly to change and competing priorities.
• Proven organizational and time-management skills, with the ability to set priorities for self and for highly complex workstreams.
• Experience using project management tools such as Workfront, Wrike, Asana, Basecamp, or similar; Workfront experience strongly preferred .
• Working knowledge of Adobe Creative Cloud
• Mac proficient and skilled in Microsoft Office applications.
• Experience evaluating new technologies and AI-powered workflow opportunities to improve team speed, efficiency, and scalability.

Leadership Profile

The strongest candidates for this role will bring:

• A proven record of leading highly visible creative work in complex, fast-moving environments.
• Command of campaign operations, creative workflows, and production realities.
• The ability to connect strategy to execution across multiple teams and channels.
• Confidence managing ambiguity, high expectations, and business-critical work.
• A track record of improving process, elevating reporting, and building stronger operational systems.
• Vendor and budget management skills.
• Executive presence, sound judgment, and calm authority under pressure.
• A mindset that combines strategic thinking with hands-on operational leadership.

Why PetSmart

We’re a nimble, high-energy Creative Team that thrives on strategy, innovation, and top-tier execution. We collaborate closely, think big, move fast, and deliver work that earns trust—and wows both our business partners and pet parents. Our mission is to become the go-to in-house team that turns creative ideas into real business impact.

And yes—you should love pets, too. Because when PetSmart wins, pets win.

Location: Phoenix Home Office

• This role requires collaboration, teamwork, and face-to-face interaction with colleagues, leaders, and/or clients.
• Being in the office ensures access to leaders, cross-functional partners, and resources necessary to make timely decisions and drive results.
• On-site presence in accordance with our FlexSmart policy supports our culture of innovation, mentorship, and engagement, which is integral to our success in developing the best team.

• Pet-friendly environment , bring your pets to work and enjoy the on-site dog park!
• On-Site Events & Adoptions , enjoy community-building opportunities, including pet adoption days, seasonal celebrations, family events, art events, & holiday festivals
• “Top Dog” gym with equipment, fitness classes, massage therapists, personal trainers, and wellness spaces
• “Sit & Stay” Café serving fresh breakfast and lunch options, snacks, & more
• “ Lil Paws” NAEYC-accredited onsite childcare facility providing high-quality early education
• Paid Volunteer Opportunities to spend time doing good for causes close to heart
• Print Center and Business Services , Dry Cleaning, Mother's Rooms, Sustainable Infrastructure & more