Head of Projects - JD Group - Manchester
(2024-02 - 2025-08)
- Managed production and studio budgets of up to £300,000 per international campaign shoot (pre-production, cast, crew, logistics and post-production), contributing to a JD Main Campaign portfolio with overall spend exceeding £1 million.
- Led a cross-functional team of Producers and Project Managers, holding full oversight of schedules, budgets, and project status across all active campaigns using the CRM tool Monday.com.
- Tracked, monitored and submitted risk assessments in partnership with internal compliance teams and production companies, ensuring full adherence to insurance, licensing and permit requirements across all productions.
- Identified and escalated risk beyond my formal remit, proposing practical solutions and introducing tracking to prevent recurrence.
- Managed competing priorities across concurrent projects through structured triage, against business strategy and client SLAs.
- Directed financial reconciliation and reporting, ensuring accurate budgeting and controlled expenditure across the studio.
- Partnered with marketing stakeholders to translate briefs into production strategy, and with an automation lead to build long-term workflow tools.
- Chaired kick-off and status meetings to align cross-departmental stakeholders on expectations and deliverables.
Head of Retouch (Post Production) - JD Group - Manchester
(2023-03 - 2024-02)
- Directly managed a 20-person production team and held full budget responsibility, tracking spend against project and annual plans.
- Authored a full root-cause analysis of recurring delivery issues, resulting in the adoption of a project management tool, a RACI framework, and clearer sign-off documentation.
- Merged two previously separate teams, restructuring workflows and improving output productivity by 250%.
- Introduced KPI frameworks and a 360-degree peer review process to drive individual and team performance.
- Resolved cross-departmental budget conflicts by improving collaboration and inclusion in early planning stages.
- Used structured Personal Development Plans (PDPs) to support colleagues' training and growth, helping raise performance across the team.
- Introduced monthly review meetings and structured feedback sessions with team leads, improving visibility of progress against KPIs and strengthening cross-team coordination.
Freelance Production Consultant - Self-Employed - Dubai, UAE & Manchester, UK
(2022-01 - 2023-02)
Delivered post-production and project support on a self-employed basis for clients including JD, The Giving Movement and Go Sport, managing client relationships and delivery independently.
Head of Post Production - The Landmark Group - Dubai, UAE
(2019-08 - 2021-12)
- Held full budget responsibility for the department, ensuring adherence to yearly and project financial plans.
- Managed, trained and mentored a team of 15, plus local, offshore and freelance resource, and coordinated external 3D render agency partnerships.
- Co-created annual budget presentations with the Head of Content to guide investment decisions.
- Acted as a key stakeholder in an A/B testing rollout that delivered a 28% increase in click-through rate.
- Modernised departmental workflows, implementing new scalable systems and processes to improve efficiency.
- Maintained full business continuity through the COVID-19 pandemic with zero downtime, despite an enforced shift to remote working.
Project Coordinator - Volcanic (Access Group) - Manchester
(2019-02 - 2019-07)
- Managed full-stack (front-end design and back-end coding) web projects from concept to launch for a diverse portfolio of small and large clients using the CRM tool Asana.
- Coordinated project plans, client kick-off meetings and internal cross-team meetings, translating technical requirements into clear deliverables for non-technical clients for a B2C SaaS product.
- Triaged and prioritised critical delivery issues under pressure, working closely with the development team to understand what was genuinely achievable before deciding a course of action.
- Found workable solutions internally before raising concerns externally, protecting client confidence and agreed deadlines even when problems emerged late in a project.
- Acted as a bridge between technical and client-facing teams, managing resourcing, contract queries and stakeholder expectations throughout each project.
- Defined user stories and worked closely with the technical project manager to ensure website builds met client briefs.
Freelance Production Consultant - Self-Employed - Manchester, UK
(2016-07 - 2019-02)
Delivered production and post-production work for clients including Fanatics, Regatta, Studio 488 and Lindy Bop.
Image Services Team Leader - Autotrader - Manchester
(2015-03 - 2016-07)
- Built and maintained B2B and B2C client relationships, delivering a consistently high standard of customer service.
- Held client relationship for BMW from initial scoping through to a bespoke image services system, alongside managing production budgets and a fleet of photographers and editors delivering enterprise projects for BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
- Prepared monthly billing logs and financial reporting for department heads.
- Organised schedules for a team of six, providing mentoring and 1:1 support to maximise individual and team performance.
Retouch Team Lead & Senior Retoucher - JD PLC - Manchester
(2013-01 - 2015-12)
Website Administrator - La Moda - Manchester
(2012-01 - 2013-12)
Production Assistant - Flawless Studios - Manchester
(2011-01 - 2012-12)
