Job Details

Fort West is a small brand strategy and design agency. We help organizations discover their right to win, own their place in culture, and realize meaningful growth. Our work is multidisciplinary, spanning brand development, marketing communications, digital experiences, and advertising campaigns.

We're at a pivotal moment. Fort West is resetting, refining our position, and preparing for new growth. The Manager, Project Operations will play a critical role in our success. You will define, establish, and manage the tools and workflows that keep projects running smoothly—on time and on budget. You'll work across teams to bring alignment, visibility, and accountability to how projects are planned, staffed, and delivered.

This is a hands-on role for someone who loves both designing and running great systems. You'll be both strategist and operator, building the structure that enables our teams to do their best work. To start, this role will serve as Fort West's sole project operations leader and project manager, setting the foundation for scalable growth. With success, you'll lead and build our project management discipline.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement project management processes, tools, and templates that enhance efficiency and collaboration.
• Oversee day-to-day project operations, including scoping, resourcing, scheduling, and budget tracking.
• Partner with strategy, creative, and account leadership to ensure projects deliver on brand, business, and creative goals.
• Maintain visibility into project health—tracking progress, anticipating risks, and ensuring accountability.
• Forecast team capacity, manage workloads, and support leadership in resource planning and business operations.
• Champion continuous improvement: evaluate what's working, refine what's not, and bring forward better ways of operating.

What You Bring

• 7–10 years of experience managing projects or operations in an creative agency environment.
• Deep understanding of creative and production workflows across brand, digital, and marketing projects.
• Proven ability to design and maintain systems for multi-track, fast-paced engagements.
• A strong grasp of agency economics and experience managing project and account-level financials.
• Expertise in project management tools such as Asana or similar project management platforms.
• Exceptional communication, organization, and problem-solving skills.
• A collaborative, proactive mindset and the ability to thrive in a growing, entrepreneurial environment.
• A steady hand under pressure, able to make educated, strategic tradeoffs and keep projects on track.

Benefits

• 100% paid medical, dental, and vision coverage.
• Access to additional voluntary benefits, including term life insurance, accident, critical illness, hospital indemnity, FSA, and HSA (depending on elected plan).
• $10,000 basic life-insurance policy.
• Six weeks of paid time off annually, including three weeks of discretionary PTO, up to ten paid holidays, and the week between December 25 and January 1.
• 401(k) plan with employer matching.

Compensation

• $90,000–$110,000 with room for growth connected to success in the role.
• Opportunity to grow into a Director of Operations position as the agency scales.

To apply, please email ...@fortwest.com with an introduction, your portfolio link, and compensation expectations (required for consideration).