Head of Studio Production (Creative Milkshake)

📋 Description

• • We are seeking a dynamic and experienced Head of Studio Production to lead and scale our high-output UGC production studio in Amsterdam for our partner agency, Creative Milkshake. This pivotal role is responsible for ensuring the studio operates with exceptional efficiency, maintains the highest standards of creative quality, and is strategically positioned for significant growth. You will be instrumental in optimizing daily operations, enhancing production workflows, and fostering a culture of excellence among the studio team.
• • As the Head of Studio Production, you will own the end-to-end operational performance of the Amsterdam studio. This includes meticulously managing the studio's scheduling, aiming to optimize the current ~11 am-5 pm production hours and strategically expanding capacity to meet escalating client demand. A key responsibility will be the development and implementation of robust systems designed to significantly increase shoot throughput without compromising the exceptional quality of the content produced. You will ensure that every shoot is meticulously prepared, from securing necessary props, finalizing scripts, confirming talent availability, to gathering all required equipment and adhering to strict schedules.
• • Identifying and systematically addressing operational bottlenecks will be crucial to your role, driving continuous improvement across all studio workflows. You will oversee the comprehensive production calendar planning, ensuring efficient team allocation and resource management. Furthermore, you will be responsible for driving operational readiness to support the studio's scaling efforts, which may involve introducing additional shifts, onboarding new hires, and expanding operational hours.
• • Maintaining an uncompromisingly high bar for content quality and aesthetic standards is paramount. You will provide hands-on, constructive feedback to studio producers and other creative team members, guiding them on performance direction, framing, lighting, pacing, and ensuring the final output possesses that authentic, native feel that resonates with audiences. Your role extends to ensuring all creative outputs align perfectly with the expectations set by the Creative Strategy and Paid Social teams. You will serve as the ultimate quality checkpoint for all studio deliverables, meticulously reviewing and approving content before it moves forward. A significant part of your contribution will involve building comprehensive documentation and establishing best practices specifically tailored for high-performing User-Generated Content (UGC) production.
• • Collaboration with the talent team is a core aspect of this position. You will work closely with the team that manages our roster of approximately 400 local actors utilized for paid social shoots. You will partner effectively with Talent Managers to ensure seamless casting processes, efficient scheduling, and clear communication. You will be the point person for handling any escalations or production-related talent issues that may arise, ensuring a professional, organized, and brand-aligned experience for all talent involved. As production volume increases, you will support the strategic expansion of our local talent pool.
• • Leading, mentoring, and developing the studio producers and on-site production staff is a fundamental leadership responsibility. You will be responsible for hiring, onboarding, and, when necessary, managing performance and overseeing exits. A critical task will be building a scalable team structure that can effectively support our projected growth trajectory. You will cultivate a studio culture that emphasizes accountability, a dedication to craft, and rigorous operational discipline. Conducting regular feedback sessions and implementing skill development plans will be key to nurturing your team's talent. To effectively lead and engage the team, regular physical presence in Amsterdam is required.
• • A significant focus of this role will be on scaling and capacity expansion. You will design a strategic roadmap aimed at doubling the studio's production volume. This will involve evaluating staffing needs, planning for shift expansions, and assessing equipment requirements. You will collaborate closely with leadership to forecast future capacity needs, ensuring that the studio's infrastructure—including space, systems, and talent availability—is robust enough to support sustained growth. Your approach will be proactive, anticipating and solving for future scale rather than merely managing current operations.
• • Key deliverables for this role include a fully optimized and documented studio production workflow, regular weekly summaries of studio performance (tracking capacity, throughput, and bottlenecks), a meticulously maintained production calendar with clear scheduling and allocation, a comprehensive quality standards playbook for UGC production, a detailed hiring plan and organizational structure for studio scaling, a robust talent coordination framework with an established escalation process, and monthly reports detailing studio efficiency, output volume, and satisfaction feedback.
• • The Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) you will own include achieving an on-time delivery rate of 95%+, increasing studio utilization by enhancing shoot capacity without quality decline, maintaining a high creative satisfaction score from internal teams, ensuring quality consistency with minimal reshoots due to preventable errors, demonstrating scalability readiness to support 2x production volume within the growth timeline, ensuring talent reliability with low last-minute cancellations, and fostering team development with clear skill progression and performance improvement across studio producers.