Senior Project Manager - Creative Studio

Description

U.S. Soccer Overview

The U.S. Soccer Federation exists in service to soccer. Our aim is to ignite a national passion for the game. Because we believe that soccer is more than a sport; it is a force for good.

We understand the importance and the power of teamwork, on and off the pitch. That is why we work closely with our Federation partners and members, to inspire, support and guide every level of the game: from the grassroots to the National Teams. We want to bring soccer into every home and every community, right across America. Because we believe that soccer can transform lives like no other sport. Soccer can represent the best of U.S.

U.S. Soccer is in a period of significant growth, with ambitious plans for U.S. Soccer in the near and far future. We are, therefore, looking for dynamic servant leaders to join us on this journey: in service to soccer. Applicants must be able to demonstrate visionary leadership, analytical decision-making, professional flexibility, and an empathic management style that builds bold teams and delivers globally significant results.

Position Description

U.S. Soccer is seeking a highly organized, collaborative, and creatively minded Senior Project Manager to join our Creative Studio.

This role is a critical operational partner, helping establish the systems, processes, and workflows that enable the team to do its best creative work. The role will manage projects from intake through delivery, connecting creative teams with Brand Marketing, Content, Social, Partnerships, Events, Communications, and other stakeholders to ensure priorities, timelines, resources, and expectations remain clear.

The ideal candidate is an experienced creative project manager and producer who understands how creative work gets made. They can translate a brief into a clear plan, build realistic timelines and workstreams, identify dependencies and risks, coordinate internal and external resources, manage approvals, and keep complex projects moving in a fast-paced environment.

While the role leans heavily into creative operations and project management, a strong understanding of creative production is essential. This person should be comfortable jumping into production details when needed: from managing vendors and production partners to supporting photo/video shoots, creating production schedules, coordinating logistics, and ensuring final deliverables meet the creative and brand standard. This is a hands-on role for someone who brings structure and keeps creative work flowing.

Primary Responsibilities

Creative operations and managing projects

• Own the day-to-day project management of Creative Studio work from intake through final delivery.
• Manage the Creative Studio intake process, gathering requirements, clarifying objectives, confirming deliverables, and ensuring briefs are actionable and production-ready.
• Translate creative briefs into clear project plans, timelines, workstreams, milestones, owners, and deliverables.
• Develop and maintain workback schedules and project trackers across multiple concurrent projects.
• Establish clear priorities, dependencies, decision points, and approval processes.
• Monitor project health, proactively identify risks or blockers, and develop practical solutions to keep work moving.
• Lead project status meetings, communicate next steps, document decisions, and maintain accountability across teams.
• Help balance competing priorities and resources across the Creative Studio.
• Protect creative teams from unnecessary operational drag while ensuring stakeholders have visibility into progress.
• Identify opportunities to improve Creative Studio processes, workflows, tools, and ways of working.
• Help build scalable creative operations practices that support the growth of the U.S. Soccer Creative Studio.

Functional Partnership

• Serve as a central point of coordination between Creative and Brand Marketing, Content, Social, Partnerships, Events, Communications, and other Federation teams.
• Partner with creative leads to understand scope, creative needs, resourcing, and production requirements.
• Build strong relationships with internal stakeholders and external partners, bringing clarity to complex projects and competing needs.
• Manage feedback and approvals, ensuring the right stakeholders are engaged at the right moments.
• Clearly communicate project status, decisions needed, risks, and changes in scope or timing.
• Help translate creative strategy and direction into executable plans without compromising creative ambition.

Creative Production

• Support production of integrated brand campaigns, content, events, and other high-priority Federation moments.
• Lead production planning when projects require photo, video, experiential, or other external production support.
• Develop production schedules, call sheets, shot lists, crew briefs, itineraries, production books, and other materials as needed.
• Coordinate production logistics including locations, vendors, talent/player needs, usage considerations, post-production schedules, and delivery specifications.
• Manage digital, social, video, design, and campaign deliverables, including cutdowns, versioning, localization, and partner adaptations.
• Coordinate with creative teams and production partners to ensure work is delivered to the expected creative and brand standards.
• Step into hands-on production management when project needs require it.

Tools and Workflow Leadership

• Own and maintain accurate project information, timelines, trackers, documentation, and workflow records.
• Maintain strong working fluency in Airtable and Microsoft Office.
• Help establish and maintain Creative Studio PMO processes and standards.
• Look for opportunities to streamline repetitive processes, improve visibility, and create efficiencies across the team.
• Ensure project documentation and status information are clear, current, and accessible to the appropriate stakeholders.

Vendor, Budget, and Logistics Management

• Source, onboard, and manage external vendors, freelancers, and production partners as needed.
• Coordinate photographers, videographers, production crews, stylists, fabricators, and other creative resources.
• Support project scoping, estimates, SOWs, POs, budgets, and invoice tracking in partnership with internal teams.
• Help determine the appropriate internal and external resources needed to deliver projects successfully.
• Track project budgets and flag potential scope or cost issues early.

Quality and Consistency

• Ensure projects are delivered on time, on budget, and at the quality bar expected for a national brand.
• Maintain a strong understanding of U.S. Soccer's brand identity and creative standards.
• Protect creative integrity while balancing timelines, budgets, resources, and operational realities.
• Ensure final deliverables are accurate, complete, properly reviewed, and ready for launch or distribution.

Worktypes the Senior Project Manager will be involved in (Examples)

• Campaign creative and rollout assets.
• Event creative and experiential support materials.
• Digital, social, and video deliverables including cutdowns, versioning, and localization as needed.
• Partner-aligned creative adaptations.
• Brand marketing collateral and design system extensions.

Requirements

Minimum Qualifications

• 5–7+ years of experience in creative project management, creative operations, production, or a related discipline.
• Demonstrated experience managing complex, integrated creative work across brand, digital, social, video, content, and design.
• Strong project management fundamentals including scoping, scheduling, resourcing, budgeting, risk management, and stakeholder alignment.
• Experience managing multiple projects and priorities simultaneously in a fast-paced creative environment.
• Advanced proficiency in Airtable or comparable project/workflow management platforms.
• Experience managing external vendors, freelancers, agencies, or production partners.
• Strong understanding of creative development and production processes.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to lead meetings, document decisions, manage feedback, and drive approvals.
• Ability to anticipate problems, identify dependencies, and proactively develop solutions.
• Must be able to connect “micro” details to the “macro” vision and mission.
• Proficient experience with Microsoft Suite (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook) and Google Workspace.

Desired Qualifications

• Experience supporting sports marketing.
• Basic knowledge of soccer and U.S. Soccer
• Familiarity with brand identity systems and maintaining consistency across diverse executions.
• Working knowledge of usage rights and licensing considerations where relevant.

Key Attributes

• Highly collaborative: Builds trust quickly across Creative and cross-functional partners and brings stakeholders into clarity rather than conflict.
• Positive, steady presence: Maintains calm momentum under pressure and raises the team’s confidence during tight timelines.
• Team-first operator: Prioritizes shared outcomes, makes teammates’ work easier, and steps in where needed without ego.
• Culture-builder: Contributes to an environment of respect, accountability, and good communication including during high-volume periods.
• High ownership, low drama: Flags issues early, proposes solutions, and keeps work moving without blame or noise.
• Detail disciplined, creatively minded: Holds a high quality bar while understanding what it takes to ship work in the real world.

Success in This Role Looks Like

• Projects stay on track because priorities, timelines, owners, and decisions are consistently clear.
• Creative team capacity feels well-managed and stakeholders remain informed and aligned.
• Risks are surfaced early with credible options, not surprises near launch.
• Campaign and event executions deliver smoothly with strong craft and minimal last-minute rework.

U.S. Soccer offers a comprehensive compensation package, casual work environment, an inclusive culture, and an atmosphere for professional development.

U.S. Soccer is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any kind on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, citizenship, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, genetic information, military status, political belief, or any other characteristic protected under the law. This policy applies to all our employment practices within our organization. We strongly encourage women, people of color, LGBTQIA, veterans, parents, and persons with disabilities to apply.