Program Manager - Motion

Jones Knowles Ritchie is a branding business, founded in 1990 and proudly independent ever since.

We started out in the world of packaging, but now we're worldwide: from three founders, to more than 300 of us across the UK and USA. Together, we build and deliver brands across the entire consumer experience.

But even more important than what we do, is why we do it. We're here to inspire brands and people to be their true selves.
To be brave.
Be tenacious.
And above all, be yourself.
Because we believe that's the only way to truly be distinctive, everywhere.

Our Film, Motion & CGI (FMC) team creates best-in-class motion design for some of the world's biggest brands. The work is bold, fast, and creatively ambitious.

But great work doesn't happen by accident. It runs on precision.

That's where you come in.

The role

As a Program Manager, you sit within JKR's wider Program Management department, with Motion as your primary focus. You are the engine behind the energy, the person who builds and maintainsthe operational set-up that allows creativity to thrive.

Day to day, that means:

• Making sure the right people are on the right projects at the right time.
• Making sure work is properly scoped before it starts, and that capacity is managed proactively rather than firefighting.
• Working hand-in-hand with Client Services to keep client expectations, timelines and budgets aligned from brief to delivery.
• Building strong working relationships with other Program Managers and creative leaders across the business, so that Motion resourcing decisions are made with full visibility of what'shappening studio-wide, not in isolation.

In short: you bring order to complexity, so the team can focus on making exceptional work.

This role reports into the Ops Director and sits within the Program Management department alongside PMs supporting other disciplines across the studio.

What you'll be responsible for:

• Manage a wide range of Motion projects, from single deliverables to complex, multi-workstream briefs with layered stakeholder management.
• Independently create and maintain project documentation: scopes of work, change requests, timelines and resourcing plans.
• Run multiple Motion project timelines across clients and design hubs in parallel, ensuring deadlines are hit and deliverables land.
• Maintain financial reporting, including burn rates and forecasting, alongside project management and resourcing tools.

Client Services partnership

• Partner closely with Client Services as a genuine co-owner of the client relationship, not just an internal delivery function, anticipating client needs and maintaining status reports and master timelines.
• Work with Client Services to unpack briefs properly, asking the right questions up front so plans are right first time and aligned to budget.
• Give Client Services the time and resource visibility they need to negotiate confidently with clients.

Resourcing

• Own resourcing across all Motion projects, from incoming brief to final delivery.
• Maintain a clear, real-time view of team capacity.
• Match talent to projects based on skill, availability and creative fit.
• Spot capacity gaps early and resolve them before they become problems, managing conflicts with clear, fair reasoning.
• Work as part of the studio's wider resourcing network, collaborating with resourcing and Program Management colleagues across other disciplines to support planning and prioritisation across the full slate of projects, not just Motion.

Time quoting & scoping

• Build accurate, defensible time quotes for all Motion briefs.
• Translate creative ambition into realistic, deliverable plans.
• Track projects against estimates and flag risks early.
• Develop a robust quoting library to improve accuracy over time.

Freelance management

• Own and evolve the Motion freelance roster, including rates, availability and capability knowledge.
• Recommend the right talent for the right briefs.
• Manage bookings end-to-end: outreach, onboarding, delivery and handover.
• Track freelancer performance and continuously raise the bar.
• Identify and onboard new talent to fill capability gaps.

Collaboration & creative partnership

• Partner with Creative and Strategy teams to ensure creative intent is preserved across every medium and touchpoint.
• Build strong relationships with fellow Program Managers and creative leaders across JKR, contributing a Motion perspective to broader studio planning conversations.
• Stay close to the latest tools, technology and industry trends, sharing knowledge internally to help realise and shape creative ideas.

Day to Day Ops

• Own resourcing and scheduling tools for Motion, keeping them clean and reliable.
• Identify inefficiencies and implement practical improvements, in partnership with your Ops Director.
• Report on capacity and utilisation to senior stakeholders.
• Support forward planning and forecasting for busy periods.
• Act as the go-to for Motion availability and capability queries across the studio.

Requirements

What we're looking for, to be suited for this role you should have:

• Proven experience in program/project management, resourcing or production within a creative, motion or CGI environment.
• Strong understanding of motion and CGI workflows and how projects are scoped.
• Comfortable working across disciplines and departments, not just within a single team's four walls.
• Highly organised, able to juggle multiple moving parts across multiple clients without losing detail.
• Confident with resourcing and project management tools.
• Clear, direct communicator who manages expectations well, both with clients and internally.
• Commercial awareness, with a solid grasp of time, cost and profitability.
• Collaborative mindset with the ability to build trust across creative, client services and operational teams.
• Integrity, reliability and calm under pressure: someone who leans into conflict and change rather than away from it.

This role is offered as a permanent position and reports into Ops director and works with the FMC team on a daily basis.

To apply, please send a CV and a short note covering your current situation and interest in this role, based on your skills and experience to date. Applications will be responded to after 5th August.

At JKR, our goal is to create an equitable, diverse and inclusive workplace that reflects and creates for the societies we live in. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is a long-term business imperative and a commitment at JKR. You will demonstrate being a DE+I advocate and champion with your actions.

Benefits

💰 Competitive salary

📍 Lively Shoreditch studio location

🏡 Hybrid working policy, minimum 2 days pw in the Shoreditch studio

🩺 Bupa Healthcare, including dental option

🛡️ Income protection & life insurance

🧘 Classpass credits

📈 Group personal pension

🌴 25 days holiday + time given at Christmas and New Year

☀️ Summer Fridays x 2

🎂 Birthday day off

After probation:

• 🚆 Season ticket loan
• 🚲 Cycle to work scheme
• 👶 Enhanced parental leave policies
• 🤝 Referral scheme for new hires
• 🌍 2 weeks work from anywhere, by agreement with line manager